Wired Kana - Blank Japanese Practice Sheets

Download the
Blank Japanese practice sheets (49kb pdf)

A great way to test your ability to recall Hiragana and Katakana from memory, is to try writing the characters without any images for reference. If you're able to completely write the alphabets by hand, you'll be able to read them when you come across Hiragana or Katakana in Japanese writing.

Try using this blank Japanese practice sheet to test your memory. It's best to write out all of characters in order and when you come to a character that you can't remember, skip it and move on to the next one. When you finish the entire alphabet, you can see which characters you systematically forget.

It has been a long time since I've needed to practice Hiragana and Katakana. I've done so many of these sheets that there is no way I'll ever forget these characters. To read about my earlier experiences while learning Hiragana and Katakana, take a look at this old post: Think you know your Kana?



Download the
Blank Japanese practice sheets (49kb pdf)

If your not at this level yet, be sure to use these Hiragana and Katakana practice sheets. Or, if you think Kana are too basic, try Wired Kanji lesson 1.

Wired Kana - Hiragana and Katakana Practice Sheets

Learning Hiragana and Katakana, the Japanese alphabets, really helped me while navigating Japan and now that I'm trying to learn to read Japanese, they're helping me to understand Kanji. The sooner I was able to stop using romaji, and switch to writing Japanese in Hiragana and Katakana, the more Japanese I was able to understand and read.

To practice Hiragana and Katakana, my Japanese tutor, Rio Sensei, suggested I use practice sheets and write the characters over and over again. After all that practice, there's no way I'll ever forget a character.

Download:
Hiragana and Katakana Practice Sheets
(300kb PDF)

Or get them on the Wired in Japan Flickr.

The handwriting was generously drafted by a native hand, good friend and graphic designer, Yuka Nishino.

Wired Kanji - Lesson 3

Dialogue:

週末はたいてい何をしますか。そうですね。たいていうちで勉強します。でも、ときどき映画を見ます。そうですか。じゃあ、土曜日に映画を見ませんか。土曜日はちょっと…　じゃあ、日曜日はどうですか。いいですね。

おはようございます。おはよう。早いですね。ええ、今日は京都に行きます。京都で映画を見ます。いいですね。何時ごろ帰りますか。九時ごろです。晩ごはんは？食べません。そうですか。じゃあ、いってらっしゃい。いってきます。

週末はたいてい何をしますか。

しゅうまつ　は　たいてい　なに　を　します　か。

What do you normally do on the weekend?

週末　ー　しゅうまつ　ー　Weekend

何　ー　なに　ー　What

たいていうちで勉強します。

たいてい　うち　で　べんきょうします。

I usually study at home.

勉強します　ー　べんきょうします　ー　Study

ときどき映画を見ます。

ときどき　えいが　を　みます。

Sometimes I watch movies.

映画　ー　えいが　ー　Movie

見ます　ー　みます　ー　Watch

土曜日に映画を見ませんか。

どようび　に　えいが　を　みません　か。

You wouldn't like to see a movie on Saturday, would you?

土曜日　ー　どようび　ー　Saturday

映画　ー　えいが　ー　Movie

見ません　ー　みません　ー　Don't watch

土曜日はちょっと…

どようび　は　ちょっと...

Saturday is a little difficult.

土曜日　ー　どようび　ー　Saturday

日曜日はどうですか。

にちようび　は　どう　です　か。

How is Sunday?

日曜日　ー　にちようび　ー　Sunday

早いですね。

はいやい　です　ね。

You're up early, aren't you.

早い　ー　はやい　ー　Quick, early

今日は京都に行きます。

きょう　は　きょうと　に　いきます。

Today, I'm going to Kyoto.

今日　ー　きょう　ー　Today

京都　ー　きょうと　ー　Kyoto

行きます　ー　いきます　ー　Go

京都で映画を見ます。

きょうと　で　えいが　を　みます。

In Kyoto, I'll watch a movie.

京都　ー　きょうと　ー　Kyoto

映画　ー　えいが　ー　Movie

見ます　ー　みます　ー　Watch

何時ごろ帰りますか。

なんじ　ごろ　かえります　か。

What time will you come home?

何時　ー　なんじ　ー　What time

帰ります　ー　かえります　ー　Return

九時ごろです。

くじ　ごろ　です。

Around 9:00.

九時　ー　くじ　ー　9:00

晩ごはんは？

ばんごはん　は？

What about dinner?

晩ごはん　ー　ばんごはん　ー　Dinner

食べません。

たべません。

I won't be eating.

食べません　ー　たべません　ー　Wont eat

Review:

週末　ー　しゅうまつ　ー　Weekend

何　ー　なに　ー　What

勉強します　ー　べんきょうします　ー　Study

映画　ー　えいが　ー　Movie

見ます　ー　みます　ー　Watch

土曜日　ー　どようび　ー　Saturday

映画　ー　えいが　ー　Movie

見ません　ー　みません　ー　Don't watch

土曜日　ー　どようび　ー　Saturday

日曜日　ー　にちようび　ー　Sunday

早い　ー　はやい　ー　Quick, early

今日　ー　きょう　ー　Today

京都　ー　きょうと　ー　Kyoto

行きます　ー　いきます　ー　Go

京都　ー　きょうと　ー　Kyoto

映画　ー　えいが　ー　Movie

見ます　ー　みます　ー　Watch

何時　ー　なんじ　ー　What time

帰ります　ー　かえります　ー　Return

九時　ー　くじ　ー　9:00

晩ごはん　ー　ばんごはん　ー　Dinner

食べません　ー　たべません　ー　Wont eat

For a more interactive experience, try this lesson on Smart.fm.

Other lessons in the Wired Kanji series:

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Wired Kanji - Lesson 2

Continuing with my kanji studies, here are some more basic Japanese dialogues. To learn more about they way I'm studying kanji and some extra practice, see Lesson 1.

Lesson 2

Dialogue:

すみません。これはいくらですか。それは三千円です。高いですね。じゃあ、あの時計はいくらでか。あれは三千五百円です。そうですか。あれも高いです。これは千八百円ですよ。じゃあ、その時計をください。

これは誰の財布ですか。私の財布です。ありがとうございます。

いらっしゃいませ。メニューをどうぞ。どうも。これは何ですか。どれですか。ああ、トンカツです。トンカツ？魚ですか。いいえ、魚じゃありません。肉です。美味しいですよ。じゃあ、これをお願いします。

すみません、お手洗いはどこですか。あそこです。

それは三千円です。

それ　は　さんぜん　えん　です。

This is 3,000 yen.

三千　ー　さんぜん　ー　3,000

円　ー　えん　ー　Yen

高いですね。

たかい　です　ね。

Expensive, isn't it?

高い　ー　たかい　ー　Expensive

あの時計はいくらでか。

あの　とけい　は　いくら　です　か。

How much is that watch?

時計　ー　とけい　ー　Watch

あれは三千五百円です。

あれ　は　さんぜん　ごひゃく　えん　です。

That's 3,500 yen.

三千　ー　さんぜん　ー　3,000

五百　ー　ごひゃく　ー　500

円　ー　えん　ー　Yen

あれも高いです。

あれ　も　たかい　です。

That's also expensive.

高い　ー　たかい　ー　Expensive

これは千八百円ですよ。

これ　は　せん　はっぴゃく　えん　です よ。

This is 1,800 yen.

千　ー　せん　ー　1,000

八百　ー　はっぴゃく　ー　800

円　ー　えん　ー　Yen

これは誰の財布ですか。

これ　は　だれ　の　さいふ　です　か。

Who's wallet is this?

誰　ー　だれ　ー　Who?

財布　ー　さいふ　ー　Wallet

私の財布です。

わたし　の　さいふ　です。

It's my wallet.

私　ー　わたし　ー　My

財布　ー　さいふ　ー　Wallet

これは何ですか。

これ　は　なん　です　か。

What is this?

何　ー　なん　ー　What?

魚です。

さかな　です。

It's fish.

魚　ー　さかな　ー　Fish

肉です。

にく　です。

It's meat.

肉　ー　にく　ー　Meat

美味しいですよ。

おいしい　です　よ。

It's delicious!

美味しい　ー　おいしい　ー　Delicious

これをお願いします。

これ　を　おねがいします。

I'll have this please.

お願いします　ー　おねがいします　ー　Please (polite)

お手洗いはどこですか。

おてあらい　は　どこ　です　か。

Where is the washroom?

お手洗い　ー　おてあらい　ー　Washroom

Review:

三千　ー　さんぜん　ー　3,000

円　ー　えん　ー　Yen

高い　ー　たかい　ー　Expensive

時計　ー　とけい　ー　Watch

三千　ー　さんぜん　ー　3,000

五百　ー　ごひゃく　ー　500

円　ー　えん　ー　Yen

高い　ー　たかい　ー　Expensive

千　ー　せん　ー　1,000

八百　ー　はっぴゃく　ー　800

円　ー　えん　ー　Yen

誰　ー　だれ　ー　Who?

財布　ー　さいふ　ー　Wallet

私　ー　わたし　ー　My

財布　ー　さいふ　ー　Wallet

何　ー　なん　ー　What?

魚　ー　さかな　ー　Fish

肉　ー　にく　ー　Meat

美味しい　ー　おいしい　ー　Delicious

お願いします　ー　おねがいします　ー　Please (polite)

お手洗い　ー　おてあらい　ー　Washroom

For a more interactive experience, try this lesson on Smart.fm.

Other lessons in the Wired Kanji series:

Lesson 1

Lesson 3

Wired Kanji - Lesson 1

I have been having difficulty learning kanji, as I wrote in my previous post, but this time I have a solution. I want to learn kanji not as isolated characters, but rather how I might see them in a sentence; my goal is to learn how to read. Adam Rotmil suggested that I use paragraphs and dialogues to practice learning kanji in context.

My strategy:

Below is a Japanese dialogue that I am using to learn kanji. I know all the vocabulary, but I don't know any of their kanji. I start with the raw dialogue and read through it the best I can. I usually don't know them all. I then extract the sentences with kanji and subtitle them in hiragana. After, I focus on entire words using kanji, notated with hiragana and given an English translation; NO ROMAJI. And finally, I review the entire list of words used. For more practice, I created a lesson on Smart.fm. Kanji Focus Mode really makes a difference.

Notice that sometimes vocabulary items are repeated. I figure the more they are used, the more frequent I'll see them while reading.

Lesson 1

Dialogue:

すみません。今何時ですか。十二時半です。ありがとうございます。いいえ。

あの、留学生ですか。ええ、アリゾナ大学の学生です。そうですか。専門は何ですか。日本語です。今二年生です。

今何時ですか。

いま　なんじ　です　か。

What time is it now?

今　ー　いま　ー　Now

何時　ー　なんじ　ー　What time?

十二時半です。

じゅうにじ　はん　です。

It's 12:30.

十二時　ー　じゅうにじ　ー　12:00

半　ー　はん　ー　Half

留学生ですか。

りゅうがくせい　です　か。

Are you an international student?

留学生　ー　りゅうがくせい　ー　International Student

アリゾナ大学の学生です。

アリゾナ　だいがく　の　がくせい　です。

I'm a student of Arizona University.

大学　ー　だいがく　ー　College

学生　ー　がくせい　ー　Student

専門は何ですか。

せんもん　は　なん　です　か。

What's your speciality?

専門　ー　せんもん　ー　Speciality

何　ー　なん　ー　What?

日本語です。

にほんご　です。

It's Japanese.

日本語　ー　にほんご　ー　Japanese (Language)

今二年生です。

いま　にねんせい　です。

Now, I'm a sophomore.

今　ー　いま　ー　Now

二年生　ー　にねんせい　ー　Sophmore

Review:

今　ー　いま　ー　Now

何時　ー　なんじ　ー　What time?

十二時　ー　じゅうにじ　ー　12:00

半　ー　はん　ー　Half

留学生　ー　りゅうがくせい　ー　International Student

大学　ー　だいがく　ー　College

学生　ー　がくせい　ー　Student

専門　ー　せんもん　ー　Speciality

何　ー　なん　ー　What?

日本語　ー　にほんご　ー　Japanese (Language)

今　ー　いま　ー　Now

二年生　ー　にねんせい　ー　Sophmore

For a more interactive experience, try this lesson on Smart.fm.

Other lessons in the Wired Kanji series:

Lesson 2
Lesson 3

My Problem with Learning Kanji

I want to learn kanji. I've already tried and failed a few times. But this time, I know I can do it.

I have a friend taking a Japanese class right now and it frustrates me to see how quickly she's able to pick up kanji. She'll be reading over some Japanese and say, "Oh, I know this one. It means...". Sure, I know the word when she says it, but I could never pull the character out of a sentence.

My problem:

Learning kanji is boring and putting it in use is a challenge.

I find the traditional way of learning kanji, a massive stack a flash cards with a single kanji on each, to be daunting at the very least. This seems strange to me because a single kanji has numerous readings and a multitude of related meanings.

My solution:

Learn kanji, not by the character itself, but by the words that they are used in. To see this in action, view Wired Kanji - Lesson 1.

I am able to have a basic conversation in Japanese and have a large enough vocabulary (with the help of a dictionary) to convey my thoughts through writing (with the help of a computer). I know all these words, their sounds and their meanings, yet I don't know the kanji that represents them.

Working with the words I already know, I can learn their kanji how they appear in a sentence.

For example:

私は新しい雑誌を読んでいます。

わたし は あたらしい ざっし を よんでいます。

I am reading a new magazine.

I would learn the kanji for:

私 - わたし (I)

新しい - あたらしい (new)

雑誌 - ざっし (magazine)

読んでいます - よんでいます (reading)

Notice that each vocabulary item has a specific meaning. Some might be a single kanji, others might be multi-kanji pairs or a mix of kanji and hiragana. Yet, this is exactly how I would see them while reading.

I don't think there is a specific tool for learning kanji this way but I could use a list of the most common words used in Japanese writing. I also started a list of all the words I knew in Japanese, when I first began learning and it contains many basic words and phrases (when I went to Japan, I couldn't keep up). And as another tool, I purchased a handful of children's books written in Japanese from Book Off, that are written in kanji with furigana (notation in hiragana).

This is the best strategy, for me. This time, I will learn kanji.

A Measure of Proficiency

日本語うまい
にほんご うまい
nihongo umai
Your Japanese is good

Today while visting Nara, I popped into a calligraphy shop and picked up all the necessary equipment to do some serious calligraphy. Japanese calligraphy, shodou in Japanese, is something I've been dabbling in since arriving in Japan. After a few months practice, I thought it was time to try the real deal.

It was a small shop in Naramachi, an old part of town, with an elderly gentleman selling his wares. I explained to him, in Japanese, that I like shodou, but that I'm not very good yet (mada jouzu ja arimasen). I've been using a basic brush pen, the Pentel Pocket Brush to be exact (a great pen all around), but I want to buy a beginners set.

Displaying his many years of experience, he proceeded to arrange all the materials I needed. He explained, in Japanese, that I'll need two brushes, one fat (futoi), to write the main characters, and one skinny (hosoi), to write your name. Also, a simple ink stone (suzuri) and a small ink block (sumi). Additionally, it turns out one also needs a writing mat (shitajiki) and a paper weight (bunchin).

I told him that I had been studying graphic design in Osaka and he threw in an extra brush. I thanked him politely (arigatou gozaimashita) and on my way out he complimented my Japanese. It was motivating to hear this. Being able to navigate through everyday situations and to have the ability to learn from and about other people is one of my greatest accomplishments.

It set me back 7000 yen, but it showed me that perhaps there are other ways of measuring ones proficiency in language rather than an exam and a pretty piece of paper. Although, when I get back to the States, I'll give the new JLPT 5 a try.

がんばります

Ganbarimasu

I'll do my best!

Vocab:

書道

しょどう

shodou

calligraphy

筆

ふで

fude

calligraphy brush

Speaking in Japan

It has been a long time since the last post, over 5 months. During that time, I've been in Japan and haven't mentioned it once. I look back at the previous post and how I said that my weakest area was speaking Japanese. While in Japan, that's all I've been able to do.

As I may have mentioned previously, I am in Japan for a semester to study graphic design. All of my classes have been entirely in Japanese and all the friends I have made speak Japanese. Perhaps the one thing I appreciate most about coming to Japan, in regards to learning the language, is being pressured to communicate in Japanese all the time.

There are times, just after having a conversation with a friend or giving a presentation in class that I think to myself, surprised that I had just been speaking, entirely in Japanese, for the whole conversation. It is becoming a natural process, albeit not the most sophisticated. Although, as time has progressed, I am able to progress into deeper more substantial conversations about the things people have seen and done, what their family is like or things that are important to them.

I've made some good friends, learned many things (good and bad) and regret that I'll be leaving soon, too soon. I hope to write on some of my experiences in hindsight and plan to study the complexities, now that I've gotten over my apprehension of speaking and now knowing that I can be heard and understood.

Rosetta Stone: Japanese Speaking Lesson

I'm currently using Rosetta Stone as a tool to learn Japanese. The weakest element of my Japanese language skill is speaking it. Thus, the speaking lessons included in Rosetta Stone is quite helpful and fun, albeit a little strange to practice in public. Here's an example of me practicing Japanese with Rosetta Stone's speaking lesson.



As you can see in the video, the lesson goes through basic words, handy phrases, as well as constructing your own sentences. It will first tell you how to say it in Japanese while showing you a relevant photo and writing it out in Japanese text (I have mine set to Japanese with Kanji and Furigana to help me read them). Then it allows you to give your best shot at speaking in Japanese. If you make a mistake, it will show you where, and allow you to say it again until you get it right. Finally it will say the phrase in Japanese one more time and then you're on the way to learning Japanese.

Even though I sometimes trip-up and make some mistakes (you can't drink a book), it's good to start thinking in Japanese and speaking as much as possible.

Japanese Youtube Collection

I've been collecting Youtube videos that are either in Japanese or about Japan in some way. As it turns out, I've reached the limit for favorite videos; a total of 660 videos. Thus I've decided to clean them up, remove the dead videos, and sort them into playlists.

Watch all the Japanese videos on my Youtube Channel.

It's a great way to practice your listening comprehension skills. It's helpful because you get to hear native speakers talking at full speed. Although, I can't say I understand much of it yet.

Some videos have subtitles, some don't, but I have found that if you give a video without subtitles a chance, there's a lot you can learn, even though you might not understand every word. The next time you run across a video in Japanese without subtitles, take a minute to watch the speakers expressions, mannerisms, and body language. You'll be amazed at how much you really know.

Peter Rabbit in Japanese

The website Wired for Books has a wonderful selection of Beatrix Potter books translated into Japanese. The most familiar of her writings is of course Peter Rabbit.

Although these books do include some kanji, children's books typically are a great way to practice reading Japanese. It's hard to jump into reading manga in Japanese because the writing level is too high for beginners; you spend more time flipping through the dictionary, rather than the story.

Try starting the classic Peter Rabbit.

Ryan the Wired is going to Japan

Above: These will be my classmates. I’m in for a wild ride!


I'm going to Japan! The interview to study abroad went really well. I introduced myself in Japanese (a surefire way to impress the panel) and got a lot of good advice. Primarily, be open to new experiences and take advantage of all the resources available to me both at Sozosha (Soh.zoh.sha) and my home school. Also, another student, Tara, who's an illustrator, is going as well. We've form a small band of language learners and speakers, working with a tutor, Rio Sensei, and one of my Japanese obsessed instructors, on the side.

For Japan, I'm planning on going out at the beginning of March, Spend about a month in Tokyo so I can adjust to the culture, and take a language class to really immerse myself in the language to prepare myself for school. I'm going to stay with a host family, rather that trying to navigate a month in hostiles and the like. It will also give me time to scope out the Japanese creative scene. One of my instructors has a connection in Tokyo at a design and animation studio called Tokyo Lab. They don't specifically do what I do but the founders were both educated at American design schools and work bilingually. They'll be a good insight into what its like to be a creative in Japan and help me know who I need to know.

Then I'll head out to Osaka at the beginning of April to start my design classes at Sozosha. There, I'll also be staying with a host family, who will be indispensable in navigating my way through my time there. Let me tell ya, I'm looking forward to some good Japanese eats. I'm going to approach it with an open mind and try as much as possible. A vegetarian open to new things; a flexitarian. Our group went to a Japanese restaurant, the most delicious in town, and Rio taught us manners. I had what is called a Donburi. They vary in ingredients, but mine consisted of a bowl with a bottom layer of rice, with tempura vegetables piled on top. Osaka is known to be the place for food and the place for the arts; a perfect combination. Classes at Sozosha go until August. Then I'll fly back to home and start up classes again at the very end of August.

Hard work is paying off; cant wait to jetset to the other side of the globe.

Asking "how to say" in Japanese

Today in Japanese class our sensei introduced us to a handy phrase, giving us the ability to ask how to say something, that we don't already know, in Japanese.

__ は にほんご で なん と いいます か。
__ wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
How do I say __ in Japanese?

Q:
Glassesはにほんごでなんといいますか。
Glasses wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
How do you say Glasses in Japanese?

A:
めがねいいます。
megane iimasu.
You say megane.

This phrase is handy, especially when talking to a teacher, because they are able to take your english request and parse it into Japanese.

When in Japan, I know I will be using this phrase all the time, but my Japanese host family probably wont understand English. Thus this helpful modification is appropriate:

Q:
これはにほんごでなんといいますか。
kore wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka?
What is this called in Japanese?

A:
それはほんです。
sore wa hon desu.
That's a book.

The next time you're not sure how to say a word in Japanese, don't be afraid to ask. Just us this valuable phrase.

Elementary Japanese 101

Tomorrow marks the first day of my institutionally structured journey to better understand the Japanese language. I will be taking Elementary Japanese 101 at a local liberal arts college, in addition to my current education at design school. The course is a requirement in order to study abroad, yet one that I am looking forward to.

We will be using the Nakama Japanese textbook and workbook. Together, they were over $100 used at the bookstore. Hello Amazon.

In my self guided study, as well as working with my Japanese tutor, we worked with the Genki textbook. Genki was accessible and tried to make learning the language fun, overall a good textbook. Solely judging by the cover of Nakama, it looks strictly business. Hopefully as we progress, it will open up a bit.

Looking forward to meeting my fellow classmates and studying hard.

As usual, がんばります！(I'll do my best!)

Think You Know Your Kana?

While learning the Japanese Language, I've often been asked if I know hiragana and katakana; It is a good way to measure a beginner Japanese learner's skill level. I would always answer that I knew my kana well; I knew the phonetic sounds and how to write Japanese characters on my computer.

Yet when I was asked by my Japanese tutor, Rio Sensei, who is thankfully very specific in regards to learning the Japanese language, I thought, no problem. Yet, there's a twist: write them out, by hand, without any reference. Fail. I knew how to write some of the characters, but many I simply drew a mental blank.

Thus, Rio provided me a handy sheet for practicing hiragana and katakana. Over my time learning Japanese, I've completed over 80 sheets of kana practice. That's approximately 12,300 individually written kana; does your arm hurt after that. This is over a time span of about five months now.

That said, there are a few pesky kana, particularly katakana, that I blank on. While the previous kana worksheets are great for learning form and order, I have devised a new work sheet to help with memorization; unaided recall.

This new sheet has no sample kana to sample from; it is just you and your memory. I like to stream through all the hiragana then katakana, in proper order, then start again on the next line. If I blank, I leave a space and move on. It's good for keeping track of the characters you forget.

Get the blank practice sheet here

Now I know that I frequently forget: め(me), も(mo) in hiragana and ヌ(nu), ネ(ne), メ(me), モ(mo), ル(ru), レ(re) in katakana.

What hiragana and katakana do you seem to always forget?

My Japanese Coach Review.

Many people seem to be using the Nintendo DS video game My Japanese Coach to learn the Japanese language, so I thought I would give it a play.

I have been learning Japanese, self studying, for some time now. Thus in the placement test, I tested into lesson five.

The placement test gives you a series of, at the most, 50 some questions. If you get two incorrect answers in a row, the test ends and you get placed in the appropriate lesson. The part that I fumbled up on was the days of the week. I should know them by know, so I am glad that’s where I’m starting out. The days of the week are an important thing to know.

The video game My Japanese Coach is a great resource as an introduction to the Japanese Language. It is fun and easy to get into. It starts you out with English spellings of Japanese words (romaji) and as you progress becomes written with Japanese characters (hiragana, katakana, kanji).

My only qualm is about the necessity of romaji for continued learning. It serves its role in making this game accessible, but is a crutch in the long run; if your learning a foreign language, you should use the proper characters. Thus, my word of advice: learn hiragana and katakana as soon as possible and get away from romaji just as quick.

Overall a fun game. がんばって！ (Do your best!)

See more progress on: Learn Japanese

Japanese Designers.

Japanese designers, architects, engenieers, creatives, and thinkers from Kenya Hara’s book Designing Design
shigeru ban
masahiko sato
kengo kuma
kaoru mende
kosuke tsumura
naoto fukasawa
norihide imagawa
tadasu ohe
akio okumura
kaoru kasai
kanji hayashi
mayumi miyawaki
shin sobue
toyo ito
shuhei hasado
yasuhiro suzuki
shunji yamanaka
keiko hirano
masayo ave
reiko sudo
kazunari hattori
/

See more progress on: Learn Japanese

Wired in Japan: Icon

The generosity of olliecapehorn (from the Japanese language site, JapanesePortal), was an impetus in the creation of an icon for the Wired in Japan blog.

I designed this mark to evoke the symbology of the Japanese flag;
an immediately recognizable icon in itself. It also plays off the idea of being wired, or connected. There are also formal similarities in the iconography for RSS, broadcasts, transmission, and a worldwide wholeness or globality.

As you will undoubtedly notice, the icon is composed from the Japanese character の (no), which is a particle that "indicates ownership or attribution." The use of a Japanese character was important to denote the focus on learning the Japanese language.
Also, to me, it is representative of my personal experiences,
thus my individual journey to learn about Japan.

Graphic Design Terminology

For all you Smart.fm users, I created a list on graphic design terms in Japanese. These terms a very helpful when searching for Japanese design. One can get a good view about what is happening in Japanese design by googling in the native language.

The list encompasses basics like:
グラフィックデザイン - Graphic Design
フォント - Font
ロゴ - Logo
ポスター - Poster

To more esoteric terms like:
バウハウス - Bauhaus
ポール・ランド - Paul Rand
スイス・スタイル - Swiss Style
ヘルヴェチカ - Helvetica
ビジュアルコミュニケーション - Visual Communication

All the words are in katakana, because they're loan words or foreign names. Basically sound out the English word with Japanese pronunciation.

がんばって！

Practice Writing Hiragana and Katakana

Rio-sensi, from the beginning, has put much emphasis on writing hiragana and katakana. To practice, I've been using writing sheets, which are composed of an array of boxes, each with a four cell grid, notating every basic kana. Thus, mimicking the initial example kana, the repetition and tactile experience has made profound development in my ability to understand written Japanese, in addition to the ability to breakdown vocabulary for proper pronunciation.

Update:
I recently revised the Hiragana and Katakana practice sheets to make them more efficient. View the new practice sheets here.

Practice Japanese With Pankun

パンくん (Pankun), the genius chimpanzee, is the star of a Japanese television show. Pankun is a chimp that's able to complete everyday tasks and is one comedic character.

In this episode watch Pankun face off with Aiba, a Japanese entertainer, in a contest of feats. They battle in various physical activities, such as: push ups, an eating contest, and a dance off.





To make learning Japanese a bit more interesting, I find it enjoyable to watch videos in which Japanese is the only spoken language, without any English subtitles. Watching videos without subtitles seems daunting at first, yet one is able to gain at least a fragment of understanding, even without completely understanding what they are saying.

If you simply watch the way people use body language, as well as listen to the emphasis and emotion that is put into the way they speak, it is easy to get the gist of what is going on.

I don't see watching video in Japanese as a way to learn the Japanese language, but rather a fun way to see how your listening comprehension is. After learning Japanese for a little while, I am able to progressively pick out words and phrases. The more that Japanese I learn, the more I will be able to understand.

tofu vs natto. とうふ vs なっとう.

こんにちはりおせんせい。
わたしはとうふがすきです。なっとうはすきじゃありません。

あなたはすきですか。

From a message I hand wrote to my teacher:

Hello Rio sensei.
Tofu is my favorite. Natto is not my favorite.
(I've never actually tried it, but i hear it is quite peculiar.)

What is your favorite?

Purikura. Sticker Pictures on the iPhone.

I recently referred to the Sticker Picture craze among young Japanese women and came across a handy iPhone application for customizing your very own Purikura.

The application is called STICKi PICi and it allows one to decorate their iPhone pictures with hearts and star bursts, so ubiquitous on the Purikura scene.



Their website describes Purikura:

These popular asian photobooths are also known as purikura プリクラ (from Japanese pop culture lingo purinto kurabu プリント倶楽部, meaning print club).

As a student studying the Japanese language it is always fascinating to learn about the origins of a word. It is especially interesting to see how English loan words are pulled and blended together creating something uniquely Japanese.

I wish I was part of the print club, alas I have no iPhone. For those of you who are iPhone endowed, you can be part of the illustrious print club (プリント倶楽部 - purinto kurabu).

Check out STICKi PICi's features:

- Over 40 frames to choose from!
- Over 100 stamps to decorate your photos!
- Works with both portrait and landscape photos.
- Moving and scaling every stamp on your screen
- No object placement is permanent. Just select your drawing, stamp, or bubble to move and scale it!
- Choose from several fonts when typing in your chat bubbles.
- Choose your colors for the gel pen and the text in the chat bubbles.
- Airbrush your photos with the soften feature.
- Choose between having your creation in color, sepia, or black & white.
- Auto-saves your photo session so your work isn’t lost when you need to exit the application or you get an unexpected phone call while drawing.

Remember the Kanji - Lesson 1

I completed Lesson 1 of Heisig’s Remember the Kanji. It was super easy and a quick lesson. I used the list on smart.fm to study my way through.

There was only 15 items to learn which included the numbers 1-10 in addition to the words moon, mouth, day, rice field, and eye. The kanji for the numbers is quite beneficial. I also noticed that the nouns in this lesson were built on similar shapes and sounds.

一 – いち – i.chi – 1
二 – に – ni – 2
三 – さん – sa.n – 3
四 – し – shi – 4
五 – ご – go – 5
六 – ろく – ro.ku – 6
七 – しち – shi.chi – 7
八 – はち – ha.chi – 8
九 – きゅう – kyu.u – 9
十 – じゅう – jyu.u – 10
口 – くち – ku.chi – mouth
日 – にち – ni.chi – day
月 – つき – tsu.ki – moon
田 – た – ta – rice field
目 – め – me – eye

I’m really starting to like Kanji. It’s not nearly as scary as I first thought. I’m picking them up real quickly because I’m dominantly a visual learner. That way I can develop visual cues which help me relate words and meanings. This process makes remembering the Kanji a snap.

See more progress on: Learn Japanese

Rosetta Stone Lesson 1 Complete!

I just started using Rosetta Stone to supplement my self directed Japanese language study. Today I completed Lesson 1 of unit 1 from the course Japanese 1.

Rosetta Stone was much more than I expected. It creates a good balance between each of the necessary language skills: speaking, reading, writing, pronunciation, grammar.

My personal favorite sections are speaking. Rosetta Stone utilizes the built in microphone in my macbook and uses voice detection and audio analysis to gauge the correctness of your pronunciation. The feature is spot on and it really helps because spoken Japanese is my weakest language area.

The vocabulary was a good selection of basic words and phrases. Hello (こんにちは), goodbye (さようなら), girl(女の子), boy(男の子), man(男の人), woman(女の人). Also with phrases like “the boys are reading books” (男の子たちは本を読んでいます).

There were two instances where I continually had difficulties pronouncing words. the “hito” in “otokonohito” (おとこのひと – man) and the word “ryouri” (りょうり – to cook) used to trip me up quite a bit. Through pronunciation practice I have a much better handle.

It is also worth mentioning the ability to learn characters in kanji with furigana (kanji with small hiragana above to show pronunciation). It surprises me but I am starting to understand pairings of kana as words in themselves rather than translating them into romaji in my mind. Eventually I will see the kana for 男の子 and know that it means boy.

On to lesson two!

See more progress on: Learn Japanese