tsurara

Lesson 2: Hiragana か-そ

Lesson filepack: http://www.aragami.org/japanese/Japa...ic_Lesson2.zip
Quiz: Japanese Lesson #2 Quiz
Master Thread/Back Lessons: Free Weekly Japanese Lessons

Material covered in this lesson
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1. Tips For Remembering
2. hiragana - か　き　く　け　こ　さ　し　す　せ　そ
3. vocabulary/pronunciation


1. Tips For Remembering

Assuming you've been following along this far, you should already know five hiragana (the vowels あ　い　う　え　and お). That doesn't mean you're necesarily going to remember them at the end of this week... or next week... or the week after next.

Like any skill, language requires use to perfect. If you don't use it, you're going to use it. So don't rest on your laurels! Here are some ways to stay on top of your game:

- Set goals and reward yourself for their completion. Tell yourself that if you can get a certain score on this week's quiz you'll make an exception with your diet and have an ice cream cone or order a pizza. Promise yourself a Study-free weekend if you can nail all of your flashcards on Friday. Buy yourself that video game you've been holding back on, treat yourself to a movie, or just brag your head off to everyone else about your accomplishment. Who cares if you lose friends, you're gaining language ability!

- Flashcards! Flashcards are your best friend on long commutes, in boring study halls or even just while you're waiting for your friends to fix their hair so you can go out. Make sure your flashcards are small, portable and with you at all times. When you find yourself with nothing else productive to do: whip them out and have a look. (HINT: standard index cards are too large to haul around and you're probably going to be going through a few hundred a month. Cut them in half or fourths to save money and space.)

- Be a show off. Go ahead. As long as you aren't a totally jackass about it, there's nothing wrong with whipping out your hiragana practice in a crowded cafeteria or McDonalds in hopes someone will ask you about it. Chances are, people are going to think it's cool that you're learning to write something that, to them, is total moonspeak. You'll probably start getting requests to write people's names, translate things for tattoos and all kinds of people asking you if you're "fluent"... which brings us to the next point

- Be humble. Don't overestimate your own ability or pretend to know more than you do. Hard work will get you a long way: a big head won't. Japanese can be hard... it's harder if you talk more about what you don't know than study it. Don't alienate the people around you with your bragging... and be very careful not to get in over your head.

- Don't assume that mastering something once means you've mastered it forever. Once you start learning more at a quicker pace you're going to find it harder to hang onto the knowledge you've already aquired. The key is to use it ALL. Don't just concentrate on the material at hand: try to practice everything you've learned together. It's a good idea to read through your old lessons every so often.


2. Hiragana か-そ

Now for your next set of hiragana ~ this week you'll be learning 10 characters.

か - ka
き - ki
く - ku
け - ke
こ - ko

さ - sa
し - shi
す - su
せ - se
そ - so

Please note that each character actually contains a vowel sound from last week's set (a i u e o).

Excersizes:

- worksheets 6-11


3. Basic Vocabulary

This week's vocabulary list consists entirely of words that can be constructed from the five vowel hiragana.

かい　－　kai - shellfish (noun)
き　－ ki - tree (noun)
くさ　－ kusa - grass (noun)
けす　－ kesu - to erase (verb)
こい　－ koi - love (noun)

おさけ　- osake - alcohol (noun)
しか - shika - deer (noun)
すき - suki - like/love (noun)
せき - seki - seat (noun)
くそ - kuso - shit!/crap! (exclamation)

= Different Kinds of Love =

You now have three different vocabulary words that translate to the same word in English: あい,　こい, and　すき. What's the difference?

あい - romantic, sensual, passionate love
こい - romantic, innocent, new love
すき - like, common euphemism for "love"

While you hear quite a lot of the first two in love songs and tv dramas, there's remarkably little talk of them in everyday life. The Japanese are, by nature euphemistic, tend to use すき　for love confessions, discussing romantic interests, signing off to loved ones in phone calls or emails and for day to day "I love you"s.

*Keep in mind that all of these words are in their noun forms! None of them equate to the English verb "(to)love".

Excersizes:

- pronunciation drills with the sound files included in this pack
- write each word 5 times in hiragana



Recommended Study Regimen:
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Day 1: read the lesson and complete all activities
Day 2-5: repeat worksheets 1-11 and pronunciation drills for both weeks
Day 6: test yourself with flashcards, review for quiz
Day 7: Quiz (week 1 and 2 material)


Fun Semi-Relevant Media of the Week:
Be amazed by this 3 year old's ability to kick your ass... you want revenge, don't you? ~ YouTube - ひらがな挑戦
Another cute baby clip to inspire you ~ YouTube - あいうえお

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Sei-chan

Shit, not only is the kid in the first YT link the most adorable thing on the planet, but he can handle a brush marker better than I can =O. That's somehow unfair T__T...

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tsurara

Updated to include Quiz #2:

Japanese Lesson #2 Quiz

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