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Common Kanji Vocabular

The Jōyō Kanji 常用漢字表 The jōyō kanji is the guide to kanji characters announced officially by the Japanese Ministry of Education. Current jōyō kanji are those on a list of 1,945 characters issued on October 10, 1981. It is a slightly modified version of the tōyō kanji, which was the initial list of secondary school-level kanji standardized after World War II. (source:  Wikipedia ) Jōyō Kanji 1st Grade  (80) Jōyō Kanji 2nd Grade  (160) Jōyō Kanji 3rd Grade  (200) Jōyō Kanji 4th Grade  (200) Jōyō Kanji 5th Grade  (185) Jōyō Kanji 6th Grade  (181) Jōyō Kanji Junior High-school  (939) JLPT Kanji 日本語能力試験漢字 The Japanese Language Proficiency Test, or JLPT, is a standardized criterion-referenced test to evaluate and certify the Japanese language proficiency of non-native speakers. It is held twice a year in East Asia and once a year in other regions. The JLPT has five levels, with Level N5 being the most basic and Level N1 the most difficult. The Japan Foundation estimates that
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1 一ICHI, ITSU one, the first 一 ichi - one, the number one イ チ ,イ ツ一番 ichi ban - #1, the best hito(tsu) 世界一 sei kai ichi - the best in the world ひ と ( つ ) 一人 hitori - one person, alone 2 二 NI two, second 二 ni - two 二第二 dai ni - the second futa(tsu) 二月 ni gatsu - February [the 2nd month] ふ た ( つ ) 3 三 SAN three, third 三 san - three サ ン三角 san kaku - triangle mit(tsu) 三月 san gatsu - March [the 3rd month] み っ ( つ ) 4 四SHI , YON four, fourth 四 yon or shi - four シ , ヨ ン四級 yon kyuu - 4th grade yo-, yot(tsu) 四月 shi gatsu - April [the 4th month] よ っ ( つ ) 5 五GO five, the fifth 五 go - five ゴ五ヶ月 go ka getsu - 5 months itsu(tsu) い つ ( つ ) 6 六ROKU six, the sixth 六 roku - six ロ ク六日 mui ka - the 6th of the month mut(tsu) 六月 raku gatsu - June [the 6th month] む っ ( つ ) 7 七SHICHI, NANA seven, 七 shichi or nana - seven シ チ , ナ ナthe seventh 七不思議 nana fushigi - the seven wonders nana, nana(tsu) 七月 shichi gatsu - July [the 7th month] な な ( つ ) 8 八HACHI eight, the eighth 八 hachi -eight ハ チ八年間 hachi nen kan - 8
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Learning Kanji? (漢字)

The jōyō [ ō is read as a long o ] (常用漢字) or " regular-use Chinese characters " kanji are established by the Japanese Ministry of Education in 1981. Current jōyō kanji are those on a list of 2,136 characters issued in 2010 (It's constantly modifying, as expected. The list was last time revised on 30 November to include an additional 196 characters and remove 5 characters for a total of 2,136.) These characters are regularly used and you are going to need these in order to read a daily Japanese newspaper. Foreign learners of Japanese also often focus their kanji studies on the jōyō kanji list. The 2,136 kanji in the jōyō kanji consist of: 1,006 kanji taught in primary school (the kyōiku kanji ) 1,130 additional kanji taught in secondary school But, there is more. The Jinmeiyō kanji (人名用漢字, "kanji for use in personal names") consist of the Jōyō kanji plus an additional 983 kanji found in people's names . Then, Hyōgaiji ( 表外字 ? , "unlis
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Honorific names

One of the most important parts of talking to people in Japanese is the honorific system, or what you put at the end of somebody’s name. Honorifics situate people within the Japanese social hierarchy, by showing respect, affection, and humility. Think of Japanese honorifics like calling somebod y as Mr., Madam, or Doctor in English; each has a different level of respect and can be gender-specific. -sama様【さま】 This is the highest honorific you can possibly use and, because of that, you probably won’t be using it much at all. It’s a level of formality that seems a bit absurd, disrespectful, or sarcastic in everyday conversation. -sensei先生【せんせい】 This is another respectful honorific. You’ll mostly hear it used when referring to teachers, but it can be used for talking about other people who are experts in their fields. Doctors, lawyers, and politicians can all be called sensei. -senpai 先輩【せんぱい】 Senpai is an honorific used when talking about more senior or experienced
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Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana

Modern Japanese is written in a combination of Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. The kanas (hiragana and katakana) are relatively easy to learn. Those wishing to study Japanese are well advised to begin by learning to read the kanas. HIRAGANA: Hiragana is used: - to write Japanese words which do not have a kanji, - as a guide to denote sounds of unusual or difficult kanji, - for grammatical particles - for verb and adjective inflictions e.g. 見る (miru, "see") 見た (mita, "saw"). Note that the kanji is the same but the hiragana indicates verb tense. - in furigana which is small hiragana written about kanji characters to indicate sounds (often seen in Japanese language textbooks and childrens story books) Hiragana is smoothly written with flowing curves.  KATAKANA The katakana sounds are the SAME as the hiragana sounds, however they are written differently. Some kana are quite similar looking (e.g. "ka" Hiragana か　Katakana カ) and I therefore learned k
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Days of the week

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday J orthography 日曜日 月曜日 火曜日 水曜日 木曜日 金曜日 土曜日 Hiragana にち ようび げつ ようび か ようび すい ようび もく ようび きん ようび ど ようび Romanisation nichiyōbi getsuyōbi kayōbi suiyōbi mokuyōbi kin'yōbi doyōbi Meaning 'Sun day' 'Moon day' 'Fire day' 'Water day' 'Wood day' 'Gold day' 'Earth day'
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1. 自然 しぜん shizen Nature 2. 宇宙 うちゅう uchuu Space/Universe/Cosmos 3. 空 そら sora Sky/Heaven 4. 空気 くうき kuuki Air 5. お日様 おひさま ohisama Sun 6. 太陽 たいよう taiyou Sun 7. 月 つき tsuki Moon 8. 星 ほし hoshi Star 9. 雲 くも kumo Cloud 10. 風 かぜ kaze Wind 11. 雨 あめ ame Rain 12. 雷 かみなり kaminari Thunder 13. 雪 ゆき yuki Snow 14. 石 いし ishi Stone 15. 岩 いわ iwa Rock/Crag 16. 砂 すな suna Sand 17. 土 つち tsuchi Earth/Soil 18. 山 やま yama Mountain 19. 火山 かざん kazan Volcano 20. 丘 おか oka Hill/Knoll 21. 谷 たに tani Valley 22. 崖 がけ gake Cliff 23. 洞窟 どうくつ doukutsu Cave 24. 島 しま shima Island 25. 水 みず mizu Water 26. 海 うみ umi Sea 27. 川/河 かわ kawa River/Stream 28. 波 なみ nami Wave 29. 湖 みずうみ mizuumi Lake 30. 池 いけ ike Pond 31. 井/井戸 い/いど i/ido Water Well 32. 温泉 おんせん onsen Hot Spring 33. 滝 たき taki Waterfall 34. 泉 いずみ izumi Fountain/Spring 35. 地震 じしん jishin Earthquake 36. 津波 つなみ tsunami Tsunami/Tidal Wave 37. 木 き ki Tree/Wood 38. 林 はやし hayashi Wood/Grove 39. 森 もり mori Forest (Bigger than hayashi) 40. 枝 えだ eda
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