Japanese Phrases for Travelers 
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Japanese Phrases for Travelers
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Introduction (2)  
Below is the Katakana syllabary.  a i u e o  ka ki ku ke ko  sa shi su se so  ta chi tsu te to  na ni nu ne no  ha hi fu he ho  ma mi mu me mo  ya yu yo  ra ri ru re ro  wa wo (o)  n Like Hiragana, the sounds of some Katakana are changed with  or  , which are attached at the upper right of the letter.
 ga gi gu ge go  za ji zu ze zo  da ji zu de do  ba bi bu be bo  pa pi pu pe po Like Hiragana, add to these a small  , and it makes another sound.
 kya kyu kyo  gya gyu gyo  sha shu sho  ja ju jo  cha chu cho  ja ju jo  nya nyu nyo  hya hyu hyo  bya byu byo  pya pyu pyo  mya myu myo  rya ryu ryo Like Hiragana, a small  makes another sound.
 katto (cut in English)  netto (net in English)  chatto (chat in English) The small is represented in Romaji by the "doubling" of the following consonant.
Furthermore, a "  " is often used in Katakana writing. The "" indicates the previous vowel should be long.
For example:  houmu (home in English)  intaanetto (internet in English)  chokoreeto (chocolate in English) Japanese can be written in only Kana. But, generally speaking, Japanese written in only Kana is very difficult for Japanese people to read. So, Kanji, or Chinese characters, are used. Kanji is a character used in writing Chinese, Japanese, sometimes Korean. In Japanese, each Kanji has its own meanings and sounds. For example:  Meaning: grow, give birth to a baby, live, raw Sound: sei, shou, i, u, o, ha, ki, nama  Meaning: politics, policy, government Sound: sei, shou, matsurigoto  Meaning: seed, species Sound: shu, tane Generally speaking, it is very difficult for native English speakers to read, understand and master Kanji. So, this site avoids using Kanji as much as possible. The phrases including Kanji have a key to read. For example: How are you? O-genki desu ka?  Kanji translation:  telephone Denwa  Characteristics of the Japanese language +Unlike English, subjects such as I, we and you are often omitted in sentences, especially in spoken Japanese. +Verbs are put at the end of sentences. +Sentence fragments are marked and separated by something called a particle. For example I am American. Watashi wa amerika-jin desu.  Translation:  
 
 
 
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