Hello, it's JP otaku with a big helping of good news--
Hurrah-- I've successfully memorized all 46 basic Hiragana characters!!
So, what does this mean? Well, us Americans are quite contented with using the same 26 letters, over and over, to make words and sentences. Japan, however, thought that a measly 26 was "not quite enough". No, Japan decided to take it to the next level. And the next level. AND the next.
How many letters do these Japanese use anyway? You might ask. 26 is enough for me, I guess!
It might be much to some of your surprise that those silly ducks in Japan have over 50,200 characters previously created, if you include both of their syllabaries (or sets of characters based on syllables, not specific letters) and their set of ideographs (pictures which are loosely based on the ideas that they represent). That's right. Japan-50,200 (or more), America-26.
Now, some of you might be thinking now, What difference does learning 46 characters make when you've got another 50,150 left to learn?
It doesn't help much to lump a task together and turn it into a chore, I've told myself. Instead, I should break it down-- 46 is the basic number of characters to learn in Hiragana. 46 is also the number of basic characters to learn in the Katakana syllabary. To add on to the basics, there are an additional 61 to learn in Hiragana which are simply variations, and likewise in Katakana. Now if I have mastered both the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries, you can deduct the approximate 200 from the 50,200 I have to learn.
Now here comes the big dogs-- the Kanji ideographs. Now, in a traditional Japanese primary school, students are taught about 1,000 kanji, which covers the majority of the daily use of kanji in Japan. Memorizing all 50,000 or more kanji is comparable to scouring the dictionary and memorizing rare and obsure words such as "clagenarious ". Learning 2,000 is MUCH more than enough for me to learn, especially since Japanese is not my first language, nor do I live in Japan. So, there we go! I've shortened my studies from 50,200 to 2,150 using bare logics.
Now, I could sit here and feel sorry for myself: "Still, 2,150 is a nightmarish number of lines and curves to remember! ON top of that, I barely know any words, and cannot even string a simple Japanese sentence together! I'm even taking two other languages, in addition to regular classes, and if I want to get into a Japanese exchange program before I graduate, I'm doomed!!"
...Wow, I really am good at that, aren't I?
Anyways, the only way to get as far as possible is to try as hard as possible, and waste as little time worrying and making it seem impossible. Besides, since I am so passionate about learning Japanese, it should provide at least a little fuel when the going gets tough.
Whoa, life lesson alert...
Anyways! I hope your summer is going just peachy, and is full of good times! Well, I hope my own will go that way too, because I'm at an all time high when it comes to being BORED.
BORED!
If there's anything you feel like saying, feel free! You can comment (To tell the truth, I'm very bored and lonely, and I'm not considering getting a cat.)
UPDATE: I've just found out that the Katakana syllabary has about 45 extra characters in addition to the 107 of the basic/contracted characters, to conform to the sounds made in other languages and cultures besides Japan. Darn foreigners and their complex sounds.
