Rocket Japanese Community

こんばん　は！
Hello everyone! First I would just like to say how brilliant Rocket Japanese is, and I would go into more detail but I feel it would be futile because you already know that.

My question, actually, is kana-related. Obviously in English, young children unfamiliar with all letters of the language are given phrases like 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.' In which every letter of English is in one sentence. I was wondering - could there be anything similar in Japanese?

For example, is there a sentence (or a couple of sentences - I don't care! ) That has EVERY character in both Hiragana and Katakana? Or maybe just one or the other, I don't mind. Obviously this would be impossible with Kanji that's a scary thought. And if there isn't one, if anyone would be able to devise such a literal formation, I would be even more grateful!

Thoughts please.

ありがとう!

I think its best you learn them in the Kana table form like this:

あいうえお
かきくけこ
さしすせそ
たちつてと
なにぬねの
はひふへほ
まみむめも
よ　　ゆ　　よ
らりるれろ
わ　ん　を

and for katakana:

アイウエオ
カキクケコ
サシスセソ
タチツテト
ナニヌネノ
ハヒフヘホ
マミムメモ
ヤ　ユ　ヨ
ラリルレロ
ワ　ン　ヲ

If I forgot a line or misplaced a line my mistake I just went off of memory.

As dictionaries organize everything by this order. On top of that once you know these kana the rest of the kana (that add the two lines or little circle) become much easier to know as well as the yoon.

So overall my suggestion to you is learn this layout rather than finding a sentence as it will be much more beneficial to you. Besides that it'd probably have to be a really long sentence that I would find harder to remember than a sentence.

If you want a suggestion in regards to learning that table layout. What I did was have a kana table next to me with the romaji next to each character. I then wrote out the first line 5 times saying the corresponding reading to each character as I went and then progressed to the next line but when I went to the next line I also wrote the previous lines once so kinda like this:

あいうえお
あいうえお
あいうえお
あいうえお
あいうえお

あいうえお
さしすせそ
さしすせそ
さしすせそ
さしすせそ
さしすせそ

あいうえお
さしすせそ
たちつてと
たちつてと
。
。
。

So yeah just get a notebook out and well practice this it teaches just about everything you need to know about kana, stroke order (find a table that demonstrates the stroke order for you), reading, and the actual order of the table.

Konnichiwa Will-san,

As Derek-san has kindly suggested, the best way to learn Kana is by memorizing the FIRST row, and the FIRST column of the Hiragana table (when laid horizontally - reading across from upper left)
あいうえお (a, i, u , e, o)
かきくけこ (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko)
さしすせそ(sa, si [shi], su, se, so)
たちつてと (ta, ti [chi], tu [tsu], te, to)
なにぬねの(na, ni, nu, ne, no)
はひふへほ(ha, hi, hu [fu], he, ho)
まみむめも (ma, mi, mu, me, mo)
や--ゆ--よ(ya, --- yu, --- yo)
らりるれろ(ra, ri, ru, re, ro)
わ--------を (wa, --- --- --- wo [o])
ん (n)

Start by memorizing the FIRST ROW - which are all vowels a, i, u, e, o
あ-い-う-え-お
And then, memorize the order of syllables in the FIRST COLUMN on the left: a, ka, sa, ta, na, ha, ma, ya, ra, wa, n
あ-か-さ-た-な-は-ま-や-ら-わ-ん

(Note: that all the syllables in the First column end with the vowel 'a' except for the last 'N' ん)
Once you've got those memorized, you can produce all the KANA simply by combining the consonants of the first column with each of the vowels. (EXCEPT for the last 'N')
あいうえお a, i, u, e, o
かきくけこ ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
さしすせそ sa, si - (shi), su, se, so
たちつてと ta, ti - (chi), tu - (tsu), te, to
and so on.

Note that there are some irregular consonants, which are: し shi, ち chi, つ tsu, and ふ fu.　You may sometimes see them written si, ti, tu, hu - which do correspond with the system above.
There are also some blank spots. There used to be none - but 2 from the 'y' row and 3 from the 'w' row are no longer used and are thus not part of the Hiragana table.

Have fun! Sayaka

As expected Sayaka explained it so much better than I did xD!

Derek-san,
You are a magnificent learner and always on top of things!
Thank you for encourages your fellow Rocket Japanese learners! That as you learn more and more Japanese, you can teach as well!

Jyane - Sayaka

Oh you flatter me Sayaka!

If I can help someone else with their language then maybe as the Japanese say, "They might pay me back someday." although it's in Japanese and it's a phrase I hear all the time but I don't know the enunciation of it yet xD...

それでは、

デレック

maybe a little off topic, but i was just wondering.....i've heard many stories of people being able to live in japan without knowing how to speak japanese. i don't plan on learning kanji any time soon(or a all ), but i'm in the middle of learning hiragana.
my question is, will learning only hiragana (not kanji or katakana) help in living in japan, opposed to not knowing any at all? or is kanji the only to help in that situation...
(by the time i make a trip to japan, im planning to learn to speak japanese by then....)
sorry if my question seems unclear

Seedle-san,

I believe people who live in Japan without knowing how to speak Japanese... is missing out on so much that Japan offers!
If you don't know Japanese... you won't be able to get acquainted with your next door neighbor who may be a sweet elderly Japanese lady, and could open your eyes to what is 'truly' Japanese.
If you don't know Japanese... you will only hang out with English-speakers, and mainly in big cities - eventually going back to your home country with many memories with them, rather than experiencing the beauty of the country-side and the country-side folks.
Leaning Hiragana and Katakana are essential -but Japanese is written in Hiragana, Katakana, AND KANJI - so yes, if you can, it's best to familiarize yourself with the most common and frequently used Kanji.

Start with numbers, then days of week, then months, then some body parts. On your first train ride, you'll be amazed at how much you can read the poster ads hanging from the ceiling of trains! And it will surely make your first day memorable.

- Sayaka