Usefull Japanese terms and basic pronunciation.

(work in progress)

Pronunciation:
Japanese is made up of syllables, rather than letters. Each syllable is either a consonant followed by a vowel, or a vowel alone. The only standalone consonant is "n".

Each vowel has one sound:
a= "ah" like in father
i= "ee" like in machine
u= "oo" like in hoop
e= "eh" like in set
o= "oh" like in rope

The consonants are pretty normal. g is allways hard. The hard one is "r" which is actually halfway between an "r" and an "l". If you can do the rolling r for spanish you can do this easily, just flick your tongue only once. "f": between an "h" and an "f", blow between lips instead of lips and teeth.
An "n" occurring before "b", "m" and "p" changes to a "m"
If you see a double consonant they are pronounced separately with a stop between.
Long vowels: When a vowel is doubled they are two separate syllables so it is held for two beats instead of one. So if its an "a" you would say aah but if it's "aa" you say aaaah. Long "o" is written as "ou" instead of "oo" or as ō (don't say ow!)
"u" and "i" in certain situations can be silent of nearly so. "desu ka" is said "des'ka" "hajimemashite" is "hajimemash'te" "itadakimasu" is "itadakimas' "

Words written in latin alphabet is called "Romaji". Hiragana (the top character in the chart) is for native words. Katakana (below the Hiragana) is for loan words. Kanji is used for a lot of words so that Japanese writing can be a mix of the three. Kanji is very difficult, do not ask me about it LOL. Japanese students are still learning to read Kanji all through highschool.

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Sentences:

Watashi wa ninja desu.
I am a ninja.
Watashi=I
desu- the verb "to be", placed at the end of a sentence.

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In Japanese writing 4 different sets of characters are used. They are Hiragana (that in the chart above, the basic Japanese characters that young children learn first, used in word endings and particles, kanji is used for most words but they can be writen long form with hiragana as well), Katakana (used for foreign derived words), Kanji (chinese characters), and Romaji (latin alphabet). They may all be in the same sentence, eg:

ソフトバンクの契約は縛りが多くて嫌い。Macは使うけどiPhoneよりAndroidの方が自由な感じでいいと思う。

I really am not sure what the above says but I saw it and thought it would be a good example of modern Japanese writing.

highlighed with Kanji in black, hiragana in red and katakana in violet.
ソフトバンク の契約は縛りが多くて嫌い。Macは使うけどiPhoneよりAndroidの方が自由な感じでいいと思う。
I believe the katakana comes out as something like "sofutobasoku" and banelfish tells me it's "Software bank". I'll work out the rest later lol.

Suffixes for usage in daily lives

San - most common. represents Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss and is a title of respect.

Kun - sed by people of senior status in addressing or referring to those of junior status, or by anyone when addressing or referring to male children or male teenagers.

Chan - it expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. Thus, using chan with a superior's name would be condescending and rude. In general, chan is used for babies, young children, and teenage girls. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, close friends or any woman with youthful spirit.

Senpai - This is used when speaking or referring to a student of senoir year in school or college. In a work environment colleagues tha have been there longer would be called Senpai aswell. This can be used by itself instead of beign used as a suffix like Doctor in English.

Sensei - used to refer to or address teachers, doctors, politicians and other authority figures. It is used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill, and is also applied to novelists, poets, painters, and other artists, including manga artists. In Japanese martial arts, sensei typically refers to someone who is the head of a dojo. As with senpai, sensei can be used not only as a suffix, but also as a stand-alone title.

Sama - It is used primarily in addressing or referring to people much higher in rank than oneself, toward one's customers, and sometimes toward people one greatly admires. When used to refer to oneself, sama expresses extreme arrogance.

Dono - when attached to a name, roughly means "lord" or "master." It doesn't equate noble status, rather it is a term akin to "milord" or French "monseigneur," and lies between san and sama in level of respect.

MARTIAL ART TITLES

Kensei - sword's saint, an honorary title given to a warrior of legendary skill in swordsmanship.

Kyōshi - which in everyday Japanese can be a more modest synonym for sensei, is sometimes used to indicate an instructor.
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I Hope this helps Hikari-sensei.

Hope you guys don't mind me adding onto here, ^_^;; I'll add on whatever terms I know about, bits and pieces as and when I have the time, feel free to correct as you please. Maybe someone could arrange the stuff into categories for easy readings? I can offer to do so on a weekend basis, lol

Watashi - english equivalent of 'I', as in, "Watashi wa Kei desu", "I am Kei". Used by both genders

Ore - I or me, pretty much the same as watashi, but less polite than 'watashi'. Used by males usually, tomboyish females may use it some times.

Boku - the same meaning as ore, used mainly by males, tomboyish females may use it some times.

Does Japanese have stress marks or spots on words? Learning a little Chinese, I could never remember the stresses in the right spots...

as far as I'm aware, no. The table Hikari sensei provided above pretty much sums up the syllables the Japanese language has, now to combine them into sentences and words...

Fun fact, Japanese don't have 'L' in their language. which is why many words starting with L turns into R when spoken in Japanese.

Useful topic.
Shall edit my post here and bring some input and hopefully interesting info for all to read.
[ EDITED ]
took out the ideas
Thought it would be best to .... *gulps*

*raises eyebrows*

Awww...don't be shy,