Word of the day Tuesday

The Japanese word of the day for Tuesday, December 16th is:

おはようございます
ohayougozaimasu

In japanese, this word means good morning. Unlike english usage of the phrase, it doesn't last all morning. After about 10:00 konnichiwa is the proper word to use.

Pronounciation: This word is pronounced Oh-Ha-Yo-o-Go-Za-I-Ma-Su
When you see words that have doubled vowels such as the yo-o part of this word, you just make that vowel last one sylabel longer.

Monday Word Of The Day

Hey all! As I said in my previous post, I will be having a word of the day every day from now on. I have been studying hard since then, and I think I have gathered enough knowledge to start on this project. I even figured out how to make my computer type in Japanese!

The word of the day for Monday, December 15, 2008 is:

こんにちは
(konnichiwa)

Written in Hiragana above the romanji, this word means good afternoon contrary to the popular belief that konnichiwa means hello. There is actually no word in the Japanese language for "hello". There are just different greetings for different times of the day, as there is in english. Just as we say 'good morning', 'good afternoon', 'good evening', and 'good night', so do the Japanese.

Over the next week or two, I'll be covering more greetings. I am learning Japanese through a very cool program called Human Japanese. I'm using the trial version right now, but I'll be getting the full versxion for Christmas.

I also have a new blog based on Negima!, called Negima! LOVE. Please check it out, subscribe, comment, etc.