Good bye Kanji!
You were too difficult!
Katakana is a simpler system, easy to write, and most English words are already written with it. It’s the perfect system for simplifying Japanese for Japanese learners and the world. Right?
Japanese would much easier to read, right?
You would think so, but…
In this lesson, we’re not going to look at so much Japanese grammar, as much as we’re going to discuss the place of katakana in the Japanese and show you why, a katakana-only world would be a very scary pace.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Lower Intermediate Lessons (S3). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
32 Responses to “Lower Intermediate Lesson #87 - S3: Happy International Katakana Day!”
JapanesePod101.com says:
August 5th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Mina-san,
In order to celebrate International Katakana Day, all today’s comments should be written in Katakana only.
ミナサン、
キョウノコメントヲ、スベテカタカナデカイテ、インターナショナルカタカナデーヲ、オイワイマショウ。
markystar says:
August 5th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
the illustration for this lesson was made by my friend, suzuko. 
usually we only have 1 picture or photo for each lesson, but suzuko made a whole series for us!! awesome, right?
anyways, she writes a blog in english & japanese. if you like her stuff, please check out her blog and leave her a comment! i’m sure she’d love to hear from you!
エミリー says:
August 7th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
スゴイ！！！！！！！！！！
ススコサンの絵ハステキデスネ！ウチュウジンクンもトテモカワイイとオモイマス！ 
カタカナダケ＝チョウムズカシイ。ゼンゼンヨメマセン！！！ 
ハハハハハハハハハハ
Naomi says:
August 7th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
スゴーイ！ カワイイ エ デス ネ。
I really like the picture!
ミナサン キョウノ ストーリー ハ ドウ デシタ カ？
Tell us what you think about today’s story.
コメント オマチ シテイマス!!!
I’ll be waiting for your feedback.
ベンジ says:
August 7th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
マジスカ？ミンナヨメルカナ。ケッコウムズカシイス、コレ。エイゴデオオモジバカリミタイニヨムトメンドウクサイナァトイウカンジガスル。モウアキッチャタゾ。
sTeVe aUsTiN says:
August 7th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
WOW!!
What a funny holiday idea!
But it’s reeeeeeeeeally hard to read!
カンジヲ ベンキョウスルノハ スキダカラ カタカナダケデ カイタコトバは アマリ ヨメナイです。
Since I like studying kanji, it’s hard to read things written only in Katakana.
Nice, colorful pictures too! I like them!
Happy Katakana Day to Suzuko-san and Everyone! 
ノリ says:
August 7th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
ベンジサン
ヘェー、エイゴモオオモジバカリデカクト、ヨミニクインデスカ？
ソレハシリマセンデシタ 
カタカナデーニ、カンパーイ！！
Mayumi says:
August 7th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
カタカナデー オメデトウ！！
Happy Katakana Day!
スズコサン、ステキナエヲアリガトウゴザイマス！
Suzuko-san, thank you very much for wonderful pictuires!!
ウチュウジンノカラダ二マキツイテイルノハ、ニンゲンのツメデスネ！！ 
The alien has many human’s finger nails winding around his body and legs.
コレカラモ、ヨロシクオネガイシマス！！
AndamanIslander says:
August 8th, 2008 at 1:51 am
ミンアさんヨンデクダサイ：
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/12/0112205&from=rss
仁居流 says:
August 8th, 2008 at 3:17 am
I sampled some of the other internet pod sites teaching Japanese. What a mess!
There is no competition! This is the best.
ok - give me my 50% off now.
プチクレア says:
August 8th, 2008 at 3:31 am
エエエ！。。
ススコサンノエハホントウニキレイデスネ！ガンバッテクダサイ！
キョウノレッスンハスゴクオモシロカッタデス！“よく分からないですけど、もっと、西だと思います”….コレハJapanesepod101ノサイコウナセリフノナカノヒトツデスヨネ！フランスゴノダイニンキノTintinトイウマンガニハ、オナジノセリフヲヨクイッテイルシュジンコウガイマスネ！
（セリフデスカラフツウノカキカタハダイジョウブカナ~ :???:)
JapanesePod101ノミナサン、インターナショナルカタカナデーヲドウモアリガトウゴザイマシス！ヨロシクオネガイシマス！
（コマントヲスベテカタカナデカクノハオモシロイデスケド、ヨムノハムズカシスギマスヨ！！！ ）
Even though it’s quite fun, it’s a good thing there’s only one Katakana Day a year…
jlife!!!!!!! says:
August 8th, 2008 at 3:47 am
WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
i joined the site to learn katakana and WOW i didn’t know this many people loved japanese!
thank you for making free lessons! you are hardcore!!!!!!!!!!!!
after TRYING to read everyone’s comments I guess I HAVE tO learn the Kanji now.
Can I learn the Kanji heRe?
Brin says:
August 8th, 2008 at 8:14 am
スゴクテオモシロイレッスンデスヨネ！
デモ、PDFニブンポウノマチガイガアリマスオ。ローマジノハジメデ。アソコニハ「Ganny]ハカイテアルケド、「Granny]ハタダシイデスヨ。
ジャパニーズポッドノStaff, イツモアリガトウゴザイマス！
Brian says:
August 8th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Oops, spelled my name wrong on my last comment xD
I’m not sure if this is the proper section or not, but with many words, such as チキュウ featured in this lesson, I noticed that the kanji always seems to make sense in some way as Peter mentioned. So…how are the Kanji for different words chosen? Do the Japanese piece two Kanji together and figure out how to pronounce them? Or do they find Kanji that make sense and have the proper readings?
Hiroko says:
August 8th, 2008 at 9:52 am
jlife!!!!!!! san> Welcome to JP101! 
In Learning Center you can see “Kanji Flash Cards” and in each lessons we have “Kanji Close up” for you to learn Kanjis 
Let us know what you thought about them after you tried
Brin san> アリガトウゴザイマス Ganny ハ ブジ Granny 二 モドリマシタ
>Do the Japanese piece two Kanji together and figure out how to pronounce them? Or do they find Kanji that make sense and have the proper readings?
I think it’s both. Some Kanjis such as 日本= Japan, has two different pronunciations but both are equally used: Nihon and Nippon.
Just found interesting Kanjis on my morning snack package: It contains 砂糖(sa tou) 砂=sand 糖=sugar, and 小麦粉 (Ko Mugi Ko) 小=Small 麦 = Flour 粉= Powder.
Definitely, looking closely to some Kanjis are fun!
maxiewawa says:
August 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I”d like to say a shout out to ヱ, and ヰ two katakana that have fallen out of use. We miss you guys.
Abrassart says:
August 8th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Hey Markystar,
Could you talk to Peter about my request:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=19844#19844
I’d like to have a serie with interviews from University teachers (about Asian studies).
See ya,
VGcat says:
August 9th, 2008 at 10:52 am
If you don’t mind me asking, is there a program of some sort that will allow me to type in katakana, hiragana, and kanji. I can’t figure it out… 
Hiroko says:
August 9th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
VBcat san> Have you tried this? : Control Panel - Region and Language - Language (middle one) - Text service and Input language Details - There you can add the language you want to be able to type on your keyboard. Sorry if it doesn’t help, that’s about all I know
clay san> その通りですね！カタカナだけでは読みにくいですね。 that’s true. It’s hard to read if there was only Katakana!
Hiroko says:
August 9th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
VGcat san> Please also try look in here :
http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9
http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=204
ochazuke says:
August 12th, 2008 at 9:20 am
I loved the part when Natsuko-sensei did a foreign accent! Pure comedy gold! I kept playing it over and over. I just couldn’t get over it.
I just hope my accent doesn’t make me sound like that 
Duranix says:
August 12th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
ミナハン、マイド！
ボクモカタカナオムズカシイトオモッテンケド… ユクユクモアンタラハカタカナオナラワナイトアカンデ！
ミナ、ガンバッテヤ！
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Category: Lower Intermediate Lessons (S3) |
Function: learning how important kanji is by overusing katakana | Topic: aliens, holidays, katakana, space, UFO | Politeness Level: casual, Polite
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