Learning a martial art not only requires you to push yourself into an optimal physical condition, but it also pushes your mind to a different state and immerses you into a different culture and language. We all can learn it with time and continuous practice, focusing today on how to improve from our level from the day before.
As Karate Do is a traditional Japanese martial art, we also need to learn the language associated with it. Don’t worry, we are here to help you do that and we will have this section to teach you the most common words you will need and use.
A big difference with the Americas is that there are three alphabets for writing that you would need to learn for reading/writing Japanese (Nihongo – 日本語). Two of those alphabets are part of the Kana form (Hiragana and Katakana), and the third one is called Kanji. All three are used in full sentences and paragraphs.
Basics of Japanese Alphabet:
- Hiragana – ひらがな : Used for native Japanese words, conjugation endings, and grammar particles. It is cursive and is based on syllables. It is a simple form in comparison to Kanjis.
- Katakana – カタカナ : Used for foreign words imported from other languages, including names, technical terms, and onomatopoeia. It’s traced in a sharper way than Hiragana.
- Kanji – 漢字 : Logographic characters (a symbol that represents a full word) from the Chinese language and adapted to Japanese.
Phonetically speaking, if you have knowledge of the Spanish language, then the pronunciation is extremely close. Let’s learn the numbers from 1 (one) to 10 (ten), which are usually used every day at the Dojo.
The format used will be: Numerical value (phonetic): Kanji and Japanese romaji pronunciation
- 1 (one) : 一 Ichi
- 2 (two) : 二 Ni
- 3 (three) : 三 San
- 4 (four) : 四 Shi (Yon)
- 5 (five) : 五 Go
- 6 (six) : 六 Roku
- 7 (seven) : 七 Shichi
- 8 (eight) : 八 Hachi
- 9 (nine) : 九 Kyuu
- 10 (ten) : 十 Juu
And remember, keep practicing daily. Without noticing you will master the numbers quickly and your knowledge will increase.