Just a few questions I had... [Any/all explanations appreciated!]
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It's hard to put my current thought pattern into words, so I'm just going to skip the formalities and get down to brass tacks:
- First, why are there two forms of basic Japanese? [i.e. What was/is the purpose of Katakana?]
- Second, why does the Japanese language not use [or "lack"] the "space" between "words" like in Roman-based languages? [like English, German, etcetera]
- Third, why is there only one character whose sound does not end in a vowel?
- Fourth, what is a really good way to help associate the kana with their respective pronunciations?
- Fifth, what are the appropriate usages of "- kun", "- chan" and "- senpai"?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated! I hope I haven't asked any obvious/ridiculous questions! Thanks in advance! -
(1) Katakana is mainly used for writing foreign loan words. For example, there are many English loan words in Japanese and they are all written in katakana: アメリカ "amerika" コンピューター "computer", ベッド "bed".
(2) I don't know if I can tell you exactly why there is no space in Japanese, but I can at least say that we don't need any space. Japanese does not need any space because Japanese phrases and sentences are written with kanji - kana alternation. Lexical/content words are written with kanji and functional words (such as inflectional endings and particles) are written with hiragana. This functional separation of characters give readers visual cues whose effect is essentially equivalent to space.
That being said, in elementary Japanese textbooks where no or a few kanji characters have been introduced yet, space is used.
(3) I'm sorry, I don't know the answer!
(4) If you search "kana picture mnemonics", you get some results on internet. You may find something you're looking for.
(5) "-kun" is used for either a close male friend or a young boy. "-chan" is used for either a close female friend or a young girl. "-senpai" is usually used by a student to address his/her senior.
Hope this helps!
