Type in your name and my free Japanese translation service will show you how to write your name in Japanese. Your Japanese course online will introduce you to the 4 different ways for writing Japanese words.

Learn to write Japanese

There are 4 different ways of writing a Japanese name: 3 ways using Japanese writing and 1 way using the normal roman alphabet.

Japanese language courses become difficult when you want to be able to read and write Japanese.

If you want to speak Japanese fluently and quickly e.g. just before traveling to Japan, then follow or buy a course where they do use roman characters for writing Japanese words like this great audio Japanese course (only $99.95).

Today’s Japanese language class is based on snippets from Rocket Japanese.

How to write my name – Tanaka Yoshiko – in Japanese?

3 ways how to write my name – Tanaka Yoshiko – in Japanese

1. Writing your name in Kanji Japanese characters

Kanji Japanese characters are based on Chinese characters. They are like pictures representing a word.

For example, a Chinese character that means “mountain” would have originated from a drawing of a mountain:

Learn how to write Japanese kanji characters

My name : Ta Naka Yoshi Ko written in Japanese Kanji as below, translates as:

Japanese writing translation of this particular Kanji for the Japanese name Ta Naka Yoshi Ko: “A good child in the middle of a rice field”

Another Yoshiko, however, may use a different Japanese writing in Kanji like :

The Japanese writing translation of these Kanji characters mean “beautiful child” and it still is reads as “Yoshiko.”

So when someone asks a Japanese person to translate their name, the translation only make sense when you see the Japanese characters used for that name!

2. Writing a Japanese name in Hiragana

Writing Japanese words in Hiragana is a way of using a combination out of 46 "Hiragana Characters".

Each character represents a syllable. Unlike kanji, these characters do not have any meaning on their own.

When the Japanese first wrote down their language many centuries ago, they borrowed characters from the Chinese language. They still use them in today’s modern Japanese language.

As the Chinese characters alone did not fit the Japanese language very well, the Japanese invented hiragana and katakana.

There are 46 hiragana and katakana characters each and both are used to represent the same sounds.

• Hiragana came to be used mainly in the Japanese language in conjunction with kanji and
   
• katakana came to be reserved for foreign original words.

3. Writing a western name in Katakana

How to write the Japanese name "Tanaka Yoshiko" in katakana? Like in the picture above. Do note that a Japanese name is usually not written in katakana.

A foreign name, for example, will be usually written using katakana. Anything within the sound system of the Japanese language can be written down using them:

• The Japanese pronounce Jennifer as Jenifaa and write it in katakana as such:
  
  How to write "Jenifaa" (Jennifer) in Japanese katakana characters

Writing Japanese in Romaji

The last way to write Japanese names is the "easy" way: using western letters.

This way of writing Japanese words is called romaji (or Romanized characters) which allows you to write down what you say using the letters you use in the English alphabet.

Tanaka Yoshiko is exactly that: writing a Japanese name in romaji – Romanized characters.

How to write your name in Japanese?

Please leave me a comment with your name, and I will add it in katakana Japanese writing for you

If you want to speak Japanese fast with lots of audio and romaji writing, then order Rocket Japanese now: only $99.95 to speak Japanese with money back guarantee!

Today’s Japanese language class is composed out of snippets from Rocket Japanese.

Enjoy speaking Japanese in less than 10 minutes! Download this free Japanese pronunciation audio. Listen and repeat the Japanese words to learn Japanese fast: 10 minutes from now you will be able to fluently pronounce and remember all common greetings in Japanese!

Common Japanese greetings

How hard is it to learn Japanese? All depends on how you learn Japanese words!

The best way to learn Japanese is also the most fun and easy way to learn Japanese: by listening to and repeating Japanese words and meanings.

Let’s start with common Japanese words you can learn in the next 10 minutes and use whenever you want to greet Japanese people.

Download to learn all common Japanese greetings by just listening and repeating what you hear on Greetings in Japanese: (601KB – Learn Japanese mp3)

Japanese Language Course: common greetings in Japanese

Part of what you will hear when you download the Japanese audio are common Japanese words you can use at any occasion you want to great Japanese people. Listen how Kenny greets Sayaka:

• Kenny: Sayaka san, konnichiwa!
• Sayaka: Keni san, konnichiwa! O genki desu ka?
• Kenny: Genki desu, arigato, anata wa?
• Sayaka: Watashi mo genki desu, arigato.
• Kenny: Sayaka san, ohayo gozaimasu!
• Sayaka: Keni san, ohayo gozaimasu!
• Kenny: Sayaka san, konban wa!
• Sayaka: Keni san, konban wa!

Japanese translation to English:

• Kenny: Hello, Sayaka!
• Sayaka: Hello, Kenny! How are you?
• Kenny: I’m good, thank you, and you?
• Sayaka: I’m good too, thank you.
• Kenny: Good morning, Sayaka!
• Sayaka: Good morning, Kenny!
• Kenny: Good evening, Sayaka!
• Sayaka: Good evening, Kenny!

Download Japanese language courses

When you want to learn Japanese, the most easy way to learn Japanese is using audio Japanese language courses whenever and where-ever you can: on your way to work or school, even in the shower!

Greetings in Japanese is an example how you can speak Japanese fast and fluently after you buy the complete set of Audio Japanese Language Courses: only $99.95 with money back guarantee!

Download our free Japanese language greetings and quickly learn how to speak Japanese before you visit Japan.

Greeting in Japanese

The best way to learn Japanese is learning it when you normally "are wasting your time" like:

• in your car driving to work or
   
• in the public transport going to work.

All you need now is a learn Japanese CD that teaches you Japanese with only listening to the tape. How does that work?

Download and listen to these Japanese language greetings (audio for the Japanese Flash card above) for an example:

• an English speaker will tell you when to say greetings in Japanese and
   
• a Japanese speaker will then pronounce how to say greetings in Japanese.

All you have to do is listen to the Japanese CDs and repeat as much as you can in your head.

Once you are at home, take the same learn Japanese CD you have been listening to for the last few days and now repeat the Japanese words once you hear them.

Thanks to having listened to your learn Japanese audio cd, you will notice how you already memorized some of the Japanese language greetings. How easy is that: going to work and learning Japanese at the same time!

Where to find good learn Japanese CDs

You can make your own learning Japanese cd by downloading Japanese audio files you find on our site and burn them onto a CD.

If you want to start learning Japanese language greeting right away however, we recommend you download these Learn Japanese CDs: for only $99.9% you get over 12 hours of audio lessons that you can listen to time and time again!

Start learning Japanese language greetings and more now: buy Learn Japanese CDs: only $99.95 with money back guarantee!

Listen, repeat and learn how to say hello in Japanese: our first of our free Japanese lessons from your Japanese for beginners course.

Different ways to say hello in Japanese

The Japanese language as many other languages uses different words for polite and casual occasions.

• Polite hello would be : konnichiwa
   
• Casual hello would be : domo!

However you will hear the Japanese much more saying, good morning or good evening in stead of saying ‘hello’:

• Casual Good Morning: ohayo
   
• Polite Good Morning: ohayo gozaimasu
   
• Good Evening: konbanwa

The easiest way of greeting Japanese people is saying their name and nodding your head when you pass them by.

How to say hello in Japanese: video

This video shows you how to say hello in Japanese:

• first in writing and slowly pronounced
   
• then in actual Japanese situations.

The video will also teach you how to say goodbye in Japanese.

Saying hello in Japanese: audio

Click to download the Japanese course audio (63Kb, mp3)

A Japanese man named Kenny meets a Japanese woman called Sayaka for the first time:

• Kenny: Sayaka san, konnichiwa!
• Sayaka: Kenii san, konnichiwa! O genki desu ka?
• Kenny: Genki desu, arigatoo, anata wa?
• Sayaka: Watashi mo genki desu, arigatoo.

• Kenny: Hello, Sayaka!
• Sayaka: Hello, Kenny! How are you?
• Kenny: I’m good, thank you, and you?
• Sayaka: I’m good too, thank you.

Japanese words to say bye bye

You most likely know the polite Japanese phrase already (sayonara), so just for practicing the sound:

• Polite Bye: sayonara
   
• Casual Bye Bye – See You Later: ja mata
   
• Casual Bye Bye – See You Tomorrow: mata ashita

How to say hello in a Japanese phone

When you call somebody in Japan, you will hear the word: moshi-moshi which is the Japanese word for saying hello on the phone when answering a call.

How to say hello in Japanese summarized

You will have noticed we didn’t go deeper into the Japanese writing nor alphabet. That’s because when people speak, they use words.

You can read an introduction about the Japanese writing in the Free Hiragana Font post.

Further on: keep on playing the video and audio and repeat like a parrot how to say hello in Japanese.

Download this beautiful free Hiragana font here, one of our many Japanese freebies. Especially recommended for those who want to learn Japanese on line for free.

This Japanese font uses the Japanese Hiragana alphabet. For those who are new in learning Japanese writing: the modern Japanese have 3 ways to write down Japanese words:

1. Kanji
    
2. Hiragana and
    
3. Katakana

Hiragana and Katakana are both syllabic-phonetic alphabets, where Kanji uses one character to depict one entire Japanese word.

Kana is the word used to represent the 3 syllabic Japanese scripts:
 

• Hiragana,
   
• Katakana, and
   
• the old syllabic use of kanji known as Man’yo-Gana.

1. Learn Kanji

Kanji is a set of Japanese characters or ideographs which the Japanese derived from the older Chinese characters.

Kanji translation can be overwhelming but you should learn kanji with the simple characters first like so:

• "one" ,
   
• "two" ,
   
• "three" ,
   
• "mouth" ,
   
• "tree" ,
   
• "forest" ,
   
• "woods" ,
   
• "mountain" ,
   
• "rain" ,
   
• "rice field" ,
   
• "umbrella" .

Kanji charts are used to keep track of your progress when you learn Kanji. Notice that there are only 80 Kanji characters on this Japanese first grader’s Kanji chart.

2. Hiragana Symbols

Hiragana symbols form a phonetic alphabet used:

• when there are no Kanji – or Japanese characters – for the words or
   
• when you don’t remember the right Kanji character.

Hiragana symbols are the main syllabary for the Japanese language, used to represent native Japanese words.

3. Katakana

Katakana is also a phonetic alphabet used mainly to be able to write foreign names. This Japanese writing is used when:

• writing words borrowed from foreign languages other than Chinese
   
• writing specific names of plants and animals and other jargon or
   
• emphasizing a word or phrase.

Download a free hiragana font

Download the free hiragana font : click here.

Learn to speak Japanese for free online with our free Japanese for beginners course with audio. Enjoy ordering a steak in Japanese on your next travel to Japan.

Each free Japanese lesson will feature a part from our recommended best way to learn Japanese Language and Culture course which you can buy now for 99.95$.

Each free Japanese lesson from our Japanese curse for beginners:

• contains audio
   
• is based on a typical situation you will encounter on each travel to Japan
   
• contains Japanese transcript once there is lots of demand to learn how to read Japanese

The disadvantage of a free online Japanese course is… that it is free. People do take learning Japanese more serious when they pay for a course.

In order to make sure you continue your free Japanese learning course, please leave a comment with your email, so we will contact you:

• once new free online Japanese classes are available and
   
• to make sure you continue learning Japanese for free

Uploaded Free Japanese lessons

• Japanese language greetings
  Quick and easy way to learn Japanese: download this free Japanese audio with Learn Japanese Greeting Flash Card to learn English when you travel to work.
   
• How to say hello in Japanese
  Repeat the video and audio and learn in more than 1 way how to say hello in Japanese.
   
• Greetings in Japanese
  Enjoy speaking Japanese in less than 10 minutes! Download this free Japanese pronunciation audio. 
   
• How to write my name in Japanese
  This Japanese course online will introduce you to the 4 different ways for writing Japanese words. 

Snippet out of our free Japanese for beginners course

Saying hello – Japanese Greetings

Click to download the Japanese course audio (63Kb, mp3)

A Japanese man named Kenny meets a Japanese woman called Sayaka for the first time:

• Kenny: Sayaka san, konnichiwa!
• Sayaka: Kenii san, konnichiwa! O genki desu ka?
• Kenny: Genki desu, arigatoo, anata wa?
• Sayaka: Watashi mo genki desu, arigatoo.

• Kenny: Hello, Sayaka!
• Sayaka: Hello, Kenny! How are you?
• Kenny: I’m good, thank you, and you?
• Sayaka: I’m good too, thank you.

Return June, 09 for our next Japanese for beginners lesson.

The best 4 easy ways to learn Japanese, one of which is completely free.

Although the Japanese language looks like a difficult one to learn, looks are deceiving. Japanese writing is different than ours, but other than that, pronunciation of Japanse words is much easier than pronouncing Chinese, German and French.

Whether you plan to travel to Japan or are just curious about the Japanese language, the way you decide to learn Japanese will be different based on:

• your learning style
   
• the time you have to learn the Japanese language
   
• the money you want to spend in learning Japanese.

Use one or all 4 ways below to help you when learning the Japanese language.

4 ways to learn Japanese

1. Subscribe in a Japanese language course

Take a Japanese language course and learn Japanese with other students.

You don’t have to be in college to take language classes: many colleges and universities offer foreign language courses open to the public.

Contact your local schools for a listing about:

• when the Japanese courses are available
   
• the price of the Japanese classes
   
• what you will learn in these classes.

Knowing what you will learn is of outmost importance: some Japanese courses will make sure you will get by the next time you travel to Japan. Other Japanese courses will focus on teaching Japanese as if you were going to take exams in Japan.

If you think a Japanese course is right for you, ask whether you can join the first Japanese class for free and get your money back if it really isn’t what you were expecting.

2. Learn Japanese at home

Invest in a good book with audio set and computer software.

You can learn Japanese in the comfort of your own home with the right book/audio set and some self discipline. We recommend Rocket Japanese because:

• you can order it right away and start speaking Japanese in an instant
   
• it has 31 interactive Japanese audio lessons
   
• it has fun and kind of addictive software to help you remembering Japanese words fast and easy
   
• it will also teach you about Japanese culture and Japan itself, ideal when you are preparing your next travel to Japan.

3. Get a personal Japanese teacher

Hire a personal language coach or if you are as fortunate as I am: find a Japanese native living in your area who wants to learn your language in return for teaching you Japanese.

Imagine the money you save! One of the best ways to learn Japanese is from some one who is part of the culture.

You will not only learn the appropriate way to pronounce Japanese words, but you will learn the more casual way to speak them, which could make a big difference next time you travel to Japan.

4. Learn Japanese online for free

Visit all websites that offer free Japanese lessons online. In order to make things easy for you, we will add free Japanese classes on our website as well.