[EmpanadaRica]

Originally Posted by ookami

お は よ う ご ざ い ま す Buenos Días (gozaimasu le agrega formalidad)
o ha yo u go za i ma su

I'm learning Japanese (I started recently) and I would like to know if there is someone learning it too or thinking about starting.

It' s a language I would like to learn down the line, but there are a few others waiting first. I have a Brazilian acquaintance/friend who is studying Japanese too. I have only once ever watched a tv language course in Japanese and all I remember is (phonetic): ' Hajimemhashito' (How are you?), ' Itadakimasu' (enjoy your meal) and 'moshi moshi' (hello).

It sounds very interesting though! Thanks for sharing!!
3 alphabets... !! yikes..

Little by little I'll put some information for the ones that are starting:

There are 3 alphabets:

Hiragana: It's value is only phonetic, as our alphabet. It has 46 characters and is the one used for Japanese words, particles, verbs, etc. (all that I'm writing in Japanese here is in Hiragana)

http://www.e.kth.se/~e96_dsa/www/nihongo/hiragana.gif

Katakana: It's value is only phonetic, as our alphabet. It has the same 46 characters than as Hirgana, but with different writing. It is used for foreign words like: コンピュタ- konpyuta - computer

http://www.e.kth.se/~e96_dsa/www/nihongo/katakana.gif

Kanji: Chinese characters used only for expressing concepts (in Chinese they can be use phonetically). There are more than 10.000 kanjis, but the official ones you have to know to understand almost all the language and that are teached taught at schools are nearly/ almost 2000.

Some words: (I will only remark when I'm using katakana, if not, I'm using hiragana. Kanji never)

こ ん に ち わ Buenas Tardes
ko n ni chi wa

こ ん ば ん わ Buenas Noches
ko n ba n wa

お や す み な さ い Buenas Noches (que duermas bien)
o ya su mi na sa i - Nasai agrega formalidad.

さ よ う な ら Adios (formal)
sa yo u na ra

じゃ ね Chau
ja ne

バ イ バ イ Chau (esta en katakana, es una palabra extranjera)
ba i ba i


The phonetic is similar to Spanish, next time I will tell you (more).

Please correct my English errors (/errors in English)!

As per your request a few minor corrections, not many.
I believe phonetic is spelled with a 'ph' not an 'f' but maybe an English native speaker can comment on that.

Thanx for sharing, it's very interesting!!