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Learning the Hiragana, one of the Japanese phonetic alphabets is key to learning basic Japanese.

Hiragana (平仮名, ひらがな) is one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet (Rōmaji.) Hiragana consists of 46 signs which originally were kanji (Chinese character) but were simplified over the centuries. When looking at a Japanese text, one can clearly distinguish the two kinds of signs: the complicated kanji and the simpler kana signs.

Even though one can theoretically write the whole language in hiragana, it is usually used only for grammatical endings of verbs, nouns, and adjectives, as well as for particles, and several other original Japanese words which are not written in kanji. Hiragana are widely used in materials for children, textbooks, animation and comic books, to write Japanese words which are not normally written with kanji, such as adverbs and some nouns and adjectives, or for words whose kanji are obscure or obselete. Also, if you forget certain kanji which are rarely used, you may substitute hiragana for them.

Hiragana are also sometimes written above or along side kanji to indicate pronunciation, especially if the pronunication is obscure or non-standard. Hiragana used in this way are known as furigana. In horizontal texts, the furigana appear above the kanji and in vertical texts, the furigana appear on the right of the kanji.

Continue reading Hiragana as first step to learn Japanese

Many people say, “Japanese language is difficult”. The reason may be due to Japanese language consists of not one, but three different alphabets. Modern Japanese is written with a mixture of hiragana and katakana and kanji. It may also include romaji or Roman letters.

Japanese writing has evolved from its original Chinese script beginnings to become something that is intrinsically Japanese. There are actually different types or ways of writing Japanese characters and it has been a source of confusion for people who are not familiar with Japanese culture.

The three ways of writing Japanese characters are Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana, with another version called Romaji being used for special purposed.

The word kanji is a Japanese derivative of the Chinese word hanzi, which translates to “Han characters”. Kanji are not syllabic and are used to represent abstract concepts as well as names and everyday words.

Continue reading Writing Japanese Language - Kanji, Hiragan and Katakana

The other day I learned an effective way of learning Geography. However, it is not yet tested. Whether it is effective or not, I am not sure yet

Just draw some blank maps and after that imagine you are on a tour to that country. Just start from one of the town in the country, write down the name of the town on your map, what are the special things about the town - what is it famous for, what are the products from the town, describe its climate or relate some interesting fact about its history or people and so on.

After that, moving from that town, you are traveling to another city in this country. Continue to key in the relevant points on the map about the city.

Continue reading Learning Geography by visual feel

“Who” Vs “Whom”

Do you remember Johnnie Cochran, the powerful lawyer who lead OJ Simpson’s defense team? He was good, really good. And he used good grammar.

One of his more powerful statements, actually a rhetorical question to the jury, was, “Who is kidding whom?” I admit to cheering when I heard him say that.

“Whom” is starting to drop out of the English language, I suspect, because many people don’t know what it means or how to use it. Those who do are sometimes considered snooty by those who don’t, like wearing a suit and tie to a ball game might be considered snooty by those who are dressed in shorts. Using “whom” isn’t snooty; it’s correct. Let’s look at “who” and “whom,” what they mean, and how they are used.

Continue reading The rule of using who and whom

Pronouns like “he,”, “she”, “it”, “which,” “none,” and “you” are use to make your sentences less cumbersome and less repetitive. Here is an article on “Pronouns”.

Working With Pronouns

For the most part, you can think of pronouns as the general, non-specific nouns used to replace proper nouns in the English language. For example, “John” is the name of a man, but you can use “him” or “his” as a replacement pronoun. The sentence, “John went to John’s house,” seems clunky - but you can improve it by replacing John’s name with a pronoun. The sentence, “John went to his house,” is a lot easier to read. Pronouns can be very useful, but you do need to make sure that your sentences are clear in terms of who you are talking about.

Possessive Pronouns

Unlike many other languages, the English language uses pronouns to describe ownership. For example, if Jane and Bob own a home, they might say, “this is our home”. Or, if you own a watch, you might say, “This is my watch”. On the other hand, if someone else is trying to explain who the watch belongs to, they might say “The watch belongs to him.” As you can see, this is very different from other languages, where prepositions are often used in order to delineate ownership.

Using Pronouns to Create Variation

When reading, if you see someone’s name in one sentence and then again in the next sentence, you’ll start to feel bored with what you’re reading. Consider how you feel when reading the following pair of sentences: “Paul was mowing the lawn. Paul moved the lawn mower aside to avoid a rock”. Boring, right? In this case, the use of pronouns to replace Paul’s name gives the author more freedom of expression, creating a more enjoyable text.

Continue reading How to use Pronoun in English Language

NLP or Neuro Linguistic Programming is widely used in studying and modeling personal excellence. Through NLP modeling, a person would be able to fully replicate a desirable skill or behavior that another person has.

The following article by Yvonne Ellis talk more about changing your mental programming with NLP.

Changing Your Mental Programming With NLP

In my last article I introduced Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) as a great tool to use for changing subconscious programming. In this article, I’ll introduce you to Neuro Linguistic Programming (or NLP) and give you an NLP technique you can use yourself to change an unwanted or unproductive program or eliminate an unwanted habit.

NLP was developed in the early 1970’s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. “Neuro” refers to the way information is processed by the mind through the senses; “linguistic” refers to the way we use language to communicate our experiences to ourselves and others; and “programming” describes how the brain codes experiences to create personal programs that determine our ways of being and behaving in the world.

In other words, NLP is a way to describe precisely how people perceive experiences, represent them to themselves, communicate them to others, and encode them within their brain. Understanding this process makes it possible to change an experience or replicate someone else’s experience. How NLP is mostly used (outside of a therapeutic setting) is in studying and replicating (or modelling) personal excellence. It is a tool that is widely used in business and personal development.

NLP is extremely effective in changing subconscious programming whether that is eliminating a belief and installing a new belief, disrupting old disempowering patterns or programs and installing more empowering patterns or programs, turning on and off emotional states at will and eliminating conflict within yourself.

The downside with NLP is that it does require training in order for you to be truly effective in using many of the processes and, because much of what we say and do is out of conscious awareness, it can be more difficult to use NLP on yourself. For example, if you were to ask a highly successful business person how they succeeded, they probably couldn’t give you a precise answer. They most likely don’t even know, consciously, what made the difference and therefore are unable to articulate it. Similarly, we often aren’t aware, at a conscious level, of how we sabotage ourselves - only that we do.

The key to success or failure then is often unknown at the conscious level. That’s why an athlete can be sensational one time and fail the next, even though their preparation was, on the surface, exactly the same. Dig a little deeper, however, using NLP, and the differences start to emerge that explain the contrast in results. Eliciting these unknown pieces of the puzzle is sometimes referred to as the ‘magic of NLP’ although, of course, it’s not magic at all. Once elicited, you can ‘interrupt’ the sabotaging program that was running and change the end result.

Continue reading NLP - studying and modeling personal excellence

Following is an article that introduce us to the four major parts of speech.

Recognizing the Four Major Parts of Speech

In grammar there are eight parts of speech which break down into four major parts and four minor parts. A part of speech is a category assigned to a word or a phrase. The four main parts of speech are noun, adjective, adverb and verb. In English, a word can be more than one part of speech depending on how it is used.

A noun is a word that is used to name a person (Nicolas), place (Guatemala), thing (television), quality (beauty), action (flight,) or idea (mercy). There are several different kinds of nouns including proper nouns, common nouns and abstract nouns. Proper nouns are used to name specific people, places or things and are capitalized. Dawn Williams, Dawson City and Golden Gate Bridge are all examples of proper nouns. Common nouns refer to all nouns that are not proper and they are not capitalized. Abstract nouns name ideas, qualities and other intangibles. Some of these include words such as fear, happiness and honesty.

Adjectives are words that describe, modify or qualify a noun or a pronoun. An adjective tells us how many, what kind, or which one. In the following sentences, the italicized words are examples of adjectives.

Continue reading Major Parts of Speech in English Grammar

“a” and “an” is used to refer to a non-specific or non-particular member of the group. For example, “a computer” means any computer rather than a specific computer.

It is also used before nouns that introduce something or someone you have not mentioned before. For example,
“I read a book this morning.”

A and an are also used when talking about your profession. For example:
“I am a network engineer.”

Using a or an depends on the sound that begins the next word.

We use a when the noun we referring to begins with a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y or z), for example, a keyboard; a mouse; a laptop; a flower; a pencil.

Continue reading Simple introduction to A and An

Following is an article which introduce the use of NLP to help children to learn, get along with others and working toward positive states.

NLP Tips For Parents

NLP provides parents with a great toolkit for helping their children learn, get along with others, and opt in to positive states. Using exactly the same techniques and principles they would apply to working with adults, parents get great results. As a bonus, they also get a chance to share the positive states their children experience. It’s a win-win!

All NLP techniques are grounded in the fact that human beings experience life as a series of continuous, unified states. Our minds, bodies, emotions, beliefs, knowledge and memories are all present and active simultaneously. Our neurology links every part of us that is active at a particular moment so that we create life as a flow and not as a discontinuous assortment of data.

Parents are often amazed at the ease with which children move from one state to another. A three year old who is howling one moment can be giggling the next. A teenager with nothing to say to her parents can be overflowing with words when her cell phone rings. Children are experts at changing states.

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Following is an article I found in the web related to the learning of Mathematics. Sound good and hope that you may benefited from it.

Revision Techniques For Mathematics

Practice makes a man perfect. How true is that statement when it comes to real life situations, especially mathematics?

This article seeks to provide you with some tips and techniques for revision in the subject that is a nightmare for most students all around the world: Mathematics. Fortunately though, it is the easiest to master.

Exam time is the crunch time for any student of any age, and every study-hour is paramount. One needs to have a clear strategy while they do their revision in order to produce good results in their examinations.

Know yourself!

While studying the subject, one must try and concentrate upon those areas in which they are most uncomfortable. For example, I might consider myself an expert in linear equations while at the same time; I tend to run away when it comes to probabilistic questions. One must first dig deep into oneself and find out what is the area that they consider to be the hardest one to solve.
So, always try and devote more time to these specific areas. Try and practice as many questions as you can. Don’t just stick to one book. Try and solve questions from varied resources, different authors. This way, you will gain proficiency in that particular topic.

As the examination time nears, shift your focus towards these areas while not neglecting the others as well.

Continue reading Tips and Techniques of Learning Mathematics