Japanese!

So we all know that Japanese is hard(むずかし) ;) But enjoyable (たのし). I thought I would share with you some small quirks that I've encountered on my not very extensive diving into the Japanese language.

First, the order of the sentence is opposite in every way you could imagine from English.
For example.
In English, you might say....... ...................................The pen is in the bag.
In Japanese, however, it becomes literally..................Pen (particle that we dont have in english) bag in is.
or..............................................................................Borupen wa kaban no naka desu.
ぼるぺんはかばんおなかです.

Second, the writing is way way way different.
So there are 3 ways of writing things.

A. Hiragana= a phonetic alphabet of around 50 characters that you use for spelling Japanese words.
B. Katakana= a non-phonetic alphabet of around 50 characters that you use for spelling FOREIGN words.
C.Kanji= Chinese writing system. Non-phonetic, semi-logical but really not. And a bout a bajillion characters. :)

I can now read Hiragana and Katakana. I can also read a few Kanji which is really helpful ;) But advice, if you're going to choose one for survival in Japan, Katakana should probably be it. With Katakana, you can read things like

Hamburger (literally, Hanbuga) ハンバーガー
and
Toast (tosutu) トースト
and
Cheese (chisu) チーズ

This is especially helpful for ordering food, although sometimes its a bit tricky to interpret ;)

Third, there are a million ways to count in Japanese, which matter when you're trying to communicate.

For example, here is a list of the categories of objects that there are and a few counting words.

Categories:

Numbers; 1=ichi, 2=ni, 3=san etc.

Normal Shaped Things; 1= Hitotsu, 2= futatsu, 3= mittsu etc.

Persons; 1=hitori, 2=futari, 3=san-nin

Machines and vehicles; 1=ichi-dai, 2=ni-dai; 3=san-dai

Age; 1= is-sai, 2=ni-sai, 3=san-sai

Books; 1=is-satsu, 2=ni-satsu, 3=san-satsu

Thin and Flat things; 1=ichi-mai, 2=ni-mai, 3=san-mai

Clothes; 1=it-chaku, 2= ni-chaku, 3=san-chaku

Small things; 1=ik-ko, 2=ni-ko, 3=san-ko

You get the point ;)

Lastly I'll leave you with a list of kanji that I like and/or know and can read so far.

山= Yama or San= Mountain

人= Hito or Ko= Person

実= Mi= Beautiful (Also it's in my name ;)

上= Ue or Kami= the upper part, a higher place, the top

田= Ta/Da= A rice field
水= Mizu or Sui= Water (Wednesday is Water Day, Sui-yobi, 水)

Welcome to my infinite confusion and never being understood :)

Peace.