Categoria: Languages

Learn Italian

TOP 10 REASONS WHY EVERYBODY SHOULD LEARN ITALIAN

Italian Is The Most Studied Language In The World For Culture And Pleasure!

Italian ranks as the fourth most studied language in US colleges and high schools, where the enrolment rate for Italian classes is growing 20% faster than for any other language.

Here are some of the reasons why so many people choose to learn Italian:

Italy is “the cradle of Western civilization“

Study art history in the land that inspired Michelangelo. Read La Divina Commedia in the words of Dante.  Walk the streets where Archimedes ran naked shouting Eureka!

A recent UNESCO report states that over 60% of the world’s art treasures are to be found in Italy. Italian language is key to study and research in the fields of art history, literature, archaeology and philosophy.

Italian is for musician and music lovers

Why did Mozart compose so many of his masterpieces in Italian rather than in German?  Have you ever wondered what Luciano Pavarotti is singing when he belts out a phrase in a high C?

Knowing Italian enables you to better appreciate and enjoy classical music. Musicians and opera singers consider it a key professional skill.

Italian is for food(and food lovers)

Impress your date by ordering with confidence at an authentic Italian restaurant!

Italy is the culinary leader of the world and the increased popularity of the language reflects the growing obsession with Italian food.

Moreover, Italian is the language with the highest number of words for naming food, restaurants, dishes and produce!

Italian is for business

A recent study by KPMG  has shown that “Made in Italy” is the third most recognized brand in the world after Coca Cola and Visa.

Italian brands such as Benetton, Barilla, Ferrari, Lavazza, Armani, and many more are renowned throughout the world for the exceptional quality of their products.

 Italy is today one of the top economies in the world, with many employers seeking people who speak Italian. Over 7,000 American firms do business with Italy and over a thousand US companies have offices in Italy, including Chrysler, General Electric, ExonMobil, IBM, and Citibank. On the other hand, numerous Italian companies have offices in the US.

Italy is the home of fashion and design

Italy is the world’s hub when it comes to fashion and design.

A knowledge of Italian allows you to study the original work of renowned Italian designers such as Versace, Gucci, Armani, Benetton, and Prada, to name but a few, and find employment at one of the world famous Italian fashion houses.

Italy is for movie buffs

Stop relying on subtitles and appreciate the original language when watching movies by Italian directors, from the classics of Tornatore, Visconti or Pasolini to the recent masterpieces by Sorrentino and Benigni.

Italian is for family

Trace your Italian roots, interpret public records and enjoy a fluent conversation with your Italian-born cousins and grandparents.

Italian for polyglots

In the words of Nelson Mandela “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart”.

Of all the romance languages, Italian is the closest to Latin and  it is estimated that 60% of English words derive from Latin. Learning Italian will make any other romance language, including Spanish, French, Portuguese and Romanian, more approachable and easier to learn.

Italian classes taken in the past will take on new meaning during a study abroad experience in Italy, when vocabulary learnt will surface and the language will come to life.

Italian is a healthy choice

Italian is an incredibly beautiful and intricate language and studies show that learning a new language increases analytical thinking skills.

Studying a foreign language stimulates the brain, by boosting problem solving skills and improving  memory.

Italian is the most romantic of the roman languages!

Over the centuries Italian has come to merit its reputation as the language of art, love and seduction. Could Romeo and Juliet have spoken any other language?

The majority of students of Italian are fascinated by the musicality of the language, the simplicity of its sounds and the charm of its words. When words do not suffice, Italians are masters in the use of hand gestures and facial expressions, which break down all communication barriers.

Top 10 reasons to learn Italian

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Learn Spanish

Why Learn Spanish?

Learning any new tongue is a challenge that can open up your mind to new perspectives and help you connect with all types of people across boundaries of land and language. The reasons to learn Spanish are especially true. Here are just a few of the reasons why spending time learning Spanish is a great idea:

  • build new connections with hundreds of millions of people across the world
  • get a leg up in learning about other related languages, including English
  • experience culture and history of the Spanish-speaking world through a linguistic lens
  • spruce up your Spanish business skills to help you compete in the global economy
  • travel to and even live in Spanish-speaking countries with confidence
  • stimulate your brain and keep your mental muscles sharp

Reasons To Learn Spanish

Picking up a new skill can help you express your creativity, stimulate your mind, and discover new sides of yourself along the way. Learning a new language like Spanish is no exception! Here are just a few of the many ways learning Spanish will have a positive impact on your life.

  • Build Your Business Spanish Skills — If you’re a professional looking for ways to stay competitive and current in the global market, learning a new language — especially Spanish — is a no-brainer for success. Latin and South America are emerging markets full of opportunity for businesses. Learning the Spanish language is a fantastic way to connect with colleagues in other countries, score new clients, build strong relationships with Spanish-speaking partners and investors, and to show off the multicultural, international, and inclusive nature of your brand.
  • Use Language To Train Your Brain — Picking up a new language is an especially sound way to keep your brain flexible and nimble, especially as you grow older. Don’t give in to the argument that you’re somehow worse at learning languages after your youth! Picking up a new language is more than just memorizing lists of vocab (though you’ll certainly sharpen your lexical recall along the way). It involves making connections between those words and what they represent, spontaneously speaking and thinking on your feet, sticking with a challenge when it’s frustrating and confusing, and a whole lot of active listening. If you’ve been lacking intellectual stimulation, there are few better ways to exercise your mental muscles than by learning Spanish.
  • Immerse Yourself In Spanish Culture, Unfiltered — Learning Spanish opens you up not only to a better understanding of the language itself but also of the arts and culture of the world that speaks it. To read the literature of decorated Spanish-speaking authors like Gabriel García Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Pablo Neruda is to engage with the language in some of its most beautiful and poetic expressions. Through the lens of Spanish you get a look into the lyrics of classic flamenco songs and a more active immersion in more contemporary Spanish-language media like Spanish podcasts, radio shows, books, and TV shows. The stories and recipes of world-renowned culinary creations, the dialogue of famous Latin American and Spanish films, and the most sweeping currents in Spanish-language journalism all become accessible to you when you learn the Spanish language. And if you’re from a family with Spanish-speaking elders and ancestors but you don’t know the language yourself, learning Spanish is an excellent way to connect with your heritage.
  • Learn Spanish For Travel — When you have Spanish in your back pocket, you have a passport to a whole new world. Learning Spanish not only means you’ll be able to navigate new cities by reading road signs, menus, and train tickets; it also lets you connect with the new people you meet there. It’s often said that the best way to explore a new place is through the eyes of a local, and learning Spanish lets you branch out of tourist hotspots and into the real world as the native speakers see it. Whether it’s the beaches of Barcelona, the many streets of Mexico City, the Incan ruins in Peru or anywhere else Spanish is an official language, you’ll be more equipped to venture off the beaten path when you have Spanish in your linguistic repertoire.
  • Live The Spanish Language Abroad In Spain And Latin America — Whether you’re looking to enroll at a foreign Spanish-speaking university and have a more alternative college experience, find a job at a hostel that lets you surf by day and work at night, or retire in a more tranquil, tropical climate, living abroad is hands down the best hands-on approach to getting the most immersive language experience possible. By placing yourself in an environment where you’re obligated to speak Spanish — like if you live in Spain, for example — you’ll fast-track your journey to Spanish fluency. Learning Spanish is a gateway to a robust, colorful, and novel life adventure!

Source: https://www.babbel.com/learn-spanish#whylearn

How to Say the Months, Days, and Seasons in Japanese

There is no capitalization in Japanese. Months are basically numbers (1 through 12) + gatsu, which means, literally, “month” in English. So, to say the months of the year, you generally say the number of the month, followed by gatsu. But, there are exceptions: Pay attention to April, July, and September. April is shi-gatsu, not yon-gatsu, July is shichi-gatsu, not nana-gatsu, and September is ku-gatsu, not kyuu-gatsu.

The audio files in the lists below provide verbal guides on how to pronounce the months, days, and seasons in Japanese. Click the link for each Japanese word, phrase or sentence to hear the correct pronunciation.

The Months in Japanese

For this list of months, the English name of the month is printed on the left, followed by the romaji, or transliteration into English letters of the Japanese word for the month, followed by the name of the month written with Japanese letters. To hear the pronunciation of the month in Japanese, click the link for the transliteration of the month, underlined in blue.

MonthJapaneseCharacters
Januaryichi-gatsu一月
Februaryni-gatsu二月
Marchsan-gatsu三月
Aprilshi-gatsu四月
Maygo-gatsu五月
Juneroku-gatsu六月
Julyshichi-gatsu七月
Augusthachi-gatsu八月
Septemberku-gatsu九月
Octoberjuu-gatsu十月
Novemberjuuichi-gatsu十一月
Decemberjuuni-gatsu十二月

The Days of the Week in Japanese

As with the section above, detailing how to pronounce the months, in this section, you can learn how to say the days of the week in Japanese. The name of the day is printed in English on the left, followed by the transliteration in Japanese, followed by the day written with Japanese letters. To hear how a specific day is pronounced in Japanese, click the link for the transliteration, which is underlined in blue.

DayJapaneseCharacters
Sundaynichiyoubi日曜日
Mondaygetsuyoubi月曜日
Tuesdaykayoubi火曜日
Wednesdaysuiyoubi水曜日
Thursdaymokuyoubi木曜日
Fridaykinyoubi金曜日
Saturdaydoyoubi土曜日

It’s important to know key phrases if you plan to visit Japan. The question below is written in English, followed by the transliteration in Japanese, followed by the question written in Japanese letters. 

What day is it today?

Kyou wa nan youbi desu ka.

今日は何曜日ですか。

The Four Seasons in Japanese

In any language, it’s helpful to know the names of the seasons of the year. As in the previous sections, the names of the seasons, as well as the words, “four seasons,” are printed on the left, followed by the transliteration in Japanese, followed by the names of the seasons written in Japanese letters. To hear the pronunciation of a particular season in Japanese, click the link words for the transliteration, which are underlined in blue.

SeasonJapaneseCharacters
four seasonsshiki四季
Springharu春
Summernatsu夏
Autumnaki秋
Winterfuyu冬

It’s interesting to note that kisetsu means “season” or “the season” in Japanese, as noted in this sentence. For example, to ask: Which season do you like best? You would say:

  • Dono kisetsu ga ichiban suki desu ka.  > どの季節が一番好きですか。

Yet, “four seasons” has its own word in Japanese,shiki, as noted above. This is just one of the many ways in which Japanese differs from English—but it provides a fascinating look at how these Western and Eastern cultures even describe something as basic as the four seasons differently.

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-say-the-months-and-days-in-japanese-2028134

Winter Idioms

Feeling under the weather? Walking on thin ice with your vocabulary variety? These idioms will have a snowball effect on your language use this winter. And they’re just the tip of the iceberg.

Take a chill pill

If you’re going to tell someone to calm down, why not do it in rhyme? “Chill” means a feeling of coldness, as in, “there was a chill in the air.” Sometime in recent decades, probably the 1970s, the word also came to mean “relax”—just imagine a hippie flower child flashing a peace sign and saying “Chill out, dude.”

Eventually, “Take a chill pill” emerged. It might have shown up in the early days of ADD and ADHD medications like Ritalin, which were designed to calm hyperactive folks and therefore very logically dubbed “chill pills.” Other sources attribute the origin of the phrase to 1990s slang, specifically, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you’re stressed about the actual origin, we’ve got one thing to say: take a chill pill.

Cold shoulder

If Cher turns her back on Dion, Dion will see Cher’s shoulder. And the act shows dismissal or indifference to Dion, so it’s pretty unfriendly, or “cold.” Boom: an idiom is born.

Some unsavory sources claim that a custom back in Shakespearean times was to serve unwelcome guests a “cold shoulder of mutton”—i.e., not the tastiest meal, and a hard-to-miss sign of “would you be so kind as to get out. Now.” But etymologists are chilly on that origin, tending to favor reports that Scottish author Sir Walter Scott coined the phrase “cauld shouther” in 1816. With that literary proof, you can turn a cold shoulder on the meat story.

Cold turkey

Let’s say you love turkey. You eat it all the time. Then, the doctor tells you it’s bad for you. You better stop eating it—right away. Really? You can’t just slowly ease off it, eating a little less turkey each day until you’re down to none? NO. No more turkey for you.

That’s called “going cold turkey”: abruptly stopping a habit that’s bad for you. People often use this term when they talk about ways to stop smoking or taking a drug, but you can also use it when you’re talking about diet or other habits. The phrase may come from addiction doctors in the 1970s, noting the “cold, clammy feel of the skin during withdrawal,” while its earlier uses (back to the 1800s) have to do with straightforward talk or a sudden occurrence.

(Note: Grammarly is not licensed to give medical opinions about turkey.)

Under the weather

Weather can be nice and sunny or cloudy and miserable. In the case of this idiom, the idea is the latter. If you’re under a raincloud, chances are you’re not going to feel 100% healthy, happy, and ready to party. So if you’re feeling sick, “under the weather” is a way to say so.

If you ever forget, just visualize getting followed around by a raincloud. That should remind you to feel sick. Etymologists believe that the first folks to say it were probably sailors in the 1800s. If you’re feeling sniffly, consider yourself lucky you’re not also on a ship at sea.

In cold blood

“In cold blood” means without mercy or emotion, suggesting that a cruel act was committed in a calculated, unfeeling way. It’s usually used pretty violently: “The victim was murdered in cold blood,” or “Darth Vader killed Obi-Wan in cold blood.”

Etymologists trace the idea to the 1700s or even 1500s. Medicine back then wasn’t exactly what it is now, so people thought that blood got hot in the heat of passion. Therefore, to do something dispassionately was to act “in cold blood.”

If you go on a diet cold turkey, you might feel like you did this to yourself in cold blood. It’s just that painful.

Snowball effect

If something has a snowball effect, that means it might start out small, but keeps growing in importance. Just picture it: a snowball is rolling down a snowy hill, and as it rolls, it gathers more and more snow, getting bigger and bigger. Next thing you know, you’re running from an avalanche.

While an avalanche is usually bad, a snowball effect can be a bad thing or a good thing. You buy an Xbox, and then a trip to Cancun, and then a car, and then go into debt: that string of purchases has a snowball effect on your finances. Bad. One black woman becomes an engineer, and she paves the way for other minorities to get similar jobs, and that creates a snowball effect that leads to equality in the workplace. Good. (Also the plot of Hidden Figures). One person protests a government, the government arrests him, then more people protest, and back and forth until the government makes reforms or gets overthrown. Could be bad or good, depending on the government. But either way, that first person started a snowball effect.

When hell freezes over

Most notions of hell are that it’s a pretty hot place to be. So the chances that it would freeze there? Pretty much zero. “When hell freezes over” is basically a way to say “never.” There are variations on the “freezing in hell” phrase, too. Here are examples of each: “I suppose you think you can go on living on [the Union] till hell freezes over.” —Guy Wetmore Carryl, The Lieutenant-Governor (the first-recorded use of the phrase was in this book in 1903) “My first writing teacher told me it would be a cold day in hell if I ever won a National Board of Review award.” –Terence Winter (writer of The Wolf of Wall Street) “I don’t think the president’s plan has a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding.” —General James Conway

Walking on thin ice

Again, this one gives a pretty clear mental picture: you go for a walk on a lake that’s iced over, but if the ice isn’t very thick, you might crack it and fall to a shivery doom. It’s a metaphor for being in a situation that might be dangerous or lead to negative consequences. If a kid is whining a lot and refusing to go to bed, her parents might tell her, “you’re on thin ice.” If an employee has been late to work every day for two weeks and is caught asleep at his desk, he’s probably walking on thin ice with his boss. Variations include “treading on thin ice,” “skating on thin ice,” or just “on thin ice.” The idiom’s first recorded use was in 1841: “In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson, Prudence

The tip of the iceberg

Less than 10 percent of an iceberg’s mass shows up above the water’s surface. That’s why they spell disaster for a fair number of ships, including the famous, Oscar-winning Titanic, which had an accident with the mass that was lurking below. As an idiom, “tip of the iceberg” means a small or visible part of a much bigger issue, and it usually has a negative connotation. For example: Sherlock finds the first clue to a murder, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg in unraveling a grand conspiracy. A classroom is using outdated textbooks because the school can’t afford new editions. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg where funding for education is concerned. On a brighter note, in the musical words of the great cellist Yo-Yo Ma: “I’ve always thought the sound that you make is just the tip of the iceberg, like the person that you see physically is just the tip of the iceberg as well.” That may just be the tip of the iceberg where winter idioms are concerned, but now if you’re put on the spot for a frigid phrase, you’ll have more than a snowball’s chance in hell.

Source: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/8-more-wondrous-winter-idioms/?utm_content=link&utm_source=Facebook_org&utm_medium=social&utm_id=DAienlb1llK4I6&fbclid=IwAR2ezhvAXrqNb8IHBoIvSIgquqCImKd-Xr4N5LLrz8fUCL815OToAi86_so

Learn Japanese

Hiragana

Hiragana is the first of the three Japanese alphabets to learn. Hiragana is a phonetic alphabet, where each character represents a syllable. Hiragana is generally the first of the alphabets used, and is used for many purposes. Until one broadens their knowledge of kanji, they can use hiragana in place of the kanji they don’t know. Additionally, hiragana is used as particles, and is also used as accompanying characters to verbs, called okurigana. There are also some words that do not have kanji and are thus written in hiragana alone.

‘n’ ‘w-’ ‘r-’ ‘y-‘ ‘m-‘ ‘h-‘ ‘n-‘ ‘t-‘ ‘s-‘ ‘k-‘
ん
‘n’		 わ
‘wa’		 ら
‘ra’		 や
‘ya’		 ま
‘ma’		 は
‘ha’		 な
‘na’		 た
‘ta’		 さ
‘sa’		 か
‘ka’		 あ
‘a’		 ‘a’
り
‘ri’		 み
‘mi’		 ひ
‘hi’		 に
‘ni’		 ち
‘chi’		 し
‘shi’		 き
‘ki’		 い
‘i’		 ‘i’
る
‘ru’		 ゆ
‘yu’		 む
‘mu’		 ふ
‘fu’		 ぬ
‘nu’		 つ
‘tsu’		 す
‘su’		 く
‘ku’		 う
‘u’		 ‘u’
れ
‘re’		 め
‘me’		 へ
‘he’		 ね
‘ne’		 て
‘te’		 せ
‘se’		 け
‘ke’		 え
‘e’		 ‘e’
を
‘wo’		 ろ
‘ro’		 よ
‘yo’		 も
‘mo’		 ほ
‘ho’		 の
‘no’		 と
‘to’		 そ
‘so’		 こ
‘ko’		 お
‘o’		 ‘o’
Extended Consonant Syllables
‘p-‘ ‘b-‘ ‘d-‘ ‘z-‘ ‘g-‘
ぱ
‘pa’		 ば
‘ba’		 だ
‘da’		 ざ
‘za’		 が
‘ga’		 ‘-a’
ぴ
‘pi’		 び
‘bi’		 ぢ
‘ji’		 じ
‘ji’		 ぎ
‘gi’		 ‘-i’
ぷ
‘pu’		 ぶ
‘bu’		 づ
‘dzu’		 ず
‘zu’		 ぐ
‘gu’		 ‘-u’
ぺ
‘pe’		 べ
‘be’		 で
‘de’		 ぜ
‘ze’		 げ
‘ge’		 ‘-e’
ぽ
‘po’		 ぼ
‘bo’		 ど
‘do’		 ぞ
‘zo’		 ご
‘go’		 ‘-o’
Modified Syllables: Consonant combined with ‘ya,’ ‘yu,’ or ‘yo’
‘p-‘ ‘b-‘ ‘j-’ ‘g-‘ ‘r-‘ ‘m-‘ ‘h-‘ ‘n-‘ ‘ch-‘ ‘sh-‘ ‘k-‘
ぴゃ
‘pya’		 びゃ
‘bya’		 じゃ
‘jya’		 ぎゃ
‘gya’		 りゃ
‘rya’		 みゃ
‘mya’		 ひゃ
‘hya’		 にゃ
‘nya’		 ちゃ
‘cha’		 しゃ
‘sha’		 きゃ
‘kya’		 ‘-ya’
ぴゅ
‘pyu’		 びゅ
‘byu’		 じゅ
‘jyu’		 ぎゅ
‘gyu’		 りゅ
‘ryu’		 みゅ
‘myu’		 ひゅ
‘hyu’		 にゅ
‘nyu’		 ちゅ
‘chu’		 しゅ
‘shu’		 きゅ
‘kyu’		 ‘-yu’
ぴょ
‘pyo’		 びょ
‘byo’		 じょ
‘jyo’		 ぎょ
‘gyo’		 りょ
‘ryo’		 みょ
‘myo’		 ひょ
‘hyo’		 にょ
‘nyo’		 ちょ
‘cho’		 しょ
‘sho’		 きょ
‘kyo’		 ‘-yo’
Long Vowels
oo ee uu ii aa
おお ええ うう いい ああ

Double Consonants: kk, pp, tt, etc. are expressed in hiragana as a small “tsu” (っ) before the kana. For example, chotto meaning “a little” is written as ちょっと.

Katakana

Katakana is the second phonetic Japanese alphabet. Katakana, unlike hiragana is written with straight lines. Generally, katakana is used for writing words of foreign origin.

‘n’ ‘w-’ ‘r-’ ‘y-‘ ‘m-‘ ‘h-‘ ‘n-‘ ‘t-‘ ‘s-‘ ‘k-‘
ン
‘n’		 ワ
‘wa’		 ラ
‘ra’		 ヤ
‘ya’		 マ
‘ma’		 ハ
‘ha’		 ナ
‘na’		 タ
‘ta’		 サ
‘sa’		 カ
‘ka’		 ア
‘a’		 ‘a’
リ
‘ri’		 ミ
‘mi’		 ヒ
‘hi’		 ニ
‘ni’		 チ
‘chi’		 シ
‘shi’		 キ
‘ki’		 イ
‘i’		 ‘i’
ル
‘ru’		 ユ
‘yu’		 ム
‘mu’l		 フ
‘fu’		 ヌ
‘nu’		 ツ
‘tsu’		 ス
‘su’		 ク
‘ku’		 ウ
‘u’		 ‘u’
レ
‘re’		 メ
‘me’		 ヘ
‘he’		 ネ
‘ne’		 テ
‘te’		 セ
‘se’		 ケ
‘ke’		 エ
‘e’		 ‘e’
ヲ
‘wo’		 ロ
‘ro’		 ヨ
‘yo’		 モ
‘mo’		 ホ
‘ho’		 ノ
‘no’		 ト
‘to’		 ソ
‘so’		 コ
‘ko’		 オ
‘o’		 ‘o’
Extended Consonant Syllables
‘p-‘ ‘b-‘ ‘d-‘ ‘z-‘ ‘g-‘
パ
‘pa’		 バ
‘ba’		 ダ
‘da’		 ザ
‘za’		 ガ
‘ga’		 ‘-a’
ピ
‘pi’		 ビ
‘bi’		 ヂ
‘ji’		 ジ
‘ji’		 ギ
‘gi’		 ‘-i’
プ
‘pu’		 ブ
‘bu’		 ヅ
‘dzu’		 ズ
‘zu’		 グ
‘gu’		 ‘-u’
ペ
‘pe’		 ベ
‘be’		 デ
‘de’		 ゼ
‘ze’		 ゲ
‘ge’		 ‘-e’
ポ
‘po’		 ボ
‘bo’		 ド
‘do’		 ゾ
‘zo’		 ゴ
‘go’		 ‘-o’
Modified Syllables: Consonant combined with ‘ya,’ ‘yu,’ or ‘yo’
‘p-‘ ‘b-‘ ‘j-’ ‘g-‘ ‘r-‘ ‘m-‘ ‘h-‘ ‘n-‘ ‘ch-‘ ‘sh-‘ ‘k-‘
ピャ
‘pya’		 ビャ
‘bya’		 ジャ
‘jya’		 ギャ
‘gya’		 リャ
‘rya’		 ミャ
‘mya’		 ヒャ
‘hya’		 ニャ
‘nya’		 チャ
‘cha’		 シャ
‘sha’		 キャ
‘kya’		 ‘-ya’
ピュ
‘pyu’		 ビュ
‘byu’		 ジュ
‘jyu’		 ギュ
‘gyu’		 リュ
‘ryu’		 ミュ
‘myu’		 ヒュ
‘hyu’		 ニュ
‘nyu’		 チュ
‘chu’		 シュ
‘shu’		 キュ
‘kyu’		 ‘-yu’
ピョ
‘pyo’		 ビョ
‘byo’		 ジョ
‘jyo’		 ギョ
‘gyo’		 リョ
‘ryo’		 ミョ
‘myo’		 ヒョ
‘hyo’		 ニョ
‘nyo’		 チョ
‘cho’		 ショ
‘sho’		 キョ
‘kyo’		 ‘-yo’
Long Vowels
A long vowel that follows a consonant can be represented with a dash symbol after the kana. For example koohii, which is “coffee” in Japanese, would be written as コーヒー
oo ee uu ii aa
オー エー ウー イー アー

Double Consonants: kk, pp, tt, etc. are expressed in katakana as a small “tsu” (ッ) before the kana For example, shotto, meaning “shot” is written as ショット.

 There are small versions of “ア,” “イ,” “ウ,” “エ,” and “オ” that are “ァ,” “ィ,” “ゥ,” “ェ,” and “ォ.” These are used in conjunction with some other characters to create characters for sounds that were not originally covered by the original set of hiragana/katakana.

  • “ti” and “tu” sounds now commonly written as “ティ,” and “トゥ.”
  • “di” and “du” sounds, are now commonly written as “ディ,” and “ドゥ.”
  • Combining the small “ァ,” “ィ,” “ゥ,” “ェ,” and “ォ” with “フ,” gives character combinations “ファ,” “フィ,” “フェ,” and “フォ” for “fa,” “fi,” “fe,” and “fo” respectively.
  • “wi,” “we,” and “wo” are written as “ウィ,” “ウェ,” and “ウォ.”
  • As the “v-“sound did not originally exist, the “ヴ” character was created to provide that sound. Now, “va,” “vi,” “vu,” “ve,” and “vo” can be written as “ヴァ,” “ヴィ,” “ヴ,” “ヴェ,” and “ヴォ” respectively.
  • For “je,” “she,” and “che,” “ジェ,” “シェ,” and “チェ”are used for them respectively.

Other Alphabets

Kanji: Kanji are the characters that were imported from China. Each kanji character generally has two readings – an onnyomi or音読み (おんよみ), which is the original Chinese reading of the character, and the kunnyomi or 訓読み (くんよみ), which is the Japanese adaptation of the character. Something to note is that characters can have more than one 音読み or 訓読み or both.

Romaji: Romaji is the writing of Japanese phonetic characters as Roman letters. Sometimes it helps with pronunciation of words when learning Japanese.

Punctuation
The symbols for punctuation look slightly different in Japanese compared to English
English . , “ ”
Japanese 。 、 「

Source: Japaneseonline