Here's a fun and catchy YouTube video through which you can learn the many "aisatsu" (greetings) you'll use and hear every day! You'll also learn some other handy vocab and a few of the vowel characters in the hiragana alphabet - score!

Here's my attempt at a translation:

1) a i u e "Ohayo" - "Good morning"
2) ka ki ku ke "Konnichiwa" - "Hello / good afternoon"
3) genki ni aisatsu shitemiyou - let's try these cheerful greetings (??)
4) asa okitara, "Ohayo gozaimasu" - when you wake up, "Good morning"
5) onaka peko peko, "Itadakimasu" - when you're hungry, "Let's eat / bon apetite"
6) onaka ippai, "Gochisosama" - when you're full, "That was a great meal" (sorry, we don't really have a phrase for "gochisosama")
7) genki ni gakkoui, "Ittekimasu" - when you leave for school, "I'm taking off"
8) tomodachi ippai, "Konnichiwa" - lots of friends, "Hello"
9) shukudai wasurete, "Gomennasai" - forgot homework, "I'm sorry"
10) keshigomu karite, "Arigatou" - borrowed an eraser, "Thank you"
11) mata asoboune, "Sayonara" - let's play again, "Good bye"
12) ouchi ni tsuitara, "Tadaima" - get home, "I'm home"
13) papa no omukae, "Okaerinasai" - dad came home, "Welcome home"
14) omiyage moratte, "Arigatou" - you got a gift/souvinier, "Thank you"
15) ashitamo asobozou, "Oyasuminasai" - let's play tomorrow too, "Good night"
16) a i u e - "Ohyao" - "Good morning"
17) ka ki ku ke "Konbanwa" - "Good evening"
18) genki ni aisatsu tanoshine - cheerful greetings are fun!

My son is 19 months and starting to speak English, he even knows a few letters of the English alphabet (O, P, B, C). It's all very exciting but at the same time a little sad that he's not doing any of these things in Japanese yet. It's no surprise as my workaholic husband does not even have a fraction of the amount of time with Kenzo as I do, as a work at home mom. So, I've been trying to find ways to supplement his Japanese exposure with none other than... YouTube! Ha!

So, this post will start my "Learn Japanese" series in which I'll recommend a video, book, or product that I love that helps kids and/or adults to learn Japanese in an easy and fun way.

Japanese does not have an official alphabet song, as we do in English. They have do have a specific order for their 46 phonetic sounds (visually you have to learn two sets: one set in Hiragana and one set in Katakana, which makes 92 characters to memorize, not to mention the Kanji characters, of which you need to know at least 1,000 before you can read a newspaper, sheeeesh!). 

We recently came across a really adorable YouTube video that showcases a fun song for the Japanese alphabet. We LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and so does our son. He already tries to sing along. He always howls along with the dog at the end "Wa-O-N" part! So cute!!! Here's the video, with the Hiragana/Katakana chart below if you are interested!