My name is Soogi. (English)
Boku no namae wa Soogi desu. (Romaji)
ぼく の なまえ は すぎ です。 (hiragana)
僕の名前はスギです。 (kanji)
（Note: 僕 and 名前 are kanji, スギ is katakana, all other characters are hiragana）
Here is an explanation of these sentences:
"Boku / ぼく" = the speaker's self. The closest equivalent is "me" but it is not the objective, just a simple noun. "Watashi wa (subjective)" = I, "watashi no (possessive)" = my, "watashi wo (objective)" = me, etc. In kaji, "僕".
It basically means me or I:
Boku: used by boys.
Watashi: used by adults (unisex) and females of all ages. Atashi is used in conversation with common people, a sort of Tokyo dialect.
Ore: used by guys, a bit rough so not used in official talk. Men in conversation with friends usually say "ore".
"no / の" = particle connecting 2 nouns and makes the first noun a modifier of the second.
"Boku (me)" no "namae (name)" = my name
Boku no kuni (country) = my country
Boku no ie (house) = my house, my home, also refers to my family
"Kyo (today" no "tenki (weather)" = today weather = the weather today
"Ashita (tomorrow)" no "yoru (night)" = tomorrow night
"London" no "tomodachi (friend or friends, Japanese do not distinguish singular/plural) = London friend(s) = friend(s) in/from London
"Chicago Bears" no "54" = Chicago Bears #54 = the number 54 of the Chicago Bears. In this case, we usually don't say "Chicago no Bears". We accept the "Chicago Bears" as one proper noun, I think.
"wa / は" = particle connecting words or phrases almost like the symbol of "= (equal)"
Boku wa Soogi: me = Soogi; I'm Soogi
"Kyo" wa "getsuyobi (Monday)": today = Monday; today is Monday
"Fuyu (winter)" wa "samui": winter = cold; the winter is cold
"desu" = be/am. It makes a sentence complete but is often not included in conversations. This word is used in sentences (mostly) with the verb "be" used for nouns and adjectives. I didn't use "desu" in the story to make the sentence sound more like a boy's casual conversation.
"-masu (pronounced "mas")" is another ending which is used for sentences with regular verbs. The sense of "be" or "regular" verbs in Japanese is not exactly the same as English but most them are.
In most cases, the sentence can be understood without "desu" and it is often abbreviated or arranged in conversations. I'll talk about "-masu" later.
"Boku no namae wa Soogi desu" = My name is Soogi
The arrangement of the ending "desu".
"Boku no namae wa Soogi dayo" is how a boys speaks in conversation. If you say this to your boss in the office or to a teacher at school, you'll sound weird and childish. In such a case, use the more formal version: "watashi no namae wa Soogi desu".
"Watashi no namae wa Vanille yo!" This is a girl's way of saying "my name is Vanille". If a male said it this way, it would sound odd. In these two sentences, "dayo" and "yo" indicate the gender of the speaker. ("yo" at the end of a sentence indicates emphasis) Today it's more common for females to adopt the words boys use, but straight males still speak like guys and don't use female words or phrases.
Lesson 1:
Let's make the following sentences.
1) My dog is (a) shepherd (dog = inu, please use the word "shepherd" in English. Japanese do not use "a" "the" and singular / plural)
2) Bears' #54 is Urlacher. (#54 = 54-ban, please use English words for Bears and Urlacher)
3) Christmas is Jesus's birthday. (birthday = tanjoubi)
Lesson 2:
What do the following sentences mean?
1) Urlacher wa Bears no 54-ban desu.
2) Ashita wa kayoubi desu.
3) Serah wa Lightning no imouto desu.
Notes:
Japanese uses 3 different sets of characters (or alphabets): Hiragana, katakana and kanji.
Kanji= Chinese characters. Present mainland China uses arranged (abbreviated) forms of Chinese characters which Japanese cannot read in general. Before the Chinese started to use modern Chinese characters, and when Japanese used Chinese for writing (up to around the late 19th century), Japanese and Chinese could read the both documents. In present society, use and knowledge of kanji represents a kind of intelligence.
Hiragana = phonographic characters. All of the Japanese language can be written in hiragana but misuse and using less kanji generally indicates a lack of education. Using too many kanji characters might be a clue that someone is just showing off. Maybe academic fanatics do this.
Katakana = phonographic characters like hiragana but used mainly for foreign words. I use Soogi in katakana since this is the nickname his western friends have given to him.
1) Urlacher wa Bears no 54-ban desu.
2) Ashita wa kayoubi desu.
3) Serah wa Lightning no imouto desu.
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