Ten-Ten?

[jaleebean]

Hello!
I'm currently a beginner, I tend to use apps and websites for learning as I struggle to focus when reading books so at the moment I'm using Human Japan and Dr Moku for Hiragana reference. I've learnt over 25 basic characters now which I'm super proud of but I'm struggling with Ten-Ten Human Japan mentions it a lot and enthuses that you learn and use it, am I right in thinking that characters with Ten-Ten aren't part of the Hiragana alphabet(not sure if thats the right word, sorry!)? Everywhere I've looked I can't see it and to be honest it confuses me. I think it's just another way of pronouncing the character? Please correct me if I'm wrong!

I'd also love to know some other websites/apps to learn from and maybe some other people at a similar stage of learning so we can help each other. I'm also happy to do Japanese - English exchange if anyone wants to help and would like to learn English in return!

Thank you!
Jamie.

 

[killerinsidee]

You mean Dakuten - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia right?
There are plenty of sites that explain how it works. It's nothing overly complicated.
For example - Hiragana Lesson II: Dakuten and Handakuten Hiragana characters | Mainichi Japanese - Learn to read and write Japanese

 

[SomeCallMeChris]

ten-ten refers to the " looking marks next to some kana, がぎぐげご、だぢづでど、etc. It changes the pronunciation (from 'ka' to 'ga', 'ta' to 'da', etc.)

Human Japanese is kinda terrible btw, I recommend picking up a copy of Genki or Minna no Nihongo (Japanese for Everyone). They are used in many university courses so there's tons of used copies around. Try to get the audio CD too. i think it's sold separately with Minna, but bundled with some editions of Genki.

Also check out Tae Kim's Guide, Learn Japanese | Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese
A lot of people (especially on this site) like to hate on it because it has some deficiencies compared to a regular textbook. It can be used as a replacement for a textbook, but I used it as - and think it is better as - a supplement to a textbook. It covers a lot of grammar points rather very succinctly, but it doesn't have much for exercises or example dialogues which leaves you short on anything to practice with if you don't also have a regular text. In terms of the current question, it has nice kana charts with audio examples for each syllable.

 

[killerinsidee]

I agree, get Genki. It makes the initial grammar much easier to comprehend.
I think that Tae Kim's guide is a bit too hard for a total beginner, but you can switch to it later on if your really hate Genki (or textbooks in general),