"Ha" as "Wa"?

[scooterfu]

I just started studying the hiragana & katakana and had two questions about something that seemed weird to me. I can't read the symbols when typed on this computer yet but, whenever "Wa" is used as a topic marker and in other instances, I noticed that the kana for "Ha" is used. Though the "Wa" kana IS used in words like Watashi. Why Isn't the "Wa" kana used for "Wa" in those instances?

Also... I can't find it in the dictionary, but I see a symbol used in katagana words a-lot that looks very much like the kanji for "1". Looks like a straight horizontal line. In words like burger, "Baga", I see the symbol for "Ba" then this line, then the symbol for"Ga", then the line again. And I see it a lot in Katagana. What's the line symbol? Is it an accent marker of some kind? Is it sylablle seperator of some kind?
Just tryin' to wrap my brain around this stuff.
Thanks for any help.

[Psy]

Lots of people ask these questions, so don't feel the fool in case you're worried. I'm sure you're familiar with a few different particles in Japanese, and by convention three of them are written using kana different from their sounds. They are:

は ＝ ha, but said 'wa' for particle 'wa' as in わたしは, こんにちは、きょうは　あついですね (watashi wa; konnichi wa; kyou wa atsui desu ne)
を = 'o', but only used for the particle 'o'. Sometimes pronounced 'wo.' なにを　しますか？ (nani o shimasu ka?)
へ = he, but pronounced 'e' for the directional particle 'e' as in どこへいきますか (doko e ikimasu ka?)

I believe the reasoning for the spellings is due to some convention from classical Japanese. Thankfully this it's the only non-phonetic spelling you'll ever have to deal with in kana. As for the bar ー in katakana, it extends a vowel. Since "burger" is "baaga," it is written バーが instead of バアガ.

Congrats on learning kana, it's a choice in your study you won't regret. がんばってね

[ninjaquick]

yeah, the horizontal line is used to extend vowels in katakana words, its kinda acts like the ditto marks used after some characters like　in　時々, which is pronounced tokidoki, and means sometimes. I'm just a begginner at Japanese, and i had the same trouble with the ha and wa. You'll get used to it I'm sure.

[scooterfu]

Thank you all for the help, and the fast response. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy or seeing typo's. That helps me see clearer though. Thank you.

[ninjaquick]

Yeah, its cuz we all get where ur coming from. It was really weird to me too when i first started.

[Yoshiko]

Although I've been studying Japanese for nine months at university, I still have a habit of typing 'o'/お instead of 'wo'／を. It's really tiring, because when you press the space bar you get all kinds of weird sentences and kanji.