Katakana, Part Three (sa, shi, su, se, so)

sa　サ
shi　シ
su　ス
se　セ
so　ソ

Katakana, Part Two (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko)

ka　カ
ki　キ
ku　ク
ke　ケ
ko　コ

Katakana, Part One (a, i, u, e, o)

Katakana sounds the same as Hiragana that you already know, but is used in borrowed words in the japanese language. For example, eugo(english) エウゴ。

Once again, the charts in the posts are taken from Namiko Abe from About.com.

Hiragana, Part Ten (Extended Sounds)

Hiragana, Part Nine (wa, wo, nn)

wa　わ
wo　を
nn　ん

Hiragana, Part Eight (ya, yu, yo) (ra, ri, ru, re, ro)

ya　や
yu　ゆ
yo　よ



ra　ら
ri　り
ru　る
re　れ
ro　ろ

Hiragana, Part Seven (ma, mi, mu, me, mo)

Only 13 or so more!

ma　ま (maw) listen
mi　み (me) listen
mu　む (moo) listen
me　め (may) listen
mo　も (moa)t listen

Hiragana, Part Six (ha, hi, fu, he, ho)

Almost there!

ha　は (ho)t listen
hi　ひ (hea)t listen
fu　ふ (foo)d listen
he　へ (hay) listen
ho　ほ (ho)pe listen

Hiragana, Part Five (na, ni, nu, ne, no)

Five more:

na　な (no)t listen
ni　に (knee) listen
nu　ぬ (new) listen
ne　ね (na)pe listen
no　の (NO!) listen

Hiragana, Part Four (ta, chi, tsu, te, to)

Sorry for the break. Here are some more Hiragana:

ta た (to)p listen
chi ち (che)ap listen
tsu つ (tsuo)p?? listen
te て (ta)pe listen
to と (toe) listen

Review Hiragana, Part 1

Let's have a review:　(Try each part without looking back) If you can't get all of then in the first try, go back an review some more. Remember, we want to know the hiragana like we know abc's.

Part 1: Pronounce the following hiragana:

1. か 11. さ
2. し 12. せ
3. お 13. く
4. う 14. あ
5. す 15. け
6. そ
7. え
8. い
9. こ
10. き

Part 2: Write the hiragana for each:

1. ke 11. u
2. a 12. ka
3. e 13. ke
4. shi 14. sa
5. so 15. se
6. ki
7. i
8. o
9. ko
10. su

Part 3: Pronounce the following and write the romanji: (Note, these may not be real japanese words, although I think the first one means "no")

1. 　いいえ
2. 　あこし
3.　かそくう
4.　きうさ
5.　うえあう
6.　こおしか
7.　いかしい







Once we have these down pat, we are going to learn 15 more hiragana!

Answer to part 3:

1. iie
2. akoshi
3. kasokuu (Note the extra u just makes it longer)
4. kiusa
5. ueau
6. kooshika
7. ikashii

Hiragana, Part Three (sa, shi, su, se, so)

I've had a little more time tonight, so I'm going to post five more hiragana characters.

sa　さ (so)litude listen
shi　し (she) listen
su　す (sou)p listen
se　せ (say) listen
so　そ (soa)p listen



After we practice, we'll have a review and a couple of readings to stress pronunciation.

Hiragana, Part Two (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko)

So we know the basis of the Japanese Hiragana now! We still have about 30 left, so let's keep it up. At this rate we'll know the Japanese alphabet in a few short days.

ka か (ca)r listen
ki き (key) listen
ku く (coo)l listen
ke け (ca)ve listen
ko こ (co)at listen



Tomorrow we are going to learn five more! Remember to practice a-i-u-e-o today as well.

Hiragana, Part One (a, i, u, e, o)

To learn Japanese, we're going to learn the alphabets first. Written Japanese is made up of two written scripts and kanji. The scripts, or Kana, are Hiragana and Katakana. Kanji is modified Chinese characters. Modern Japanese sentences have all three of these in them! Once we learn the Hiragana, we will begin Katakana, and then introduce Kanji slowly. Learning the Kanji will require alot of time and persistence, considering we need to learn about 2000 to read a standard Japanese newspaper!

Hiragana is used for consonant-vowel sounds like ka, mo, ta, te, shi... Words that use Katakana are Tokyo, Kyoto, Hirigana..... Katakana is used for sounds that cannot be expressed in consonant-vowel.

Before beginning, I must give The Japanese Page credit, as they are the source I am learning from. I highly recommend you visit their site!

Hiragana, Lesson 1: a-i-u-e-o

This works as follows:

The Romanji is written, followed by the Hiragana. How the letter sounds can be determined by saying the work following the hiragana.

a あ f(a)ther listen
i い f(ee)t listen
u う f(oo)d listen
e え h(A)te listen
o お n(O) listen



I practiced this by writing the hiragana for the 5 letters above 30 times each. I then reviewed them all in different orders. You have to practice to remember which sound goes with each letter!

Tomorrow, we will learn five more hiragana, and review the ones we just learned.