Last Lesson: Basic pronunciation & Grammar.

 

Japanese Hiragana (Alphabet)

 

Ah, the bit i found (personally) the hardest.

ARE YOU EXCITED?! Hahaha, i'm just gonna pretend you're all shouting back at the monitor "YES SENSEI!" all motivated-like. 

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LOOK AT MY LESSON PLAN HERE:


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Just like when we first learned English, when learning a new language, you start with the alphabet. 

 

Vowels (あ to お)

Now, we've already had a little look at the vowels in the last lesson, remember? ....

If you're staring at your monitor like that... Please go re-read lesson one O: (link is at the top of this page! GO GO GO GO!!)

ANYHOW, back to vowels to those of you who remember what they were:

あ → a
い → i
う → u
え → e
お → o

These are the 'main' vowels, so to speak, and unlike English, these letters have only one sound. They make up the sound for the Hiragana columns. Learning the first five is the most important, so before learning any others, make sure to learn the initial five vowels FIRST. 

(It will help you - truuust me!)

 

How to learn

I'd recommend learning a LINE a week, so that each week you memorize a line until you can write them and identify them. C+P them onto word, print them out or write them out on flashcards to learn them, if that helps. 

Are you ready to begin?! 

Sweet! Let's go~

 

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A

These are all  pronounced using the vowel sound 'AH' we learned about before. So, practice pronouncing them, then saying them.

a     ka   sa    ta    na    ha    ma    ya    ra    wa    ga    za    da    ba    pa
あ    か   さ       た    な    は    ま        や     ら     わ    が    ざ      だ     ば     ぱ

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E

Remember how we pronounce this one? Like in YES, (EH). Practice pronouncing these few. 

e    ke    se    te    ne    he    me   re    we    ge    ze    de    be    pe  
え   け    せ     て     ね    へ      め    れ    ゑ      げ    ぜ    で      べ    ぺ

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I

These are pronounced like Irate, or the word 'Key' (EE). 

i     ki    shi    chi    ni    hi    mi    ri    wi    gi    ji    ji    bi    pi
い   き     し      ち      に    ひ   み     り    ゐ    ぎ   じ   ぢ    び   ぴ

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O

"Koh”, like the word comb. Try practicing these and learning them.

o    ko    so    to    no    ho    mo    yo    ro    wo    -n    go    zo    do    bo    po
お   こ     そ   と    の        ほ      も     よ     ろ    を       ん    ご   ぞ    ど      ぼ     ぽ

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U

This sounds sorta like 'Moo' - the 'oo' bit. (Haha couldn't resist saying 'Moo' out loud there ;__: ...)

u    ku    su    tsu    nu    fu    mu    yu    ru    gu    zu    zu    bu    pu
う    く     す        つ     ぬ    ふ     む     ゆ     る    ぐ     ず    づ      ぶ    ぷ

 

NOTE:

When writing the various kana of the Hiragana, sometimes it's written in a way that will not look exactly like the printed form, and must be written in a certain order. However, for now learn them by visual, and we will learn onto the order to print them later. (Don't want to add to the complication ^_^'')

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Phew, that's a lot right? Wait until you find out that there's ANOTHER alphabet, in completely different 'symbols' called Katakana. Oh yeah, these Japanese don't mess around with their alphabets 

But it's okay! We'll stick to Hiragana for now *^_^*

 

Order

 

For any of you that's ever seen a Hiragana Chart, you're probably thinking "HEY! That's not in the right order!"

But please don't hate ^_^;; i mean, really, when you're simply memorizing them, and learning how each one looks, you don't necessarily NEED an order. Once you learn, say, what ' べ ' is, you will look at it and go "Oh, that's 'be', not "I dunno, it's not where it should be in the order."

You should learn them all without learning the 'order' (though sometimes it can help), because they should all be learnt separately. 

But, for all you who have NO clue what i'm walking about, then have a look at a Hiragana chart. How they are laid out, the words going 'down' have the same letter, only a different vowel.

 

EXAMPLE:

 

Ka (あ), Ki (い), Ku (う), Ke (え), Ko (お), The same 'K', just with a different vowel. Some argue that the chart makes it easier. I'll let you  judge. (NOTE; We are only learning the RIGHT hand box first. However, for all you eager beavers, feel free to have a crack at the others. I wasn't gonna talk about them until later.)

 

Learning

 

Learn at your own pace.

I found learning Hiragana really difficult, and even now i something have to refer to my chart when doing translations - but it will come with time and practice. Keep a chart handy, or keep flashcards (my personal favorite) about, and from time to time test yourself.

 

HOMEWORK

(Can do - it's up to you, but it could really help~ )

Learn a different vowel line a week ^_^ You can do it, FIGHTING! 

 

Words to learn this week: 

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If after reading this (and reading again) you are like the girl in this picture, just leave a comment and I’d be happy to answer any questions regarding THIS lesson. (please don't post questions asking me to translate or how to say 'so and so', JUST WAIT FOR THE OTHER LESSONS ^__^;;



NEXT LESSON -


We shall be looking at Numbers & Months. EXCITED? I bet you are ^_^;;

 

 

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