The Japanese written language is a fascinating thing. The first thing many people think of when they hear someone mention Japanese is Kanji—the Chinese characters that are easy to spot within most written Japanese. “Why can’t they just spell things out!” some people exclaim, sometimes pointing out how written languages have advanced since the days … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Basics
Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 13: Small Y Combinations (きゃ きゅ きょ, etc.)
Did you miss our introduction to Hiragana? If so, you can go back and read it here. At last, we’ve made it to the final group of Hiragana! Congratulations on making it this far! So far we’ve covered all of the columns of the Kana table, and the rows for each of the basic vowels. … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 13: Small Y Combinations (きゃ きゅ きょ, etc.)
Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 12: Handakuten (ぱぴぷぺぽ)
Did you miss our introduction to Hiragana? If so, you can go back and read it here. The consonant for this column is P, so all five members of this group will be P followed by one of the five vowels, in order. ぱ [PA] ぴ [PI] ぷ [PU] ぺ [PE] ぽ [PO] As you … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 12: Handakuten (ぱぴぷぺぽ)
Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 11: Dakuten (がざだば, etc.)
Did you miss our introduction to Hiragana? If so, you can go back and read it here. This group is probably going to be the largest group that we cover during our introduction to Hiragana. That said, this will also be the simplest one yet, as you should already know all of the base characters … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 11: Dakuten (がざだば, etc.)
Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 10: W, N (わゐゑをん)
Did you miss our introduction to Hiragana? If so, you can go back and read it here. The consonant for this column is W, however like the Y column this group does not use all of the vowels—there is no kana for WU in Japanese. わ [WA] ゐ [WI] ゑ [WE] を [WO] Since it … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 10: W, N (わゐゑをん)
Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 9: R (らりるれろ)
Did you miss our introduction to Hiragana? If so, you can go back and read it here. The consonant for this column is R, so all five members of this group will be R followed by one of the five vowels, in order. ら [RA] り [RI] る [RU] れ [RE] ろ [RO] This is … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 9: R (らりるれろ)
Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 8: Y (やゆよ)
Did you miss our introduction to Hiragana? If so, you can go back and read it here. The consonant for this column is Y, so all members of this group will be Y followed by one of the five vowels. That said, this group is relatively unique in that it only uses three of the … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 8: Y (やゆよ)
Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 7: M (まみむめも)
Did you miss our introduction to Hiragana? If so, you can go back and read it here. The consonant for this column is M, so all five members of this group will be M followed by one of the five vowels, in order. ま [MA] み [MI] む [MU] め [ME] も [MO] This is … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 7: M (まみむめも)
Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 6: H (はひふへほ)
Did you miss our introduction to Hiragana? If so, you can go back and read it here. The consonant for this column is H, so all five members of this group will be H followed by one of the five vowels, in order. は [HA] ひ [HI] ふ [FU] へ [HE] ほ [HO] As we … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 6: H (はひふへほ)
Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 5: N (なにぬねの)
Did you miss our introduction to Hiragana? If so, you can go back and read it here. The consonant for this column is N, so all five members of this group will be N followed by one of the five vowels, in order. な [NA] に [NI] ぬ [NU] ね [NE] の [NO] This group … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 5: N (なにぬねの)
Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 4: T (たちつてと)
Did you miss our introduction to Hiragana? If so, you can go back and read it here. The consonant for this column is T, so all five members of this group will be T followed by one of the five vowels, in order. た [TA] ち [CHI] つ [TSU] て [TE] と [TO] As with … Continue reading Introduction to Japanese Writing: Hiragana Group 4: T (たちつてと)