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Japanese Time!
Hiragana
Awhile back, this post specifically, I introduced you fine people to one of the Japanese alphabets, Katakana. Now, if you remember, katakana is for vital foreign words to Japanese like ノート(notebook)、アメリカ(America)、and "ワタブハロ!" ("water buffalo!"). The hiragana alphabet is the opposite, used for words native to Japan, and is the basis of the sound structure. Both alphabets combined, along with the slight variations for different sounds, number around a hundred to a hundred fifty characters. These are of course the easy ones, and many classes here expect you to memorize all of them in a week. The last alphabet, Kanji, is another animal, with over 3000 unique characters it is amazing that anyone gets any reading done.
Now that that brief introduction is over I think it's time to show you the hiragana.
"Ah" あ "Ii" い "Oo" う "Eh" え "Oh" お
"Kah" か "Kii" き "Koo" く "Keh" け "Koh" こ
"Gah" が "Gii" ぎ "Goo" ぐ "Geh" げ "Goh" ご
"Sah" さ "Shi" し "Soo" す "Seh" せ "Soh" そ
"Zah" ざ "Jii" じ "Zoo" ず "Zeh" ぜ "Zoh" ぞ
"Hah" は "Hii" ひ "Hoo" ふ "Heh" へ "Hoh" ほ
"Bah" ば "Bii" び "Boo" ぶ "Beh" べ "Boh" ぼ
"Pah" ぱ "Pii" ぴ "Poo" ぷ "Peh" ぺ "Poh" ぽ
"Tah" た "Chii" ち "Tsu" つ "Teh" て "Toh" と
"Dah" だ "Dii" ぢ "Doo" ど "Deh" で "Doh" ど
"Rah" ら "Rii" り "Roo" る "Reh" れ "Roh" ろ
"Nah" な "Nii" に "Noo" ぬ "Neh" ね "Noh" の
"Mah" ま "Mii" み "Moo" む "Meh" め "Moh" も
"Yah" や "Yoo" ゆ "Yoh" よ
"Wah" わ "Woh" を
"Nnn" ん
Now that we have the materials, I think I'll make this Japanese time a bit interactive. Below I've listed some very common words in Japanese, all of which are from old Japanese Times. Tomorrow I'll post the answers at the end of the Japanese time so those of you who decided to try and figure it out can see how you did.
わたし
こわい
たべもの
こんにちは
でんわ
くるま
じてんしゃ
おかね
りょかん
からおけ
Good luck!
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Best Wishes,
Dan
