Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Let's take a step back...

For some alphabet practice! This is easy, but I'm bored and don't have much time...so here we go. Simple organation: Romaji - Hiragana - Katakana. Some notes, any letter where you see something like (w)O means that it's typed differently on a US keyboard when you try to make the letter. So, を is actually typed "wo" when you make the letter, even though the letter itself is just "O". For (d)Ji and (d)Zu, you would type those just "Di" and "Du" to make the characters, but they are still pronounced the same as Ji and Zu. For your reading pleasure, I've enlarged them a bit so that you can see the characters a bit better.

A I U E O - あいうえお - アイウエオ
Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko - かきくけこ - カキクケコ
Sa Shi Su Se So - さしすせそ - サシスセソ
Ta Chi Tsu Te To - たちつてと - タチツテト
Na Ni Nu Ne No - なにぬねの - ナニヌネノ
Ha Hi Hu He Ho - はひふへほ - ハヒフヘホ
Ma Mi Mu Me Mo - まみむめも - マミムメモ
Ya Yu Yo - やゆよ - ヤユヨ
Ra Ri Ru Re Ro - らりるれろ - ラリルレロ
Wa (w)O N - わをん - ワヲン

Ga Gi Gu Ge Go - がぎぐげご - ガギグゲゴ
Za Ji Zu Ze Zo - ざじずぞぞ - ザジズゼゾ
Da (d)Ji (d)Zu De Do - だぢづでど - ダヂヅデド
Ba Bi Bu Be Bo - ばびぶべぼ - バビブベボ
Pa Pi Pu Pe Po - ぱぴぷぺぽ - パピプペポ

Kya Kyu Kyo - きゃきゅきょ - キャキュキョ
Sha Shu Sho - しゃしゅしょ - シャシュショ
Cha Chu Cho - ちゃちゅちょ - チャチュチョ
Nya Nyu Nyo - にゃにゅにょ - ニャニュニョ
Hya Hyu Hyo - ひゃひゅひょ - ヒャヒュヒョ
Mya Myu Myo - みゃみゅみょ - ミャミュミョ
Rya Ryu Ryo - りゃりゅりょ - リャリュリョ

Gya Gyu Gyo - ぎゃぎゅぎょ - ギャギュギョ
Ja Ju Jo - じゃじゅじょ - ジャジュジョ
Bya Byu Byo - びゃびゅびょ - ビャビュビョ
Pya Pyu Pyo - ぴゃぴゅぴょ - ピャピュピョ

So, there's your alphabet in a nutshell for Japanese. IMO, the Hiragana is actually incredibly easy to learn, and once you get used to it you can actually blaze through anything written purely in Hiragana script. However, Kanji and Katakana are generally what trip me up the fastest, as those can be remarkably confusing when you're not as proficient at them (at least for me).

That's all I have time for right now, keep your eyes open later for more.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I've seen the table organized:

わ ら や ま は な た さ か あ
  り   み ひ に ち し き い
  る ゆ む ふ ぬ つ す く う
  れ   め へ ね て せ け え
を ろ よ も ほ の と そ こ お


I've actually caught up to you. I'm curious to see your take on the next lesson. It has a couple tricky points

Khiras said...

Heh I'm looking through my notes on the next lesson and I realized there were some parts I just flat out skipped...I'll post it once I remember what the words meant hehe

Anna said...

Hey, I love all that you've put up so far, it's helped me tremendously!!! Please post again soon!

Refreshe said...

Most of the hiragana were easy to learn, but I swear, I'm still having trouble with き, さ, ち, and ら. Come to think of it, I have similar problems with b, p, d and 9, and I *still* will write one instead of another, especially if I'm not actually looking at whatever I'm writing down.
And yeah, katakana are harder to retain, aren't they? You don't seem to use them as often.