What is Hiragana?

Hiragana is the basic phonetic alphabet in Japanese. The entire hiragana letter represents all the sounds that appear in Japanese. So, actually could have been written only in Japanese hiragana. However, because space is not used in Japanese, using hiragana alone would result in a sentence hard to read.

At the bottom of the table along with hiragana pronunciation. How to read the table is from top to bottom and from right to left, like how to read Japanese books (including comics). In Japanese, writing strokes of a letter with the correct sequence and direction is essential. Because handwriting is slightly different from printed text (as the letter 'a'), you need to find sources such as websites or books that teach how to write the letters. I also need to emphasize that you must learn the correct pronunciation of the letters. Because all the words in the Japanese language is composed of these voices, one saying a letter would damage the foundation terdasar your pronunciation.

Tabel Hiragana 1
n	w	r	y	m	h	n	t	s	k
ん (n)	わ	ら	や	ま	は	な	た	さ	か	あ	a
	ゐ*	り		み	ひ	に	ち (chi)	し (shi)	き	い	i
		る	ゆ	む	ふ (fu)	ぬ	つ (tsu)	す	く	う	u
	ゑ*	れ		め	へ	ね	て	せ	け	え	e
	を	ろ	よ	も	ほ	の	と	そ	こ	お	o

 

* = Obsolete (not used anymore)

Hiragana is not too difficult, so there are plenty of websites and free programs that teach it. I strongly suggest you go to http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/cover.html hear the pronunciation of each letter. Relevant section is 2.1 to 2.11. I also suggest you record your own voice and compare it with the correct sound.

When practice writing hiragana, do not forget that the order and direction should not be writing guratannya own way. See, I even made the writing side, underlined, and ditebali to emphasize it. Trust me, you will find that it is indeed important when reading the handwriting in a hurry other people who like chicken scratch. The only thing that will help you is that every person writing hiragana with the same stroke order, so the "flow" of the lines is consistent from one person to another. I strongly suggest that you learn the correct way to write from the beginning to avoid the habit of writing the wrong.

Some examples of words that you can write with the letters in the table above is "あい" (love), "うつくしい" (beautiful), うたう (singing), and "たかはし" (one of a common family name in Japan).

※ As knowledge, there is the ancient Japanese poetry called "いろは" which was once used as a basis to sort the letters of hiragana. The poem contains every letter except hiragana "ん" because maybe at that time not yet exist. You can see the poem in this http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroha. As noted in the article, sometimes the order of "Iroha" is still used, so there's no harm in looking.

Note

1. Visit this site http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/cover.html to hear the pronunciation of each letter hiragana. Voice files are ranging from 2.1 to 2.11. If you can not get the sound file, follow the guidelines below to read it.

2. Except for "し", "ち", "つ", "ふ" and "ん", you can know how a letter is sounded with a consonant pair was on the table with a vowel that is in the right table. For example, "ま" (the consonant "m", vowel "a") is read "ma" and "き" (the consonant "k", vowel "i") pronounced "ki".

3. As noted in the table, some voices have exceptions. For example, "ち" pronounced "chi" instead of "ti" and "つ" is pronounced "tsu" instead of "tu".

4. "し" reads like a "syi" to "shirk"

5. "ち" reads like the "ci" in the "lizard"

6. The sound of "r" in Japanese is not the same with the sound "r" in the Indonesian language. Vibration is more subtle, and was among the sound "l" and "r" of his Indonesian language. Be careful with the pronunciation of all letters in the column.

7. Vocal "e" in Japanese sounds like "e" in "good" and NOT like the "coax". So, for example, へ reads like a "he" to "surprised" and NOT as in "strands".

8. Keep in mind pronunciation difference between "tsu" with "su".

9. Sound "t" in "つ" will stick to the letter that preceded it. For example, "まつ" (wait) pronounced "Mat-su".

10. The letter "ん" is special because it is rarely used alone and has no vowel sounds. The letter was taped to the back of another letter to make a sound to die "n". For example, "て" read "te" so that "てん" (point) is read "about". "へん" (weird) pronounced "hen", "わん" (bay) pronounced "wan", and so on.

11. The letter "ん" will be voiced by "m" in certain words, eg "しんまい" (beginner) which read "shimmai". "ん" also read "ng" in certain words, eg "まん かい" (full bloom) which read "mangkai". Actually, no rule change in his voice, but the best way to master it is to hear a lot of Japanese. If your ears are accustomed to, eventually you'll understand the rule in the subconscious and can recite the "ん" correctly automatically.

**続けて**