Hiragana

<Planning>	Mariko Masuda
<Instructional Design>	Kaoru Maehara
	Yasuto Kikuchi
	Mariko Masuda
<Technology>	Sangmok Lee

<Planning>	Mariko Masuda
<Instructional Design>	Kaoru Maehara
	Yasuto Kikuchi
	Mariko Masuda
<Technology>	Sangmok Lee

Index

These tasks are designed for memorizing the Hiragana Characters & Sound.

Index

Preface

Study 1

Japanese Sounds and Hiragana

Study 2

Shape of Hiragana

12345678910111213141516

Preface

Let's get started!

Japanese Language has three writing systems.

Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji

Of these three, hiragana is the most basic. Here, we'll start by taking a look at the hiragana system.

Preface

This lesson is intended to provide an introduction to the hiragana system for first-time students.

You'll get a chance to study each of the hiragana letters one at a time later on, so remember: there is no need to memorize them now!

Study 1.

Japanese Sounds and Hiragana

We'll start this lesson by introducing you to the sounds that make up the Japanese language.

Japanese Sounds and Hiragana

Listen to the following sound phrase and recognize
how many separate characters are used.

Check your answer.

5 Characters

Japanese Sounds and Hiragana

Now try the next phrase!
It's a bit long, so listen carefully!.

Check your answer.

10 Characters

Japanese Sounds and Hiragana

	a	i	u	e	o

k
s
t
n
h
m
y
r
w

The two sound phrases you just heard correspond to the horizontal and vertical rows of this chart.

This is the hiragana chart based on Japanese sound system.
Let's take a closer look at it...

Japanese Sounds and Hiragana

	a	i	u	e	o

k
s
t
n
h
m
y
r
w

Your next task is sound recognition.
After listening to a sound, click on the appropriate box on the hiragana chart.

Quiz 1

Quiz 2

Quiz 3

Quiz 4

Quiz 5

Quiz 6

Quiz 7

Japanese Sounds and Hiragana

	a	i	u	e	o

k
s
t
n
h
m
y
r
w

As you can see here, Japanese sound system and the hiragana chart is organized systematically.

Basic unit of Japanese sound

=1 consonant + 1 vowel (typical case)

Consonant: k, s, t, n …
Vowel: a, i, u, e, o
e.g. k+o, s+a, t+e …

Each Hiragana corresponds to this unit.
e.g.

= ko,

= sa,

= te

So far, we've studied how the hiragana chart matches up with Japanese sounds.
Next, we'll take a look at the shape of the hiragana letters themselves.

Study 2.

Shape of Hiragana

Next, we'll take a look at the shape of the hiragana letters.

We'll study each letter more thoroughly in the next lesson, so for now just try to focus on familiarizing yourself with their shapes.

Again, there is no need to memorize each letter right now!

Shape of Hiragana

	a	i	u	e	o

k
s
t
n
h
m
y
r
w

In this part, let's observe the shape of hiragana.
Please look at the letters in the upper half of the chart.
What is your impression of the shape of hiragana?
Hiragana has a relatively simple shape consisting of gentle curves.

Shape of Hiragana

	a	i	u	e	o

k
s
t
n

What letter is this?

Drag and drop the letter you see above onto the matching letter in the chart on the left.
Please be careful with similar letters.

Good job!
Let's move on to the next one.

Shape of Hiragana

	a	i	u	e	o

k
s
t
n

Now drag and drop the two letters below onto the matching spaces in the chart on the left.

Japanese words can be written in combination of letters like this.

Now you've taken a look at the shape of hiragana letters. Are you getting used to them yet?

Shape of Hiragana

	a	i	u	e	o

k
s
t
n
h
m
y
r
w

Now let's try the same thing with the lower half of the chart.

Shape of Hiragana

	a	i	u	e	o
h
m
y
r
w

What letter is this?
Drag and drop the letter onto the matching letter in the chart.

Good job!
Let's move on to the next one.

Shape of Hiragana

	a	i	u	e	o
h
m
y
r
w

Now we've built a word!.

Now you've taken a look at the shape of hiragana letters. Are you getting used to them yet?

Shape of Hiragana

	a	i	u	e	o

k
s
t
n
h
m
y
r
w

Each letter of hiragana has a relatively simple shape written with gentle curves.
Japanese words can be written in combination of letters like this.

This is the end of the introduction of hiragana.
Let's start studying the sound and shape of each hiragana letter one by one in the next main part.

Index

We recommend studying in this order,
but Special Characters 1-6 can also be studied afterwards.

L.1Vowel Characters

L.2k+

L.3s+

L.4t+

L.5Special Characters 1

Marker of voiced consonants "g,z,d,b"

L.6Special Characters 2

Marker of "mora nasal"

L.7n+

L.8h+

L.9Special Characters 3

Marker of consonant "p"

L.10m+

L.11y+

L.12r+

L.13w+

L.14Special Characters 4

Marker of long vowels

L.15Special Characters 5

Marker of "C+y+V" type: small

L.16Special Characters 6

Marker of double consonants: small

Map of japanese 50 sounds

Special Characters

Put the letters in the correct order.

Drag

Many characters contain

Click and look at some examples of these characters.

This symbol

in the top right corner shows a change in pronunciation. Observe the difference of pronunciations.

It maybe difficult for some of you to hear the differences but there is no need to worry at this stage.

Did you understand the diffrences?
Let's listen to the each sounds. Click each

of character.

click

is found in the following words.
Click on to listen to the next sounds.

The corresponding hiragana letters will be seen on the following screen.

Please concentrate on listening to the sounds here.

Let's check the position of the sound

Listen to the following words. Do they contain

Click . Then, click the positions of the sound

Each box represents one hiragana.

e.g.

CLICK

because

includes "

"
in the second position.

Sometimes a symbol

is added to the top right corner
next to "

Just as we studied before with

changes the pronunciation.
Let's listen and compare the pronunciations.

indicates a "p" sound.

click

Now let's look at the difference between

, which we have already
studied, and

. Listen and compare the two sounds.

indicates a "b" sound, while

indicates a "p" sound.

click

Listen to the following sounds and compare the differences.

The corresponding hiragana letters will be seen on the following screen.

Please concentrate on listening to the sounds here.

Rules regarding the spelling of long sounds (1):

Long vowels ending in -a, -i, -u are written with

Listen to the following words. Do they include a long sound?

Next, listen to the following sounds.
e and o can also become long sounds.

Listen to three examples.

-ee-

-oo-

Rules regarding the spelling of long sounds (2):

Long vowels ending in -e, -o are written with

and

are not used.(∗)

-ee-

-oo-

(∗)There are some irregular spellings like

⟨sound⟩		⟨ ⟩
-aa	→	a	mother
-i i	→	i	yellow
-uu	→	u	air
-ee	→	e	clock
-oo	→	o	father

First, let's look at some examples.

A small
,
or
is pronounced differently to a large
,
,
.
It is joined to the last character, and pronounced as one sound.

Listen and observe the differences in pronunciation.

It may be difficult for some of you to hear the differences but there is no need to worry at this stage.

Did you notice the differences?
Click on the following words, and listen and compare sounds.

ya	→	e.g.	tea
yu	→		singer
yo	→		dictionary

e.g.		/		/
		/		/

Listen to the following sounds.

The corresponding hiragana letters will be seen on the following screen.

Please concentrate on listening to the sounds here.

Listen to where the small

is positioned.
Pay attention before -k, -s, -t, -p

Do the following words contain small

Listen, and click on the position of small

Each box represents one hiragana.

e.g.

CLICK

because

includes "

"
in the second position.

-kk- / -ss- / -tt- / -pp-

That's the end of this part.
Now let's study each point one at a time.

This is the end of Hiragana main.

Return to index