Here we are in the very first presentation course on the very first writing system of the Japanese language. Know already that this course and those who will follow in this first part will all relate to a writing system where we will each time dissect in detail everything there is to know about each writing system. I had already presented them to you in the previous course, we will see the hiragana, the katakana, the kanji, the rōmaji and the arabiasūji.
For today, in this course, we will focus on hiragana. So, hiragana, what is it? Hiragana is a syllabic alphabet, we speak more simply of syllabary. Each hiragana corresponds to a syllable, consonants or vowels, and not to a sound as in our Latin alphabet. We will see in more detail a little later what the hiragana syllables look like. For now, I’m introducing a few of them to you :
あ a
い i
う u
か ka
き ki
ま ma
な na
に ni
ぬ nu
ね ne
の no
や ya
ゆ yu
I mentioned this in the previous course on the Japanese language writing. Hiragana have been created from kanji. Remember, I had explained to you in a very simple way that the Japanese people quickly copied a few pieces of kanji to create their famous syllables with a lot less lines for more simplicity and put their own pronunciations on these newly created syllables.
I give you below some examples of hiragana which are simplifications of kanji :
安 . あ
心 . し
計 . け
代 . む
毛 . も
The hiragana are classified in a table, the hiragana table, which will allow us to classify them, to list them and then especially to learn them. I give you below the hiragana table with the pronunciation in rōmaji :
あ a
い i
う u
え e
お o
か ka
き ki
く ku
け ke
こ ko
さ sa
し shi
す su
せ se
そ so
た ta
ち chi
つ tsu
て te
と to
な na
に ni
ぬ nu
ね ne
の no
は ha
ひ hi
ふ fu
へ he
ほ ho
ま ma
み mi
む mu
め me
も mo
や ya
ゆ yu
よ yo
ら ra
り ri
る ru
れ re
ろ ro
わ wa
を wo / o
ん n
It is a double entry table. First we have the vowels columns :
あ a
い i
う u
え e
お o
And, lined up, we have the consonants (for example, the consonants in い i) :
い i
き ki
し shi
ち chi
に ni
ひ hi
み mi
り ri
This is how the hiragana table is organized, and it is very important to learn and remember this table in the order in which the hiragana are classified. In fact, it’s exactly like learning the Latin alphabet in order: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i… You have to learn the hiragana table in the right order according to the vowels and consonants’ columns. This will help you in many situations. For example, when you are in a bookstore and looking for a Black & Mortimer album (I love this series!), if you can find Black & Mortimer albums, it is thanks to a storage system by alphabetical order, and since you know the Latin alphabet, you just have to look for the « B » and you find what you are looking for.
It’s the same with hiragana. Imagine that you are in exactly the same situation in Japan. This time you’re looking for a One Piece manga. You’re going to look for the corresponding hiragana (or katakana), and if you know your hiragana by heart, you will easily find it.
So, memorizing the hiragana table (and that of the katakana that we will see in the next course) is very important. Memorizing this table is not difficult. There is no particular method. You have to repeat it over and over until you memorize it and, don’t worry, you will memorize everything in the end.
You will have noticed that all the syllables are composed of a consonant and a vowel :
か kaK+A
こ koK+O
さ saS+A
す suS+U
て teT+E
と toT+O
な naN+A
The only syllables that we, Westerners, call vowels are : あ a, い i, う u, え e, お o. These are the only five vowel sounds that exist in Japanese. So be happy because in English, we have twenty vowel sounds (seven short vowels, five long vowels and eight diphthongs).
To return to the hiragana table, you will notice that at the end, we have the ん n on which we will come back to later.
For now, let’s see in detail this table, line by line, and the pronunciation features of certain syllables :
あ a
い i
う u
え e
お o
In this line, the う u can be pronounced in Japanese like the sound « oo » [u] in French or the letter « u » Italian which is pronounced exactly the same way. That said, some Japanese also pronounce it [y], [ø] or [œ]. This difference in pronunciation may depend on certain factors such as the region. A Tokyoite does not speak with the same accent as an Okinawan, for example. Overall, for the Japanese, the sounds [u], [y], [ø] or [œ] are exactly the same, that’s also why Japanese people who want to learn English generally have a hard time distinguishing between these sounds.
Let’s see the following :
か ka
き ki
く ku
け ke
こ ko
No problem for this line, let’s continue :
さ sa
し shi
す su
せ se
そ so
Here we have the し shi because the Japanese people have trouble pronouncing the sound « si », they say rather « shi », that’s why we have an « h » so that you understand that it is the sound [ʃ]. However, keep in mind that the idea is し shi . S+I.
Let’s see the following :
た ta
ち chi
つ tsu
て te
と to
Here we have the ち chi and つ tsu. Again, the Japanese people can’t pronounce « ti » and « tu » so the ち chi is pronounced « tchi » and the つ tsu is pronounced « tsu » or « tsoo ». I hope you understand.
Let’s see the following :
な na
に ni
ぬ nu
ね ne
の no
Nothing particular to say for this line.
Let’s go on :
は ha
ひ hi
ふ fu
へ he
ほ ho
We now have the « h » line. You should know that the Japanese « h » is an expired sound, which we have in English, in the word « happy » for example. Remember to expire the « h » when you recite this line otherwise it will look too much like あ a, い i, う u, え e, お o.
You will have noticed that we have the sound ふ fu and not « hu » because the Japanese cannot pronounce the sound « hu ».
Let’s go on :
ま ma
み mi
む mu
め me
も mo
No problem for this line, let’s continue :
や ya
ゆ yu
よ yo
Here we don’t have a « yi » and we don’t have a « ye ». These two sounds do not exist in Japanese.
Let’s go on :
ら ra
り ri
る ru
れ re
ろ ro
Note that the syllables in the R line are very light, be careful, they are not rolled « r » but simply very light « r ».
We are almost at the end, let’s continue :
わ wa
を wo / o
Here, we only have two syllables for the W. The syllabe を wo is very light, the Japanese people do not pronounce a very marked « wo ». In addition, this hiragana is used very little in Japanese language and is used for only one thing : to indicate the DOC (Direct Object Complement) in a sentence. We will see all of this in season two when we do the grammar.
For your general culture, know that there existed a hiragana ゐ (wi) and a hiragana ゑ (we) which were removed during a reform of the Japanese language in the 1900s, which dates anyway! The reason was very simple, these two hiragana were no longer used in Japanese at all, so since the Japanese people no longer needed them, they deleted them.
Finally, to finish, we have the ん n which is simply the sound [n] as in the word « man » where the syllable ん n is heard very slightly.
What is important to know is that a Japanese syllable is worth a beat and all Japanese syllables have the same value.
I will use an example we had seen in the previous lesson, the word « katana ». We have three syllables : « か », « た », « な ». Three syllables, three beats. You have to imagine that the Japanese language is a rhythm and that the syllables are notes that make a long time. I give you another example, the word « akai ». We have three syllables : « あ », « か », « い ». Three beats, « akai » is the qualifying adjective « red ».
Another, the word « iki » which means « respiration, breath ». We have two syllables : « い », « き ».
Finally, a last, the word « onna » which means « woman ». We do have three syllables : « お », « ん », « な ».
So keep in mind that all Japanese syllables worth one beat, even the line of what we, Westerners, call Japanese vowels : あ a, い i, う u, え e, お o. Even the ん n is equivalent to a whole time in pronunciation.
Regarding the layout of hiragana like that of katakana, you can find on Google Image tables showing you the route to follow to properly draw hiragana and katakana (which we will see in the following course). In the immediate future, focus on the pronunciation of each syllable. Learn to recognize them at first glance and then practice drawing them with the help of a suitable table.
For the anecdote, the table that I have presented to you and which is the most used with the syllabic order to know is called « gojūonzu ». There is another Japanese syllabic table called « iroha » but we will not see it here. Just know that this table exists. Either way, focus on the table I gave you, the « gojūonzu ».
Well, the question that many of you are certainly asking yourself is this. What will the hiragana be for us? What will be their function within the Japanese language? All this we will see little by little in the following courses. First, they will help us write Japanese grammar or rather indicate the grammatical function of words in Japanese sentences. We will have some little hiragana which will slip between the words, which we will call particles and which will indicate if it is subject of the verb, if it is DOC or IOC... A lot of very useful things, you’ll see. All this is about grammar, which is everything we will see in the season two of the program so, for now, you don’t have to worry about it, we’re just starting the first season and we still have a lot to see before season two. The hiragana will also be used to write the ending of verbs and adjectives, these endings which, according to certain rules, will have to change. I give you some examples below, just so you can see :
埋める
培う
嬉しい
It is not important to understand what these verbs and adjectives mean above. Simply observe the hiragana that follow the kanji. They are called okurigana, try to keep this little word in the corner of your head, we will talk about it a few lessons later.
Finally, know that with hiragana, in general, we can write almost the entire Japanese language. In hiragana, we can write everything we do not know how to write in kanji. Obviously, the Japanese language is written mainly in kanji but Japanese children who do not know how to write certain words in kanji will write them in hiragana. This is something that is done very often, we could also write everything in hiragana but it would make the sentence completely unintelligible. I give you below an example of a sentence entirely written in hiragana.
いぬはいぬごやのしたにほねをうめました。
It would be like writing a sentence in English without putting spaces between words :
Thedogburiedhisboneunderthedoghouse.
It quickly becomes illegible. So, it is much more practical to use kanji :
犬は犬小屋の下に骨を埋めました。
That’s it ! For kanji, don’t worry, it’s a little scary at first but once you understand how it all works, you will have fun.
This course is now over. Of course, there are still some things to see regarding hiragana other than the grammatical aspect that I mentioned above. We will see a little later the four rules for using kana where we will talk about a whole bunch of things that will allow us to broaden our horizon on the subject and to fully exploit all that is possible to do with.
Right now, the most important thing is to focus on learning hiragana, both pronouncing and in writing. Practice again, practice often and all this will definitely get into your memory, I guarantee it.
I leave you now to your exercises, available at the bottom of the page. These exercises assess whether you are able to write your hiragana and remember how to pronounce it.
In the first exercise, I give you hiragana and you have to write the reading in rōmaji next to it. In the second exercise, I give you the reading in rōmaji and you have to write the corresponding hiragana next to it. Nothing complicated then, all this is only learning by heart.
I wish you to revise your course well and see you next time.
Introduction