Similar Hiragana Characters

Before we move onto Hiragana learning techniques and the other Hiragana (“What?” you ask, “There’s more?” Don’t worry, the rest of the hiragana just build on what you already know…), let’s see if you have got a good handle on the hiragana I’ve already talked about by seeing if you can distinguish between like characters. I want you to get out...

Hiragana – わ to ん

Here are the last few characters you will have to learn to complete hiragana: Lesson 10　- わ to ん わ – WA A magician waving his wand. The straight stroke is his wand and the curvy lines is the path the wand is taking を – O/WO An Olympic champion discus thrower. A note on this character – it is pronounced “o”, just like another character is pronounced...

Is Nihongo Right For You?

According to How-To-Learn-Any-Language.com, Japanese is one of the hardest languages an English speaking person can learn. Not only does it have a difficult writing system, the grammar is vastly different to English and most of the words are completely alien sounding. Compared to other languages you could be learning, Japanese is quite difficult. However, that being said, with a bit (or perhaps...

Hiragana – ら to ろ

Hey guys, only one more line to go! Lesson 9　- ら to　ろ ら – RA Looks like a Rabbit. You can see it’s cheek and floppy ear. り – RI Reeds in the river. る – RU It’s easy to think of this one in combination with ろ ro. See how one has a loop at the end and one doesn’t. To me this looks like the cursive form of “z” with a Ruby at the...

Hiragana – や to よ

OK, this lesson in hiragana is soooo damn easy you should be able to get it in ten minutes. There are only three characters on this line! Here they are: Lesson 8　ー　や　to　よ や – YA Looks like a yak. Here in Australia the way we pronounce yak uses the wrong “a” sound, however it is easy to see the little animal with horns, so it’s easy to remember. ゆ –...