Review of Hiragana and Katakana

the author of both the contents and the page itself is
Mitsuhiro Tagata (C) 1996

There are two types of character sets in Japanese. One is hiragana, and the other is katakana. Katakana is used for imported words such as "Kamera" (camera) and "Doa" (door). Otherwize, hiragana is used with kanji. The following pages explain how to write hiragana and katakana:

Hiragana-no-kakikata

Katakana-no-kakikata
CAUTION: Both pages contain about 50 gif-files, so it may take time to load them.

A Note on Pronunciation

The pronunciation of sa-shi-su-se-so: "shi" is pronounced with the /sh/ sound as in the /sh/ of English "sheep". On the other hand, "sa", "su", "se", and "so" are pronounced with the /s/ sound as in the /s/ of English "seek".

Subject "ha" (or "ha" used as a particle) is prounced /wa/. It has the same pronunciation as "wa". If "ha" is not a particle, it is pronounced /ha/.

"wo" is always pronounced /o/, with the same pronunciation as "o". There is no exception.

"dakuten" is attached at the upper right part to make the sound voiced. For example, "su+dakuten" is pronounced /zu/, and "ka+dakuten" is pronounced /ga/. However, "ha-hi-hu-he-ho" becomes "ba-bi-bu-be-bo" with "dakuten". For example, "ha+dakukten" is pronounced /ba/.

"maru" is also attached at the upper right part to make "ha-hi-hu-he-ho" into "pa-pi-pu-pe-po". For example, "ha+maru" is pronounced /pa/, and "hu+maru" is pronounced /pu/.

"tu+dakuten" is always pronounced /zu/, with the same pronunciation as "su+dakuten". There is no exception.

The vowel /a/ in Japanese is not the same as the /a/ in English "apple", or the /a/ in English "odd". The closest sound in English is the /u/ in English "cut", "sun", and "hub".