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Learn to write and read Hiragana, one of the basic Japanese syllabaries. Free download of PDF Hiragana chart. Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, provides these reliable Japanese lessons.
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Hiragana (平仮名, ひらがな, IPA: [çiɾaɡaꜜna, çiɾaɡana(ꜜ)]) is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana as well as kanji. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word hiragana literally means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", as contrasted with kanji).
- vertical right-to-left, left-to-right
- Hiragana Chart
- Hiragana Pronunciation
- 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（Hu/Fu） へ（He） ほ（Ho）
- ま（Ma） み（Mi） む（Mu） め（Me） も（Mo）
- や（Ya） ゆ（Yu） よ（Yo）
To begin, download this hiragana chart. If you have a printer, print it out. If not, you can follow along digitally too.
Before you begin learning to read the hiragana, you have to learn how to pronounce the hiragana. Since hiragana pronunciation is such a listening and speaking thing, we made a video to cover this topic. Follow along. When you can pronounce the five "vowel sounds" of hiragana, move on to the next section, where you'll learn to read them.
This is the first (and most important!) column in hiragana. It sets the pronunciation of every other column coming after it, because every other column is basically just the a-i-u-e-o column with consonants attached to them. The same basic sound repeats over and over and over, with a consonant plus these five vowel sounds, so make sure you have the...
The next set of hiragana is from the "k-column." This is just the "k" sound plus the vowel sounds you learned above, making it ka-ki-ku-ke-ko. There are no weird exceptions in this column either, so enjoy it while you can. か is just the "K" sound plus あ, making a "ka"sound. ♫ Cannn, can you do the can can, can you do the can can… ♪ To remember this...
Now that you have the "K-column" under your belt it's time for the "S-column." There is one weird exception in this column, and that's for "si" aka "shi." It's pronounced just like the word "she" in English, and doesn't quite follow the pattern you've seen up until now. You'll want to use "sa-shi-su-se-so" for this column. さ is just the "S" sound p...
Time for the fourth column, the "T-column." Now you have a lot to remember! Hopefully mnemonics and the reasons for using them are starting to make sense now. If not, that should happen soon. Like the さ column, you'll find an exception in the た column. In fact, you'll find two exceptions, them being ち (chi) and つ (tsu). So, for this column we'll ha...
This is your first "more than 5 things to learn" group. In fact, it's a whole ten things! But you'll be just fine. You're getting better at learning the hiragana with all this practice. Too bad there's not 150 hiragana for you to practice on. な is just the "N" sound plus あ, making a "na" sound. The naughty (na) nun is praying in front of the cross,...
Now let's look at the next five in this set. If you're feeling really shaky you can jump over to Tofugu's Learn Hiragana Quiz to practice, but you don't have to (yet)! は is just the "H" sound plus あ, making a "ha" sound. This kana looks like the uppercase letter "H" plus the lowercase letter "a." What does that spell? "Ha!" Why are you laughing? St...
Not quite ten in this set (before the exercises), but close enough. Let's start with the "M-column." ま is just the "M" sound plus あ, making a "ma" sound. Removing your head? Doubling your hands and arms? What sort of evil magic is this? What makes it weirder is that your mama is the one doing this magic. Imagine your malooking like this. Aghh! み is...
This column is a little strange. There are only three items in here, and "ye" and "yi" are seemingly missing. Actually, they used to exist but now they don't (instead people use い or え, because it sounds pretty similar). Because of that, you only have to learn three kana for this section! や is just the "Y" sound plus あ, making a "ya" sound. Do you ...
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The present orthography of hiragana was codified by the Japanese government in 1946. Hiragana and the kanji from which they developed. In each column the rōmaji appears on the left, the hiragana symbols in the middle and the kanji from which they developed on the right. There is some dispute about the orgins of some of the symbols
Copy [Ctrl]+ [C] & Paste [Ctrl]+ [V] → conversion: Hiragana <> Romaji (Latin alphabet) → Katakana keyboard. → Japanese keyboard: Kanji, Hiragana & Katakana. → Japanese language: dictionary, pronunciation, grammar. → Online test to learn to recognize Hiragana characters. → Multilingual keyboard: index.
Mar 7, 2016 · It teaches hiragana using mnemonics, exercises, and worksheets. If you follow exactly what it says, you'll be able to read hiragana sometime later today. The only thing it was missing was a hiragana chart using the visual mnemonics.
