Review of Lesson 1 - 5

Konnichi wa minna! I hope you are all doing fine and doing good in your Japanese study.
Now that we've learnt the first five Japanese characters which are: あ, い, う, え, and お (and also vowels), we are now going to review them.

Now, if you still have problems with them, I recommend you write them again 20 times each (exercise in your textbook). Memorize the order of the strokes, the sound of it (pronunciation), their shape, etc. Easy!

Did you know that with those characters from which you have learnt, that now you already could read some Japanese words?

Here're some Japanese words having only those 5 characters... tell us if you could read them ^^:

• 青い/あおい (blue)
• 王/おう (king)
• 家/いえ (house)
• いいえ (no)
• いい (good; fine)
• おい (hey -> I guess you all have heard of 'oi, oi,' in animes a lot (Conan usually says them))

So? Have you mastered the 5 Japanese vowels? Shall we move on to next lesson ^^? 

Hiragana: Lesson 5 - 'お' [o]

In Japanese writing, the kana お (hiragana) and オ (katakana) occupy the fifth place, between え and か, in the modern Gojūon (五十音) system of collating kana. In the Iroha, they occupy the 27th, between の and く.


Pronunciation:
'お' is pronounced 'oh'.


Word Beginning with 'お':

• 女/おんな (onna -> woman)
• 男/おとこ (otoko -> man)
• おいしい (oishii -> delicious)
• おれ (ore -> me (casual))
• おまえ (omae -> you (informal))

Strokes order:

The hiragana お is made with three strokes:

• A horizontal line from left to right.
• A stroke consisting of a vertical line, a small diagonal line going upwards and to the left, and an open curve heading right and downwards.
• A small curved stroke on the right.

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Task: Don't mistake between 'お' and 'あ'... it can easily be mistook for how they are shaped.
Same as the previous lessons, you shall write 'お' for at least 50 - 100 times in your textbook (again). Now following the same method; after you do that, write 'あ', 'い', 'う', 'え' and 'お' each after each (あ, い, う, え, お, あ, い, う, え, お, あ, い, う, え, お etc.) 100 times. Echo the sound of the characters in your mind each time time you write/repeat it down.

Hiragana: Lesson 4 - 'え' [e]

Pronunciation:
'え' is pronounced 'eh' as in 'net, set, bet, etc'


Word Beginning with 'え':

• 円 = えん (en -> yen (Japanese money))
• えいごく (engoku -> United Kingdom)
• 駅 = えき (eki -> station)
• 演劇 = えんげき (engeki -> drama, play)

Strokes order:

The hiragana え is made with two strokes:

• At the top, a short diagonal stroke proceeding downward and to the right.
• At the bottom, a stroke composed of a horizontal line, a diagonal proceeding downward and to the left, and a rightward stroke resembling a tilde (~).

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Task: Same as the previous lessons, you shall write 'え' at least 50 - 100 times in your textbook (again). Now following the same method; after you do that, write 'あ', 'い', 'う', 'え' each after each (あ, い, う, え, あ, い, う, え, あ, い, う, え, etc.) 100 times (sorry if I'm killing you right now! But this how it should be if you want to stick it in your brain :D !).

Hiragana: Lesson 3 - 'う' [u]

う in hiragana or ウ in katakana (romanised u) is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represents one mora. In the modern Japanese system of alphabetical order, they occupy the third place in the modern Gojūon (五十音) system of collating kana. In the Iroha, they occupied the 24th position, between む and ゐ. In the Gojūon chart (ordered by columns, from right to left), う lies in the first column (あ行, "column A") and the third row (う段, "row U").


Pronunciation:
'う' is pronounced 'oo' as in 'moon'.


Word Beginning with 'う':

• 上/うえ (ue -> on; over; above; top; older)
• 嘘/うそ (uso -> lie)
• 美しい/うつくしい (utsukushii -> beautiful)
• 海/うみ (umi -> sea)

Strokes order:

The hiragana う is written in two strokes:

• At the top of the character, a short diagonal crook: proceeding diagonally downwards from the left, then reversing direction and ending at the lower left.
• A broad curving stroke: beginning at the left, rising slightly, then curving back and ending at the left.

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Task: Same as the previous lessons, you shall write 'う' at least 50 - 100 times in your textbook. Now following the same method; after you do that, write 'あ', 'い', 'う' each after each (あ, い, う, あ, い, う, あ, い, う, etc.) 100 times.

Hiragana: Lesson 2 - 'い' [i]

い in hiragana or イ in katakana (romanised as i) is one of the Japanese kana each of which represents one mora. い is based on the sōsho style of the kanji character 以, and イ is from the radical (left part) of the kanji character 伊. In the modern Japanese system of alphabetical order, it occupies the second position of the alphabet, between あ and う. Additionally, it is the first letter in Iroha, before ろ. In order to write the hiragana い, draw a curve, not entirely unlike a parenthesis, downward stroke with a hook, and then draw a smaller, floating curve to the right side. Both represent the sound [i]. In the Ainu language, katakana イ is written as y in their Latin-based alphabet, and a small ィ after another katakana represents a diphthong.


Pronunciation:
'い' is romanized 'i' and is pronounced as 'ee' as in 'eat'.


Words with 'い':-
Words beginning with 'い':

• 行く/いく (iku -> to go)
• 石/いし (ishi -> stone)
• いっしょ (issho -> together)
• いす (isu -> chair)

Strokes order:
The Hiragana い is made in two strokes:

1. At the top left, a curved vertical stroke, ending with a hook at the bottom. 
2. At the top right, a shorter stroke, slightly curving in the opposite direction.

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Task: Same again, you shall write 'い' at least 50 - 100 times in your textbook. After you do that, write 'あ' and 'い' one after each (あ, い, あ, い, あ, etc.) 50 times (or 100 if you have the time).

Hiragana: Lesson 1 - 'あ' [a]

あ in hiragana (or ア in katakana) (romanized a) is one of the Japanese kana that each represent one mora. あ is based on the sōsho style of kanji 安, and ア is from the radical of kanji 阿. In the modern Japanese system of alphabetical order, it occupies the first position of the alphabet, before い. Additionally, it is the 36th letter in Iroha, after て, before さ. Its hiragana resembles the kana no combined with a cross.

Pronunciation:
'あ' is romanized 'a' and it is pronounced 'ah' as in 'add'.

Words with 'あ'
'あ' at the beginning:

1. ありがとう (arigatou -> Thank you)
2. あたし (atashi -> me)
3. あし (ashi -> feet; leg)
4. あなた (anata -> you; dear)
5. 兄/あに (ani -> elder brother)
6. 姉/あね (ane -> elder sister)
7. 雨/あめ (ame -> rain)

'あ' in the middle:


'あ' at the end:

Strokes order:

The Hiragana あ is made with three strokes:[1]

• At the top, a horizontal stroke from left to right.
• A downward vertical stroke starting above and in the center of the last stroke.
• At the bottom, a loop like the Hiragana の.

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Task: So all who hasn't yet learn the alphabets, we recommend you to write 'あ' and repeat it for at least 50 - 100 times in your textbook (that if you don't have anything to do). That's your homework for today.

Note: This is how I (Kaoko) learnt the characters; by writing it numerous times in the textbook. There's much to it. But we'll save it in the next lessons.

Jaa na!