Japanese Hiragana
Japanese is one of my active [[language studies]].
Tofugu has several great resources for learning Hiragana including Tofugu's Learn Hiragana Quiz, a Hiragana Chart and their "Learn Hiragana: Ultimate Guide" article which list practices, techniques and mnemonics for learning Hiragana quickly.
Learning the Hiragana gives insight into how to pronounce the [[Kanji]].
I find about 50% of their mnemonics don't click with me. So I am here outlining the mnemonics that are helping me memorize each of the Hiragan characters.
Vowels
- あ / A
- Look for the character "a" in the bottom
- い / I
- The left character looks like an eel
- う / U
- The drop has knocked the u sideways
- え / E
- The egret lays eggs
- お / O
- Look for o in the bottom. Don't mistake for an a, which has the hook.
"K" Sounds
- か / Ka
- The car is dropping off the cliff
- き / Ki
- It's shaped like a key
- く/ Ku
- It's the bill of a duck quacking
- け / Ke
- It looks like the outline of a keg
- こ / Ko
- The bottom is a koa fish looking out of the pond for fish food
"S" Sounds
- さ / Sa
- It's a sailboard catching the surf
- し / Shi
- す / Su
- せ / Se
- Two kids riding on the sesaw
- そ / So
"T" Sounds
- た / Ta
- Look closely, it looks like Ta
- ち / Chi
- This one has a big nose and chin
- つ / Tsu
- When tu loses it's hat, it becomes tsu
- て / Te
- A capital T
- と / To
- Not yo, but instead to
"N" Sounds
- な / Na
- The naughty nun prays
- に
- The sewing needle goes up and down
- ぬ
- A bowl of noodles
- ね
- Wa (わ), they cried when the Ne(ね)ko killed the slithering reptile
- れ Looks like it is a slithering snake, ね's tale is curling before it pounces. And Wa (わ) is batting away the bad cat!
- の
- No, not a noodle
"H" Sounds
- は / Ha
- Look closely, see the Ha?
- ひ / Hi
- Say Hi to the big nose
- ふ / Hu or Fu
- A furry hula dancer
- へ / He
- Mt. St. Helens
- ほ / Ho
- Ho ho ho says Santa and slides down the chimney
"M" Sounds
- ま / Ma
- More (も) Ma
- み / Mi
- Not Hi, but Mi
- む / Mu
- The cow says moo
- め / Me
- Me (eye)
- も / Mo
- More, Ma (ま)
"Y" Sounds
- や / Ya
- This just looks like a Ya
- ゆ / Yu
- A unique looking fish
- よ / Yo
- Yo shouts the hitchiker
"R" Sounds
- ら / Ra
- The rapper spins the disc
- り / Ri
- The reed in the wind
- る / Ru
- The rules of the road
- れ / Re
- Wa (わ), they cried when the Ne(ね)ko killed the slithering reptile
- れ Looks like it is a slithering snake, ね's tale is curling before it pounces. And Wa (わ) is batting away the bad cat!
- ろ / Ro
- See the R standing on the O
"W" Sounds
- わ / Wa
- Wa (わ), they cried when the Ne(ね)ko killed the slithering reptile
- れ Looks like it is a slithering snake, ね's tale is curling before it pounces. And Wa (わ) is batting away the bad cat!
- を / Wo
- Wodan stepped into the pool
Others
- ん / N
- It's a squiggly n
Dakuten
In the Dakuten, the addition of a diacritic mark converts the hiragana consonant from one sound to a different sound.
- K sounds convert to G
- Remember: The Kar hit the Guardrail
- が ぎ ぐ げ ご
- Ge, Gi, Gu, Ge, Go
- S sounds convert to Z
- Remember: " flips S to Z
- Exception: じ stole the cap from i to become Ji
- ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ
- Ze, Ji, Zu, Ze, Zo
- T Sounds convert to D
- Remember: Ta-Da!
- だ ぢ づ で ど
- Da, Di, Du, De, Do
- H sounds convert to B with "
- Remember: HoBo
- H sounds convert to P with circle
- Remember: We've just added the top of the P to the H hiragana
- ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ
- Pa, Pi, Pu, Pe, Po
Combined Hiragana
- ゃ
- Converts to -ya
- みゃ
- Mi → Mya
- ゅ
- Converts to -yu
- みゅ
- Mi → Myo
- ょ
- Converts to -yo
- みょ
- Mi → Myo
- っ
- Duplicates the following consonant.
- いっしょ → Issho
- いった → Itto
External References
- Tofugu's Learn Hiragana Quiz,Tofugu. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
- Hiragana Chart, Tofugu. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
- Kiochi, Jaered. Learn Hiragana: The Ultimate Guide, Tofugu. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
Linked References
- japanese-kanji
Similarly to my mnemonics list for [[Hiragana]], I am constructing a list for Kanji. I imagine this list will get very long in time.