Tag Archives: hiragana

Hiragana and Katakana

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Kenneth

Hiragana and Katakana, known together as Kana, are the Japanese syllabaries, phonetic scripts where each basic symbol represents a mora, a kind of simple syllable. Here you'll find a variety of resources to help you learn Hiragana and Katakana, including … Continue reading →

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Hiragana and the Japanese Sound System, Part 2

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Kenneth

In this section you’ll learn the conventions used for writing sounds beyond the basic 46. Add to that a couple spelling rules and you’ll be able to read and write any Japanese word in Hiragana. You’ll find a complete chart … Continue reading →

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Hiragana and the Japanese Sound System

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Kenneth

The neat thing about Kana is how closely it mimics the phonology (sound structure) of the spoken language. Because of this, we can tackle pronunciation and writing at the same time. In this section, you’ll learn about the mora, the … Continue reading →

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Introduction to the Japanese Writing System

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Kenneth

Perhaps you've heard about Japanese having four "writing systems", as if there are four separate ways to write Japanese. This is simply false. There are three native and two nonnative scripts (for a total of five) used together in one … Continue reading →

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