Kana and kanji - Dr Spin

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Kana and kanji - Dr Spin

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Wa is a Japanese Kana. It can be written in Hiragana or Katakana.

Hiragana; わ a good way to remember this is ‘one stick, one curve’.
Katakana; ワ. A meme for this one could be ‘Waa, it’s a long way down! (looks like an arrow pointing down)

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Kana and kanji

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Those 'Other' Hiragana

April 3rd 2008 11:13

Everyone hates these but you learn to recognize them soon enough.

These are called ちょんちょん (Romanised -Chonchons) - "

These can be added to the Hiragana you already know, to change the sound.

The か (ka) line of Hiragana change into が (ga) ぎ (gi) ぐ (gu) げ

ge) ご (go).

Guess what that means? Now you can recognize が, we're going to spell Hiragana in Japanese - ひらがな.

Moving on, we'll see what effect ちょんちょん have on other characters.

The さ line turn into ざ (Za) し (Ji) ず (Zu) ぜ (Ze) ぞ (Zo). Take note of how Shi - し turns into Ji, not Zi. This is just one of those painful things you have to memorize.

The た line turn into だ (Da) 　づ Dzu 　で (De) 　ど (Do). I haven't included the form of Chi - ぢ as it is practically never used. Also note that づ is used infrequently.

The は line turn into ば (Ba) び (Bi) ぶ (Bu) べ (Be) (Pron. Beh) ぼ (Bo).

The は line can also have a small circle added to it - colloquially called まる

Maru). This gives it a P sound.

ぱ (Pa) ぴ (Pi) ぷ Pu ぺ (Pe) ぽ (Po).

Finally there is one other modification that must be discussed - if a small ya ゃ　yuゅ　or yoょ is added to a かな (kana) to change the sound. For example;

ぎゃ = ぎゃ (Gya)　ぎゅ = ぎゅ

Gyu)　ぎょ = ぎょ

Gyo)

VOCAB -
ひらがな -Hiragana, Japanese Writing System.
まる - Maru - Circle.
かな - Kana - Any Japanese character.

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Kana and kanji

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Types of Kana

April 2nd 2008 13:15

かな (Kana) is a generic term denoting a Japanese letter. There are three sets of Kana in Japanese.

The first set is ひらがな (Hiragana). These letters are used for a majority of Japanese words, unless they are better expressed with かんじ

Kanji).

Example – りんご – Ringo – Apple.

かたかな (Katakana) is a Japanese Kana set used for new and foreign words. New words generally include Brand Names or new products. Foreign words may include obvious English Words; eg, アメリカ (Amerika/America), as well as older words adopted form other languages (the Japanese word for bread is パン (Pan)which comes from the French word pane. It is also used for Onomatopoeia.

Kanji, finally, are Japanese picture character that tend to encompass words or ideas. These are borrowed from Chinese, although a few exist that are uniquely Japanese. For example the following Kanji – 行 means to go.

Kanji may also utilise a ‘fourth script’ called Furigana, which is essentially tiny Hiragana character written above Kanji to enhance the readability of difficult Kanji.

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Yo

March 30th 2008 13:52

Yo is a Japanese Kana that can be written in Hiragana or Katakana. It has the property of being able to change the sound of other letters. It can also be used as an emphatic, when added to the end of a word.

Hiragana – よ - A good way to remember this one is ‘You are sitting down’, as it looks like a cross legged figure

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Yu

March 16th 2008 11:41

Yu is a Japanese Kana. It can be written in hiragana or Katakana.

Hiragana: ゆ This can be remembered as “You caught a fish”, as it looks like a fish

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Ya

March 15th 2008 07:53

Ya is a Japanese character. It can be written in Hiragana or Katakana. It can also be used to change the sound of other kana, and function as a particle

Hiragana: や This can be remembered as Ya For Yak (looks like a Yak's head with two horns

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Shapes in Japanese

March 11th 2008 05:44

Circle まる Maru. Maru can also be a symbol used to change the sound of a letter – more info on this page.

Triangle さんかく. kanji: 三角 as you may be able to tell from the Kanji, this literally means Three Sides.
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To

March 9th 2008 10:54

To is a Japanese character that can be written in Katakana or Hiragana. It is also a particle used to list items.

Hiragana: と A good way to remember this one is ‘thorn in the toe’ as the right side curve appears as a toe, and the adjacent line as a thorn.
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Chi

March 5th 2008 06:17

Chi is a Japanese character. It can be written in Hiragana or Katakana.

Hiragana: ち
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Ku

March 3rd 2008 23:51

Ku is a Japanese Kana. It can be written in hiragana or katakana.
Hiragana – く
Katakana – ク

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Te

March 3rd 2008 12:22

Te is a Japanese character that can be written in

Hiragana or Katakana
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Ta

February 28th 2008 10:56

Ta is a Japanese Kana. It can be written in Hiragana or Katakana.

Hiragana: た. A useful meme to remember this one is ‘Ta looks like “T.a”
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Basic Hiragana

January 1st 2008 09:30

あ - A for Antenna (looks like an antenna)
い Ii for Hawaii (Looks like the two i's in Hawaii.
うU for Ooh! (The long stroke is a bent over old woman shuffling home. Above her, the small stroke is a brick about to hit her. When it does she yells Ooh!
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