na.wavPronunciation: NA is pronounced like the "na" in narcotic but shorter.
Hello once again. As you can see, we're moving at breakneck speeds. If
I don't explain a hiragana character that you think is confusing, just
email me and let me know.
Chances are, there is someone else out there who is having problems with
it as well. And on that note, let's knock off two other lines of the main
syllabary.
How to write NA
na.wav
Pronunciation: NA
is pronounced like the "na"
in narcotic but
shorter.
Strokes: 4th stroke. Start this line a little below that small dash. Continue downwards and draw the clockwise circle. Make the end of your circle stick out a little farther past the vertical line.
How to write NI
ni.wav
Pronunciation: NI
is pronounced like the "nea"
in neat but shorter.
How to write NU
nu.wav
Pronunciation: NU
is pronounced like the "noo"
in noon but shorter.
Strokes: 2nd stroke. Start off with a vertical stroke to the right of your first one and just a little higher. Make your new line cross the bottome of the first line and then make the line do the top of a large circle (clockwise). That circle line should cross through the first line once again and pass through the vertical line that you started at the beginning of this stroke. End your big half circle with a loop-de-loop and have the end protrude a little out.
NOTE: ME
will look exactly like NU except
without a loop-de-loop at the end. Here's how I remember them. ME
is "eye" in Japanese. That loop-de-loop looks like an eye and
I know ME
has no "eye". Therefore, it's NU.
....I know. A little stange but it may help you out later on.
How to write NE
ne.wav
Pronunciation: NE
is pronounced like the "ne"
in net OR like
the "Ne" in
Nene (BGC).
Strokes: 2nd stroke. Make the small, slightly slanted line that crosses the 1st stroke. Next, make the slanted line going down and crossing the 1st stroke again. Next, make the quasi-circle going clockwise and finish with a loop-de-loop.
NOTE: Wait! I thought of a better way of remembering these. Both NE and NU look like other characters in other lines but each has the addition of the loop-de-loop. Sooo...Just remember that if there is a loop-de-loop at the end of something that looks like ME or WA (WA looks similar to NE), then it is NEor NU.
How to write NO
no.wav
Pronunciation: NO
is pronounced like the "no"
in no but don't
let the o drag
out.
How to write HA
ha.wav
Pronunciation: HA
is pronounced like the "ha"
in harm but shorter.
NOTE: When we get to writing out that stuff in the JAL lessons, this will be the most important point. Remember the subject marker (or sometimes called Topic marker) WA? Well, the WA subject marker is written as HA above. 9 times out of 10, you'll see HA in a manga and it will be pronounced WA. So, keep that in mind or otherwise the homework will be confusing (and you'll think that the person writing it has lost his mind). Oh, another point. This is the only difficult point to remember with the subject marker. The other subject marker, GA, THAT IS LEARNED IN JAL is written how they are pronounced. Other Japanese markers, or particles, written differently from the pronunciation is E, English equivalent to "to" and O, the direct object marker which is introduced as WO in this lesson. The former is pronounced E but written as HE. Thinking the illegularities in most often used words in all the languages, it is understandable, don't you think?
How to write HI
hi.wav
Pronunciation: HI
is pronounced like the "hea"
in heat but shorter.
How to write FU
fu.wav
Pronunciation: FU
is pronounced like the "foo"
in fool but shorter
and with a softer f. What I mean by softer is the following. When you say
an English "f",
you bring your lips close together right at the end. Sometimes they even
overlap or you put the bottom lip close to the top row of teeth. Saying
a Japanese "FU",
you don't bring your lips close together like a English "f."
It's almost like you're blowing a kiss to someone when pronouncing "FU."
Listen to Reiko-chan and try it with her.
Storkes: 1st stroke. You can actually combine those two separate marks into one big squiggly thing. As you can see from the picture, there's not much space between them so just fill it in with a line.
How to write HE
he.wav
Pronunciation: HE
is pronounced like the "he"
in hen.
How to write HO
ho.wav
Pronunciation: HO
is pronounced like the "ho"
in horn but shorter.