KANA: The A, B, C’s of Japanese

かな KANA the A, B, C’s of Japanese KANA, meaning “letters”, is the basic alphabet of Japanese language. Just like in English, each letter stands for a certain vowel or consonant—however the difference is that most Japanese letters are actually a combo of sounds using vowels & consonants put together. example: in English you would spell the word she using the letters “s”, “h”, and “e”; in Japanese you can spell a word that is pronounced the exact same way using only this letter: し in the above example, you can see that one Kana letter can do the work of 3 English letters put together! The basic Japanese alphabet is divided into 2 types: HIRAGANA KATAKANA あ い う え お ア イ ウ エ オ ah ee oo eh oh ah ee oo eh oh か き く け こ カ キ ク ケ コ kah kee koo keh koh kah kee koo keh koh さ し す せ そ サ シ ス セ ソ sah shee soo seh soh sah shee soo seh soh た ち つ て と タ チ ツ テ ト tah chee tsoo teh toh tah chee tsoo teh toh は ひ ふ へ ほ ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ hah hee foo heh hoh hah hee foo eh oh な に ぬ ね の ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ nah nee noo neh noh nah nee noo neh noh ま み む め も マ ミ ム メ モ mah mee moo meh moh ah ee oo eh oh や ゆ よ ヤ ユ ヨ yah yoo yoh yah yoo yoh ら り る れ ろ ラ リ ル レ ロ rah ree roo reh roh rah ree roo reh roh N ん ‐en N ン ‐en SPECIAL LETTERS Certain Japanese letters with marks written above the right corner have a slightly altered sound to them: tenten are 2 small diagonals that harden the sound for “K”, “S”, “T”, and “H” letters; a maru is a small circle that turns “H” letters into “P” letters. kana that use tenten が gah ぎ gee ぐ goo げ geh ご goh ¤ ざ zah じ jee ず zoo ぜ zeh ぞ zoh ¤ ~Try it! ¤ kana that use maru だ dah ば bah び bee ぶ boo べ beh ぼ boh で deh ど doh ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ ¤ ¤ ¤ pah pee poo peh poh ¤ See if you can spell your name in either Hiragana or Katakana. Ex’s: “ DAVID “ でびど (deh‐bee‐doh) “AMY” “JIM” “CARMEN” エミ じむ かるめん (eh‐mee) (jee‐muh) (kah‐ruh‐meh‐n) “SALLY” さり (sah‐ree) ¤