So you've stumbled upon this chapter? Want a free Japanese lesson? I'll start with the basics of sounds then move on from there. I recently became my brother's English teacher so I thought I'd try out how well I could teach Japanese
Basics: Japanese is a language that doesn't use English characters. They use Chinese characters, called 漢字(Kanji) in their daily language. Though in more casual Environments, less Kanji is used.
Hiragana: Hiragana is the basics of Japanese language, with each character being made up with a consonant and a vowel sound, with a few exceptions.
Katakana: It's like Hiragana, but the characters are more angled and are only used for foreign words. Example: foreign names are written with Katakana. My name in Japanese is サミー (samī)
Hiragana sounds:
Vowel sounds: あ(a) え(e) い(i) お(o) う(u)
K sounds: か(ka) け(ke) き(ki) こ(ko) く(ku)
S sounds: さ(sa) せ(se) し(si, pronounced shi) そ(so) す(su)
T sounds: た(ta) て(te) ち(ti) と(to) つ(to, pronounced tsu)
N sounds: ん( singular N sound) な(na) ね(ne) に(ni) の(no) ぬ(nu)
H sounds: は(ha) へ(he) ひ(hi) ほ(ho) ふ(hu, pronounced fu)
M sounds: ま(ma) め(me) み(mi) も(mo) む(mu)
Y sounds: や(ya) よ(yo) ゆ(yu) these are the only Y sounds
R sounds: ら(ra) れ(re) り(ri) ろ(ro) る(ru)
W sounds: わ(wa) を(wo)
Katakana sounds:
Vowels: ア(a) エ(e) イ(i) オ(o) ウ(u)
K sounds: カ(ka) 毛(ke) キ(ki) コ(ko) ク(ku)
S sounds: サ(sa) セ(se) シ(shi) ソ(so) ス(su)
T sounds: タ(ta) 手(te) チ(ti) ト(to) ツ(tsu)
N sounds: ン(single N sound) ナ(na) ネ(ne) 二(ni) ノ(no) ヌ(nu)
H sounds: ハ(ha) へ(he) ヒ(hi) ホ(ho) フ(fu)
M sounds: マ(ma) メ(me) ミ(mi) モ(mo) ム(mu)
Y sounds: ヤ(ya) ユ(yu) ヨ(yo)
R sounds: ラ(ra) レ(re) リ(ri) ロ(ro) ル(ru)
W sounds: ワ(wa) ヲ(wo)
Okay that's all the basic sounds. I recommend writing them out on a chart, I did. It worked for me and helped me memorize the characters. I'll be linking a video that helped me a lot with grammar because I'm not at the point where I can accurately describe Japanese grammar.
I recommend the other videos on this channel, right now I'm working on learning basic Kanji. Keep learning and you'll be fluent in no time :)
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