Japanese For Everyone Hiragana 2

Japanese For Everyone Hiragana 2

Life is plurality, death is uniformity

- Octavio Paz

Japanese For Everyone

Preparatory lesson 2 Week 2, Modified hiragana

This course will help you use the book
Japanese For Everyone
by Susumu Nagara
This is the second lesson to teach you modified hiragana before you start the book.
Week 2. Preparation 2. Learning modified hiragana
一Ichi Step 1　
Review the basics differences in vowel sounds: i►E and e►A
so i sounds like E as in easy and esounds like A as in name. Don’t forget.
Let’s get started on the modified sounds and explain how they work.

There are three ways to modify sounds

1. With “ or °
2. With a small tsu or a u
3. With a small version of the ya line

Modification 1
Vowel line:   a   i    u     e    o  cannot be modified.
Ka “►Ga:     ga  gi  gu  ge  go
Sa “►Za :    za   ji  zu  ze  zo         Irregular:  ji (not zi)
Ta “►Da:     da  dji  dzu  de do    Irregulars:dji (not di),  dzu (not du)
Na line:       na  ni  nu   ne  no      cannot be modified
Ha “►Ba      ba  bi  bu   be  bo
Ha­°►Pa      pa  pi  pu   pe  po        a 2nd way to modify this line
Ma line :      ma mi mu me mo       cannot be modified
Ya line:        ya        yu        yo        cannot be modified
Ra line:       ra   ri    ru   re   ro        cannot be modified
Last line!      wa        o          n         cannot be modified

二Ni Step 2

Watch and listen to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNTPbcjOzdw

Now you know the sounds we need to learn the real letters, the Japanese kana as they write them.

が ga

ぎ gi

ぐ gu

げ ge

ご go

ざ za

じ ji

ず zu

ぜ ze

ぞ zo

だ da

ぢ dji

づ dzu

で de

ど do

ば ba

び bi

ぶ bu

べ be

ぼ bo

ぱ pa

ぴ pi

ぷ pu

ぺ pe

ぽ po

Watch/listen/ repeat the basic and modified Japanese letters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_ECnGDgKI&feature=r
Keep watching and repeating the sounds as you read along from the video
頑張って＝Ganbatte

Day 1
You can check your answers and the sounds from the flashcards and the audio symbols from :http://quizlet.com/3569014/modified-hiragana-flash-cards/
一Ichi READ
Ga:          が　　　　ぎ　　　　ぐ　　　　げ　　　　ご
Za:         ざ　　　　じ　　　　ず　　　　ぜ　　　　ぞ
Try reading it forwards and backwards and upwards and downwards.
Now try words:
１．がんこ　__        ２．ぎんこう__      ３．ぐんま__     ４．げんき__  ５．ご＿＿
1.  stubborn            2. bank                3. Gunma (place)4. healthy           5. five
6.ざっし＿_　　７．じ＿＿　      ８．いず＿＿　　９．ぜんぜん＿＿１０．ぞう＿＿
6．magazine   7. time (o’clock)8. Izu (place) 9. not at all         10. elephant
Well done. Yoku dekimashita. Take a break. Go for a quick walk.
Day 2.
Review then let’s keep going. You’re doing great!
二Ni 　Read
Da:　だ　　　ぢ　　　づ　　　で　　　　ど
Ba:　ば　　　び　　　ぶ　　　　べ　　　ぼ
Pa:　ぱ　　　ぴ　　　ぷ　　　　ぺ　　　ぽ
Try reading it forwards and backwards and upwards and downwards.
Now try words:
１．だいいち　__        ２．ぢょうし __     ３．あづき__  ４．です__  ５．いちど__
1. number 1                 2. tweezers            3. adzuki      4. be/is/are      5. once
6.ばら＿_　　７．えび＿＿　８．あぶない＿＿　　９．あべ＿＿　　１０．ぼく＿＿
6．rose              7. shrimp         　  8. watch out!   9. Abe(surname)  10. I (male)
*In the next line you meet the small っ. Do not pronounce it.
Just pause on that letter and stress the next syllable.
11.　いっぱい 12.えんぴつ　13.いっぷん　14.かんぺき　15.いっぽん
11.　full           12.pencil       13. one minute 14. perfect 15. one (cylindrical object)
** The long o can be written as oo but more commonly as ou even though it is still pronounced oo. This applies to letters that end in o.
oo:おお
oo:おう
too:とう
soo: そう
These will sometimes be written as ou or tou or sou etc. but they are always pronounced as an o that is held twice as long as normal.
otoosan or otousan (pronounced otoosan) is おとうさん
Good job. Reward yourself with a treat. Go to a Japanese restaurant?

Day 3
Konnichiwa means Hello or Good day. But how do you pronounce that double consonant? Pause instead of saying the first n and stress the second n.
Watch out. That last letter is not ha, it’s wa because it’s a particle, a topic marker. It’s like saying kon (this) nichi (day) wa (is).
こんにちは。The response is こんにちは。too.
Apart from the letter n, double consonants are written in Japanese with a small っ.
Ganbatte meaning Give it your best has a double consonant in the form of tt. In Japanese it is written がんばって.
Review Day 1 and Day 2’s work and let’s push on as we’re almost done. This is great!
三San Focus on the column in red.
か　　き　　く　　　け　　こ
さ　　し　　す　　せ　　そ
た　　ち　　つ　　て　　と
な　　に　　ぬ　　ね　　の
ま　　み　　む　　め　　も
ら　　り　　　る　　れ　　ろ
Each of these red letters can be combined with a small version of the ya line to produce to modified syllables. If the letters of the ya line are normal size, they are pronounced as separate syllables. If the letters are smaller they get joined joined together with the other syllable to make one syllable.

きゃ kya

きゅ kyu

きょ kyo

ぎゃ gya

ぎゅ gyu

ぎょ gyo

しゃ sha

しゅ shu

しょ sho

じゃ ja

じゅ ju

じょ jo

ちゃ cha

ちゅ chu

ちょ cho

ぢゃ dja

ぢゅ dju

ぢょ djo

にゃ nya

にゅ nyu

にょ nyo

ひゃ hya

ひゅ hyu

ひょ hyo

びゃ bya

びゅ byu

びょ byo

みゃ mya

みゅ myu

みょ myo

りゃ rya

りゅ ryu

りょ ryo

Try reading it forwards and backwards and upwards and downwards.
Listen to the sounds of these letters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG21iLZyLvY Now you can read とうきょう　and きょうと。
Excellent. Now you a treat. How about a Japanese movie?W
Watch Shall We Dance (the original Japanese version) instantly streaming on Netflix.

For the last two days review all you have done.

Basic hiragana

Modified  1

Modified e

あ a

い i

う u

え e

お o

きゃ kya

きゅ kyu

きょ kyo

か ka

き ki

く ku

け ke

こ ko

が ga

ぎ gi

ぐ gu

げ ge

ご go

ぎゃ gya

ぎゅ gyu

ぎょ gyo

さ sa

し shi

す su

せ se

そ so

ざ za

じ ji

ず zu

ぜ ze

ぞ zo

しゃ sha

しゅ shu

しょ sho

た ta

ち chi

つ tsu

て te

と to

だ da

ぢ dji

づ dzu

で de

ど do

じゃ ja

じゅ ju

じょ jo

な na

に ni

ぬ nu

ね ne

の no

ば ba

び bi

ぶ bu

べ be

ぼ bo

ちゃ cha

ちゅ chu

ちょ cho

は ha

ひ hi

ふ fu

へ he

ほ ho

ぱ pa

ぴ pi

ぷ pu

ぺ pe

ぽ po

ぢゃ dja

ぢゅ dju

ぢょ djo

ま ma

み mi

む mu

め me

も mo

にゃ nya

にゅ nyu

にょ nyo

や ya

ゆ yu

よ yo

ひゃ hya

ひゅ hyu

ひょ hyo

ら ra

り ri

る ru

れ re

ろ ro

びゃ bya

びゅ byu

びょ byo

わ wa

ゐ wi

ゑ we

を wo

ぴゃ pya

ぴゅ pyu

ぴょ pyo

ん n

みゃ mya

みゅ myu

みょ myo

っ (pause mark)

りゃ rya

りゅ ryu

りょ ryo

You can use these Flashcards to help if you want:
http://quizlet.com/9923000/japanese-for-everyone-modified-hiragana-flash-cards/
Study this over and over until you feel very comfortable you can recognize the letters. This is essential before you start your textbook.
三San Step 3. Your textbook has a chart of all the letters
Remember you have a textbook! It’s called Japanese For Everyone                                            
Here it is: http://alturl.com/dbcvw
Go to the vocabulary on page 22 so you can prepare for lesson 2 when we will start our textbook! Here’s some more help with the vocabulary Japanese For Everyone Chapter 1 so you can prepare better for Lesson 1 of the textbook if you are feeling very diligent.
頑張って
You have laid the foundation for a successful course. This will pay off big time for you.
At the end of all this work you need to reward yourself and your mind.
Relax again with http://alturl.com/7jcgj
That feels so good.
Yatta! You did it!