Thread: Japanese Lesson #8: Hiragana ぱーぽ, ゃゅょGlides

Lesson 8: Hirgana ぱーぽ, ゃゅょGlides

Lesson filepack: COMING SOON
Quiz: TO BE POSTED ?
Master Thread: Free Weekly Japanese Lessons

Material covered in this lesson
-------------------------------
1. Hiragana ぱーぽ
2. ゃゅょGlides
3. Double consonants
4. Vocabulary

1. Hirgana ぱーぽ

You've already learned about the dakuten. Well this little circly guy 。 is called a
"maru" or a "handakuten". When writing in Japanese, we don't use periods.
Sentences are ended with a maru.

ex. 私はつららです。
watashi wa tsurara desu. (I am tsurara.)

When the same little guy appears on the upper left side of a hiragana character, it
is called a "handakuten" and changes the sound of the characters yet again:

は(ha) -> ぱ(pa)
ひ(hi) ->　ぴ(pi)
ふ(fu) ->　ぷ(pu)
ひ(hi) ->　ぴ(pi)
ほ(ho -> ぽ(po)

Only the は column takes the handakuten, so you've only got to remember five!
Lucky you.

* Be careful when writing your maru. In the West, we tend to begin and end
circles at the top of the figure. But when writing in Japanese, your maru should
begin and end at the bottom of the figure.


2. ゃゅょGlides

Half-sized やゆ and よ can be attatched to hiragana in the い column to create
new sounds, called glides.

き　＋　ゃ = 　きゃ(kya)
き　＋　ょ =　 きょ(kyo)
き　＋　ゅ =　 きゅ(kyu)

し　＋ ゃ = しゃ(sha)
し　＋ ょ = しゅ(shu)
し　＋ ゅ = しょ(sho)

ち　＋ ゃ = ちゃ(cha)
ち　＋ ょ = ちゅ(chu)
ち　＋ ゅ = ちょ(cho)

に　＋ ゃ = にゃ(nya)
に　＋ ょ = にゅ(nyu)
に　＋ ゅ = にょ(nyo)

ひ　＋ ゃ = ひゃ(hya)
ひ　＋ ょ = ひゅ(hyu)
ひ　＋ ゅ = ひょ(hyo)

み　＋ ゃ = みゃ(mya)
み　＋ ょ = みゅ(myu)
み　＋ ゅ = みょ(myo)

り　＋ ゃ = りゃ(rya)
り　＋ ょ = りゅ(ryu)
り　＋ ゅ = りょ(ryo)


3. Double Consonants

The Japanese language includes a number of double-consonants. Marked by
a half-sized つ following the consonant to be doubled: double consonants are
pronounced by making a short pause before the pronunciation of the the
consonant in question.

examples (please listen to the sound file included in this filepack)

はぱ　vs. はっぱ
らぱ　vs. らっぱ


4. New Vocabulary

たんぽぽ - tanpopo (noun. dandelion)
らっぱ - rappa (noun. trumpet)
かっぱ - kappa (noun. kappa, a Japanese water demon)
きゅうり - kyuuri (noun. cucumber)
きょうしつ - kyoushitsu (noun. classroom)
きんぎょ - kingyo (noun. goldfish)
しゃしん - shashin (noun. photograph)
じゃんけん - janken (noun. the game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors")
おもちゃ - omocha (noun. toy)
ぎゅうにゅう - gyuunyuu (noun. milk)

Cultural notes:

かっぱ - かっぱ is a water spirit from Japanese mythology. Said to live in
freshwater rivers and streams, the かっぱ has the shell of a turtle,
webbed feet and holds a dish of water on his head. He can leave the water,
but if the water in his dish dries up or spills, he loses his power. かっぱ's
favorite food is cucumbers. That's why cucumber roll sushi is called かっぱまき
(kappa maki).

じゃんけん - In Japan, じゃんけん (also called じゃんけんぽん) is a sacred institution. It's
used to decide just about everything. More amazing is how easily everyone
is willing to go alone with the results. Even the most reluctant Japanese
person will submit to your will if you've beat him soundly at じゃんけん.


Worksheets To Complete:
-----------------------
(coming soon)


Fun Semi-Relevant Media of the Week:
YouTube - The Jpn Video Podcast - Hiragana ga to po - Episode 7
YouTube - ふらかっã& #177;ー
YouTube - Mini moni - jankenpyon
(note: ピョン[pyon]　is the sound of jumping...
which may help to explain all the rabbits)

Oh, and congratulations... if you've made it this far: you're done with hiragana. That's all of it!