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The first step is to learn the alphabet. Or, at least, the sounds that exist in the Japanese language. There
are absolutely no "tones" like in Chinese, Thai, etc. and there are only 2 exceptions within the alphabet
which will be explained later. The characters listed below are called Hiragana. It is the main alphabet for
Japanese. The Japanese language also consists of Chinese characters (Kanji), which we will get into
later, and another alphabet, Katakana, which is mainly used for foreign words. Katakana will be covered
in ë

 .

There are 5 vowels in the Japanese language. (a), pronounced "ahh", (i), pronounced like "e" in "eat", (u),
pronounced like "oo" in "soon", (e), pronounced like "e" in "elk", and (o), pronounced "oh". All Hiragana
characters end with one of these vowels, with the exception of (n). The only "consonant" that does not
resemble that of English is the Japanese "r". It is slightly "rolled" as if it were a combination of a "d", "r",
and "l".

G u Œ £ º î  

aY iY uY eY oY
Ñ è ÿ  - è è
è
kaY kiY kuY keY koY kyaY kyuY kyoY

D [ r ‰ D D
D
gaY giY guY geY goY gyaY gyuY gyoY
  · Î å ü · ·
·
saY shiY suY seY soY shaY shuY shoY
 A X o † A A
A
zaY jiY zuY zeY zoY jaY juY joY
 ´ Ë â ù ´ ´
´
taY chiY tsuY teY toY chaY chuY choY
 ' > U l ƒ ƒ
ƒ
daY jiY zuY deY doY nyaY nyuY nyoY
 ƒ š ± È ? ?
?
naY niY nuY neY noY hyaY hyuY hyoY
Y

ß ? ö $ R R
R
haY hiY fuY heY hoY byaY byuY byoY
; R i € —  

baY biY buY beY boY pyaY pyuY pyoY
®  ] V m 6 6
6
paY piY puY peY poY myaY myuY myoY
 6 M ë w  

maY miY muY meY moY Y
ryaY ryuY ryoY
§ Õ Ú
yaY Y yuY Y yoY
 › Å Ü
raY riY ruY reY roY
ó
!
Y
waY woY n/mY Y Y
0
 

1. ß (ha) is pronounced "wa" when it immediately follows the topic of the sentence. It is usually only
pronounced "ha" when it is part of a word.
2. (he) is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction. Both of these are very
simple to detect.

Click 9
if you'd like to know why these two exceptions exist.

  You probably noticed that there are 2 "zu" and 2 "ji". > (zu) and ' (ji) are very rarely used. > (zu)
only occurs when there is a Ë (tsu) in front of it like in Ë>ÿ (tsuzuku - to continue) or when a Kanji
(Chinese character) that starts with Ë (tsu) is paired at the end with another character changing the Ë
(tsu) to a > (zu). The same applies for ' (ji). Since they are used so rarely I wouldn't worry about them
too much. I will let you know whenever we come upon a word in which they are used.