Hey all. This is Brent. I've made up this FAQ since a lot of people have aksed me questions and I feel I should share that wealth. Besides, some of the info. doesn't fit in the normal lessons (i.e., I'm too lazy to change them. So, here it is. I'll try and get all the new stuff up ASAP. Oh! For those of you who are interested, I'll have the homework typed up by April 1, 1999. I'll be putting them up after that.
1. I don't see the Katakana WO in your lessons
like the WO in the Hiragana lessons. Why not?
There actually is a katakana WO that is the direct object marker
just like the hiragana one. However, Reiko and I have never ever seen it used anywhere.
That's the main reason we don't teach it. It'll never come up, but for completeness sake,
I'll explain how to draw it. First, start by drawing a katakana FU. Next, draw a shorter
horizontal line just below the horizontal line on FU. That's the katakana WO. I don't
have a picture of one (sorry) but if you ever see a FU with an extra line under it,
you'll know what it is. Also, if you ever find one used, let me know. I'll list it as
an example here.
2. You use the Katakana TSU for doubling the
consonant. How do you do the same using Hiragana?
You use the Hiragana TSU for doubling
the consonant as well. It's the same in both syllabaries.
3. You use a long dash to elongate vowels in
Katakana. How do you do it in Hiragana?
Unfortunately, you have to spell out each elongation of a vowel.
No simple dash in Hiragana. Two of the vowels (E and
O) are a little strange. Here are the rules to follow.
To elongate A, write out AA.
To elongate I, write out II.
To elongate U, write out UU.
To elongate E, write out EI.
To elongate O, write out OU.
4. In the Katakana lessons, you told
us that we would never see the TSU with dakuten and CHI with dakuten unless it
was in a word with a TSU or CHI. Does the same thing hold for the Hiragana TSU
with dakuten and CHI with dakuten?
You're right. The only time you'll see a
TSU with dakuten
in Hiragana is with a TSU in the word. In fact,
the best example is TSUZUKU
(which means ``to be continued''). You see this at the end of some anime TV
shows. It's one of the exceptions. It's also true that you won't see a Hiragana
CHI with dakuten
unless it's with a CHI in the word.
For all the other
times that you need to use a JI or
ZU, use SHI
with dakuten and
SU with dakuten,
respectively.
And that's both for Katakana and Hiragana.
5. (Place your question here)
Something doesn't seem right? Just mail me at mrk1236@uwyo.edu and I'll give you an answer.
