ra.wavPronounciation: RA is pronounced like the "ra" in mirage but shorter.
Welcome. This is where the fun ends, I'm afaird. The other two lessons
will be just tables where the characters that you've learned will be appended
with dakuten or made small and used in dipthongs. The good news is that
there is no FA, FI,... or
WA, WI,... or any of the other additions you learned in katakana. Nope,
Hiragana is much smaller in its big character/small character combinations.
Congrats! You've almost made it through boot camp.
How to write RA
ra.wav
Pronounciation: RA
is pronounced like the "ra"
in mirage but
shorter.
NOTE: For any Egyptian buffs, you can remember this character easilty. The dot above the big part can be thought of as the eye of Ra and the bottom part as a staff. My friend, Richard Miles, thought up that one and it has helped ever since.
How to write RI
ri.wav
Pronounciation: RI
is pronounced like the "re"
in reject but
shorter.
Strokes: This one doesn't show it well but the bottom of the first stroke should end in a hook upwards. The two strokes can actually be combined into one. With that small up stroke at the bottom of the first stroke, make a curved/rounded upward stroke and make that new stroke connect to the top of what was the second stroke. Voila! Maybe when I get "Kanji word", I'll be able to write a few that are combined. I just wanna make you aware that sometimes it's written that way.
How to write RU
ru.wav
Pronounciation: RU
is pronounced like the "ru"
in rule but shorter.
NOTE: This is actually a loop-de-loop that doesn't end in a protrusion.
How to write RE
re.wav
Pronounciation: RE
is pronounced like the "re"
in red.
NOTE: Oh no. RE looks something like WA. Now, don't panic. Just remember this and you should be fine. RE is the one with a script r to its look. WA has that big belly. The important point is RE looks like script r.
How to write RO
ro.wav
Pronounciation: RO
is pronounced like the "ro"
in roar but shorter.
NOTE: RO and RU are different just by a loop-de-loop. I remember that o comes before u in the English vowels and so RU is the one with the loop-de-loop. I associate being last with a loop-de-loop. You may find something better to remember it with though.