na-no.wavHere's is the fifth row of the Japanes alphabet. Starting from the left and going right is NA, NI, NU, NE, NO.
Welcome to another lesson in learning Katakana. Did you do alright with
the last batch? Good. Now, let's move on to the next two rows of the Japanese
"alphabet." This week will go fairly quickly. Not many hard kana
to write in this batch.
na-no.wav
Here's is the fifth row of the Japanes alphabet. Starting from
the left and going right is NA, NI, NU, NE, NO.
How to write NA
na.wav
Pronunciation: NA
is pronounced like the "na"
in narcotic but
shorter.
How to write NI
ni.wav
Pronunciation: NI
is pronounced like the "nea"
in neat but shorter.
How to write NU
nu.wav
Pronunciation: NU
is pronounced like the "noo"
in noon but shorter.
How to write NE
ne.wav
Pronunciation: NE
is pronounced like the "ne"
in net OR like
the "Ne" in
Nene (BGC).
How to write NO
no.wav
Pronunciation: NO
is pronounced like the "no"
in no but don't
let the o drag
out.
See what I mean. NE is about the hardest kana by itself (I'll explain
what I mean by "itself" in a later lesson).
Now, on to even harder kana. Jodan da.
ha-ho.wav
Starting from the left and going right is HA,
HI, FU, HE, HO.
How to write HA
ha.wav
Pronunciation: HA
is pronounced like the "ha"
in harm but shorter.
How to write HI
hi.wav
Pronunciation: HI
is pronounced like the "hea"
in heat but shorter.
How to write FU
fu.wav
Pronunciation: FU
is pronounced like the "foo"
in fool but shorter
and with a softer f. What I mean by softer is the following. When you say
an English "f",
you bring your lips close together right at the end. Sometimes they even
overlap or you put the bottom lip close to the top row of teeth. Saying
a Japanese "FU",
you don't bring your lips close together like a English "f."
It's almost like you're blowing a kiss to someone when pronouncing "FU."
Listen to Reiko-chan and try it with her.
How to write HE
he.wav
Pronunciation: HE
is pronounced like the "he"
in hen.
How to write HO
ho.wav
Pronunciation: HO
is pronounced like the "ho"
in horn but shorter.
Examples
Ah! Another new piece of grammar. That TSU is much smaller than its surrounding kana. But it's there for a point. When TSU is written small, it doubles the following consonant. So in the example above, KU is read KKU instead. When pronouncing this, it's better to just chop the first syllable off at proper length and then, drag the K out a little or pause in between the O and the K. Listen to Reiko-chan and see how she handles it.
Answers: Katakana, knockout, knife, Nene, necktie
