Learn Japanese

Lesson 1

The first step to learning the Japanese language is to learn the alphabet. Or, at least, to learn the sounds that exist in the language. There are absolutely no "tones" in Japanese like in many other asian languages and there are only 2 exceptions within the alphabet which will be explained later. The Japanese alphabet does not contain letters but, instead, contains characters and, technically, they are not alphabets but character sets. The characters in the chart below are called Hiragana. Hiragana is the main alphabet or character set for Japanese. Japanese also consists of two other character sets - Kanji (Chinese characters), which we will get into later, and another alphabet/character set, Katakana, which is mainly used for foreign words. Katakana will be covered in Lesson 2. Don't wait to move on until you have all Hiragana characters memorized - learn them as you continue to go through the other lessons. 

There are 5 vowels in Japanese. (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".

あ 
aい 
iう 
uえ 
eお 
oか 
kaき 
kiく 
kuけ 
keこ 
koが 
gaぎ 
giぐ 
guげ 
geご 
goさ 
saし 
shiす 
suせ 
seそ 
soざ 
zaじ 
jiず 
zuぜ 
zeぞ 
zoた 
taち 
chiつ 
tsuて 
teと 
toだ 
daぢ 
jiづ 
zuで 
deど 
doな 
naに 
niぬ 
nuね 
neの 
noは 
haひ 
hiふ 
fuへ 
heほ 
hoば 
baび 
biぶ 
buべ 
beぼ 
boぱ 
paぴ 
piぷ 
puぺ 
peぽ 
poま 
maみ 
miむ 
muめ 
meも 
moや 
yaゆ 
yuよ 
yoら 
raり 
riる 
ruれ 
reろ 
roわ 
waを 
woん 
n/m

Combinations

きゃ 
kyaきゅ 
kyuきょ 
kyoぎゃ 
gyaぎゅ 
gyuぎょ 
gyoしゃ 
shaしゅ 
shuしょ 
shoじゃ 
jaじゅ 
juじょ 
joちゃ 
chaちゅ 
chuちょ 
choにゃ 
nyaにゅ 
nyuにょ 
nyoひゃ 
hyaひゅ 
hyuひょ 
hyoびゃ 
byaびゅ 
byuびょ 
byoぴゃ 
pyaぴゅ 
pyuぴょ 
pyoみゃ 
myaみゅ 
myuみょ 
myoりゃ 
ryaりゅ 
ryuりょ

Ryoりょ 

Exceptions:
1. The Hiragana は (ha) is pronounced "wa" when it immediately follows the topic of the sentence. This character is usually only pronounced "ha" when it is part of a word. 
2. The Hiragana へ (he) is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction. Both of these are very simple to detect.  

Note: You probably noticed in the chart above that there are 2 characters pronounced "zu" and 2 characters pronounced "ji". The characters づ (zu) and ぢ (ji) are very rarely used. づ (zu) only occurs when there is a つ (tsu) in front of it like in つづく (tsuzuku - to continue) or when a Kanji (Chinese character) that has a reading which starts with つ (tsu) is paired at the end with another character changing the つ (tsu) to a づ (zu). The same applies for the Hiragana ぢ (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. 

Some people wonder why "yi", "ye", "wi", "wu", and "we" are missing. There aren't characters for "yi", "ye", or "wu". There is a ゐ (wi) and a ゑ (we) but these were deemed obsolete in 1946 and were replaced by い (i) and え (e) respectively.