みなさん、こんにちは！Happy Independence Day everyone! Today, American’s are celebrating our country’s independence and having barbecues and parties and just having a good old time. Me, however, I’m busy working hard for you guys. Don’t worry, I am more than happy to do this today. 🙂 I also wanted to quickly note, before moving on to the lesson, that the ability to leave comments was experiencing some issues, and those have since, been fixed apparently. So please, leave me a comment below so I know without a doubt that they are working! Now, on to the S-Column lesson!

So, you’ve finally learned as much of the K-Column that you can muster, and are ready to learn the next column. Well, you’re in luck, as today we will cover the S-Column of the Hiragana chart! It’ll be a lot of fun, and you’ll get to learn about your first weird exception. Sounds like a blast right? Well, it is, so let’s get to learning all about this S-Column! We will cover “sa-shi-su-se-so”, or 「さ、し、す、せ、そ」respectively.

さ

「さ」 is the first part of the S-Column that we will learn together. 「さ」 is pronounced as “sa”, and is simply a combination of the “s” sound and the 「あ」 kana we learned two weeks ago. This is a relatively easy kana to remember, but picture a man smiling at something he saw.

し

「し」is the second part of this column that we will learn today. 「し」is pronounced “she”. This kana combines the “sh” sound and the 「い」 kana we learned two weeks ago. Remember how I mentioned above that you’ll be encountering your first weird exception today? Well, this kana is where it is at! You see, it simply doesn’t follow the same pattern that was showing up before. Instead of being “si”, it’s “shi”, however you may see it written out both ways while dealing with romaji. To remember this kana, just envision a woman’s pony tail.

す

「す」is the third part of the S-Column that we will learn today. 「す」is pronounced “su”, just like the name “Sue”. This kana combines the “s” sound and the 「う」sound we learned two weeks ago. To remember this kana, simply picture a diver making a perfect dive into the pool below!

せ

「せ」is the fourth part of the S-Column that we are learning today. 「せ」is pronounced “seh” like the beginning of the word, “sexy”. This kana combines the “s” sound and the 「え」sound we learned two weeks ago. A simple way to remember this kana is to picture a momma bear, setting her baby on her lap for a story.

そ

「そ」is the fifth and final part of the S-Column that we will learn today. 「そ」is pronounced like “so” like the word, “sew”. This kana combines the “s” sound and the 「お」sound we learned two weeks ago. A simple way to remember this final kana is to picture a cute bear that needs to be “sewed” up.

Homework

Yes, there is homework this week too! You want to truly learn this stuff, right? If so, then buckle down and get to work. It’s not too difficult, and can even be fun!

1. First, I want you to visit this website to do some Drag n’ Drop Hiragana. Focus only on the 15 kana you know, which are the S-Column, K-Column kana, and the vowels. You don’t have to worry about timing yourself either, you just want to be able to find the hiragana you’ve learned, and know which of those five correspond with their correct romaji sounds. (You’ll focus on the last three rows on the right.) If you do want to time yourself before doing the second piece of homework, then aim for all fifteen hiragana within 35 seconds. I think that should be a worthwhile challenge, don’t you? 😉

2. Secondly, I want you to download this pdf worksheet (print it out too if you haven’t already), and practice writing (or typing) in the corresponding romaji for the kana shown. This time, it will be kana from all three of the columns you have learned so far, so it should be a little more difficult, and twice as much fun!

3. Your final piece of homework, is also an optional one. This piece of homework is perfect for anyone who wishes to learn how to write in Japanese while learning how to read and speak it as well. Simply download this pdf and print it out, if you haven’t already. Only practice sheet numbers one, two, and three.

Homework Note: I’m sure you’ve noticed that throughout your homework sheets, there are “waiting periods” for you to endure. You may be skipping these waiting periods and I’m here to tell you why you shouldn’t skip them. You see, the longer you wait to recall the information, the more you are teaching your brain to remember the information! And I’m not talking about storing it in your short term memory either. We’re wanting your hiragana lessons to stick with you long term. So, don’t skip the waiting periods, in fact, if you feel like you can, wait even longer before continuing on with your homework, so that way, these lessons stay with you longer throughout your life and learning journey.

That should cover everything in the S-Column lesson today! I hope you were able to follow along with what I covered well enough, and if you have any questions at all concerning the lesson material, I invite you to leave a comment below (now that it works, lol)! I will answer you questions as soon as I am able. Until next time, good luck with your studies, enjoy the Fourth of July, and I look forward to seeing you next week for the next installment of this Learning Hiragana series.

がんばって！
Jessica