みなさん、こんにちは！How has your summer been so far? It’s quickly coming to an end for us here in Michigan, as our weather is starting to cool off a little bit now. Have you been studying your hiragana lately? I hope so, because today we will be learning two more columns, although, it will only be 8 hiragana today, instead of 10. Are you ready? Then let’s get to learning!
The eight hiragana we will be learning today are as follows: “ma, mi, mu, me, mo, ya, yu, & yo” or 「ま、み、む、め、も、や、ゆ、よ」 respectively. They all follow the same pattern that we have seen in the last few lessons. And there are no exceptions for these two hiragana columns. Besides, after learning all about the N & H-Columns, the T-Column, the S-Column, the K-Column, and the Vowels, you should really be getting a lot better at these, right? Well, let’s get some more hiragana under our belts!
ま
「ま」 is the first of the eight hiragana we will learn today. 「ま」 is pronounced “ma”, and is the simple combination of the “m” sound and the 「あ」 kana we learned over a month ago. A good way to remember this kana is to think about your mama telling you to mop the floor. Just picture yourself (or the cute little bear) mopping the floor, and you’ll do just fine!
み
「み」 is the second of the eight hiragana we will learn today. 「み」 is pronounced “me”, and is a simple combination of the “m” sound and the 「い」 vowel. The best way to remember this one, is to imagine that this kana shows the number 21 on the back of your sports jersey.
む
「む」 is the third of the eight hiragana we will learn today. 「む」 is pronounced “moo”, and is a simple combination of the “m” sound with the 「う」 vowel we learned early on. The best way to remember this kana is to picture an adorable cow looking at you, saying “moo”!
め
「め」 is the fourth of the eight hiragana we will learn today. 「め」 is pronounced “meh”, a similar sound to the “me” part of “mechanic”. It is a combination of the “m” sound and the 「え」 vowel we learned. To picture this kana in your mind, look for the broken down bike in need of repair by your trusty bicycle mechanic.
も
「も」 is the fifth of the eight hiragana we will learn today. 「も」 is very easy to pronounce and recognize. It is pronounced “moe”, just like the English name. Simple, right? Well, it is a simple combination of the “m” sound and the 「お」 kana we learned over a month ago! The best way to picture this hiragana in your mind is to envision a fishing hook requiring more bait.
や
「や」 is the sixth of the eight hiragana we will learn today. 「や」 is very easy to pronounce, and is pronounced like “yah!” You know, the same sound you make when trying to get your horse to go. You know how the pattern works, so this is just a “y” sound and an 「あ」 sound. The best way to picture this kana in your mind is to envision a skein of yarn with two knitting needles sticking out of it.
ゆ
「ゆ」 is the seventh of the eight hiragana we will learn today. 「ゆ」 is pronounced like “you” and is the simple combination of the “y” sound and the 「う」 vowel sound. Simple, right? Well, the best way to envision this while learning it, is to picture a dead fish that you stabbed. That poor fish, how could you?… 🙁
よ
「よ」 is the eighth and final hiragana we will learn today. 「よ」 is pronounced like “yo”, simply like a yo-yo toy. The best way to picture this kana in your mind is to look for the yo-yo! See below for this example.
Homework
And there we have it! That was a lot to take in I’m sure, but less than the last lesson. I also want to give you some hope… You see, there is only one more lesson left after this one. After that lesson, you will have learned all 46 hiragana by that point! Isn’t that exciting?! The end is near!!! Well, the end of learning the basic hiragana anyhow. We still have quite a bit more to learn after memorizing and practicing these 46 hiragana. I’m sure you’re just as excited as I am about this fact. Because then, we’ll start learning vocabulary and phrases and all sorts of fun things! I’m glad we are getting this “boring” stuff out of the way now, right? Well, anyhow, here is your homework for this week. 🙂
1. First, I want you to visit this website to do some Drag n’ Drop Hiragana. Focus only on the 38 kana you know, which are now the M-Column, Y-Column, N-Column, H-Column, T-Column, 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 correspond with their correct romaji sounds. If you do want to time yourself before doing the second piece of homework, then aim for all thirty-eight hiragana within 90 seconds or so. 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.
3. For your third piece of homework, I want you to go to RealKana. Be sure to uncheck any katakana columns, and choose all typefaces to practice the hiragana you know. Do this drill for about 10-15 minutes.
4. 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 through eight.
Bam, and your homework is done! I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson and are looking forward to next weeks’ final lesson for the main hiragana we have to learn before moving forward! We are so close to learning some fun things, so stay tuned! Also, be sure to leave a comment below if you have any questions, or suggestions to the material posted here today.
がんばって！
Jessica
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