1 How to Learn Gojūon? Japanese Gojūon Tutorial with Pronunciation
Table Of Content
Japanese Gojūon Chart with Pronunciation
The table of the Gojuon (clear sounds)
The cells in the table represent Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji in order.
a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | あ ア a | い イ i | う ウ u | え エ e | お オ o |
ka | か カ ka | き キ ki | く ク ku | け ケ ke | こ コ ko |
sa | さ サ sa | し シ shi | す ス su | セ せ se | そ ソ so |
ta | た タ ta | ち チ chi | つ ツ tsu | て テ te | と ト to |
na | な ナ na | に ニ ni | ぬ ヌ nu | ね ネ ne | の ノ no |
ha | は ハ ha | ひ ヒ hi | ふ フ fu | へ へ he | ほ ホ ho |
ma | ま マ ma | み ミ mi | む ム mu | め メ me | も モ mo |
ya | や ヤ ya | ゆ ユ yu | よ ヨ yo | ||
ra | ら ラ ra | り り ri | る ル ru | れ レ re | ろ ロ ro |
wa | わ ワ wa | を ヲ wo | |||
n | ん ン n |
The table of the Dakuten(muddy sounds)
The cells in the table represent Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji in order.
a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ga | が ガ ga | ぎ ギ gi | ぐ グ gu | げ ゲ ge | ご ゴ go |
za | ざ ザ za | じ ジ ji | ず ズ zu | ぜ ゼ ze | ぞ ゾ zo |
da | だ ダ da | ぢ ヂ ji | づ ヅ zu | で デ de | ど ド do |
ba | ば バ ba | び ビ bi | ぶ ブ bu | べ べ be | ぼ ボ bo |
pa | ぱ パ pa | ぴ ピ pi | ぷ プ pu | ぺ ぺ pe | ぽ ポ po |
The table of the Combination Sounds
The cells in the table represent Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji in order.
ya | yu | yo | |
|---|---|---|---|
k | きゃ キャ kya | きゅ キュ kyu | きょ キョ kyo |
s | しゃ シャ sha | しゅ シュ shu | しょ ショ sho |
c | ちゃ チャ cha | ちゅ チュ chu | ちょ チョ cho |
n | にゃ ニャ nya | にゅ ニュ nyu | にょ ニョ nyo |
h | ひゃ ヒャ hya | ひゅ ヒュ hyu | ひょ ヒョ hyo |
m | みゃ ミャ mya | みゅ ミュ myu | みょ ミョ myo |
r | りゃ リャ rya | りゅ リュ ryu | りょ リョ ryo |
g | ぎゃ ギャ gya | ぎゅ ギュ gyu | ぎょ ギョ gyo |
j | じゃ ジャ ja | じゅ ジュ ju | じょ ジョ jo |
b | びゃ ビャ bya | びゅ ビュ byu | びょ ビョ byo |
p | ぴゃ ピャ pya | ぴゅ ピュ pyu | ぴょ ピョ pyo |
Recognizing the The Writing System
Japanese consists of two scripts (referred to as kana) called Hiragana and Katakana, which are two versions of the same set of sounds in the language. Hiragana and Katakana consist of a little less than 50 "letters", which are actually simplified Chinese characters adopted to form a phonetic script. Chinese characters, called Kanji in Japanese, are also heavily used in the Japanese writing. Most of the words in the Japanese written language are written in Kanji (nouns, verbs, adjectives). There exists over 40,000 Kanji where about 2,000 represent over 95% of characters actually used in written text. There are no spaces in Japanese so Kanji is necessary in distinguishing between separate words within a sentence. Kanji is also useful for discriminating between homophones, which occurs quite often given the limited number of distinct sounds in Japanese.
Hiragana is used mainly for grammatical purposes. We will see this as we learn about particles. Words with extremely difficult or rare Kanji, colloquial expressions, and onomatopoeias are also written in Hiragana. It's also often used for beginning Japanese students and children in place of Kanji they don't know.
While Katakana represents the same sounds as Hiragana, it is mainly used to represent newer words imported from western countries (since there are no Kanji associated with words based on the roman alphabet).
Recognizing the Romaji
Romaji is a system that uses the Latin script to write the Japanese language. It's a useful tool for those who are learning Japanese and have not yet mastered the two phonetic scripts, Hiragana and Katakana, or the logographic script, Kanji.
There are several different Romaji systems, but the most widely used one is the Hepburn system. In this system, each Japanese character corresponds to a Latin letter or combination of letters. For example, the Hiragana character 'あ' is romanized as 'a', and 'か' is romanized as 'ka'.
However, it's important to note that Romaji is not a perfect representation of the Japanese language. Some sounds in Japanese don't have exact equivalents in English, and vice versa. Therefore, while Romaji can be a helpful learning tool, it's also important to learn and practice the actual Japanese characters.
Additionally, Romaji is typically used for things like inputting Japanese text into a computer, teaching Japanese to non-native speakers, and transcribing Japanese names and words into Western languages. However, in daily life in Japan, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji are predominantly used.
Recognizing the Gojūon
The Gojuon is a system of phonetic characters in the Japanese language. It's a part of the Japanese syllabary, specifically the "Kana" system, which consists of two scripts: Hiragana and Katakana. Each of these scripts has 46 basic characters, but with the addition of some modified sounds, they extend to 50 sounds, hence the name "Gojuon" or "fifty sounds".
The Gojuon is organized into a chart with rows and columns. The rows represent different vowel sounds: "a", "i", "u", "e", and "o". The columns represent different consonant sounds: "k", "s", "t", "n", "h", "m", "y", "r", and "w". Each cell in the chart represents a combination of a consonant and a vowel, or a standalone vowel. For example, the first row and first column intersect at "ka", the second row and first column intersect at "ki", and so on.
However, there are a few exceptions. The "n" column only has one sound, "n", and the "y" column has three sounds: "ya", "yu", and "yo". The "w" column only has two sounds in modern Japanese: "wa" and "wo" (though "wi" and "we" exist in classical Japanese).
In addition to these basic sounds, there are modified sounds created by adding diacritical marks to some of the basic characters. These marks change the pronunciation of the consonant. For example, adding a small circle (called a "dakuten") to the "ka" character changes it to "ga". Adding a small semi-circle (called a "handakuten") to the "ha" character changes it to "pa".
The Gojuon is a fundamental part of learning Japanese, as it forms the basis for reading and writing in the language. It's usually one of the first things taught to beginners.Each syllable corresponds to a character in the Japanese scripts of Hiragana and Katakana. Here's an introduction to the pronunciation of the fifty sounds:
あ (a) - pronounced like the 'a' in "father"
い (i) - pronounced like the 'ee' in "bee"
う (u) - pronounced like the 'oo' in "food," but without rounding the lips
え (e) - pronounced like the 'e' in "bed"
お (o) - pronounced like the 'o' in "go"
か (ka) - pronounced like the 'ka' in "karate"
き (ki) - pronounced like the 'key' in "key"
く (ku) - pronounced like the 'coo' in "cool"
け (ke) - pronounced like the 'ke' in "kettle"
こ (ko) - pronounced like the 'co' in "cold"
さ (sa) - pronounced like the 'sa' in "sand"
し (shi) - pronounced like the 'she' in "she"
す (su) - pronounced like the 'su' in "suit"
せ (se) - pronounced like the 'se' in "set"
そ (so) - pronounced like the 'so' in "so"
た (ta) - pronounced like the 'ta' in "tall"
ち (chi) - pronounced like the 'chi' in "cheese"
つ (tsu) - pronounced like the 'tsu' in "tsunami"
て (te) - pronounced like the 'te' in "ten"
と (to) - pronounced like the 'to' in "toe"
な (na) - pronounced like the 'na' in "nun"
に (ni) - pronounced like the 'knee' in "knee"
ぬ (nu) - pronounced like the 'nu' in "noodle"
ね (ne) - pronounced like the 'ne' in "net"
の (no) - pronounced like the 'no' in "no"
は (ha) - pronounced like the 'ha' in "hard"
ひ (hi) - pronounced like the 'hee' in "heel"
ふ (fu) - pronounced like the 'foo' in "food"
へ (he) - pronounced like the 'he' in "hen"
ほ (ho) - pronounced like the 'ho' in "hot"
ま (ma) - pronounced like the 'ma' in "matt"
み (mi) - pronounced like the 'me' in "meat"
む (mu) - pronounced like the 'moo' in "moon"
め (me) - pronounced like the 'may' in "may"
も (mo) - pronounced like the 'mo' in "more"
や (ya) - pronounced like the 'ya' in "yam" (Note: 'y' acts as a vowel)
ゆ (yu) - pronounced like the 'you' in "you"
よ (yo) - pronounced like the 'yo' in "yogurt"
ら (ra) - pronounced like the 'ra' in "rattle"
り (ri) - pronounced like the 'ree' in "reel"
る (ru) - pronounced like the 'roo' in "roof"
れ (re) - pronounced like the 'ray' in "ray"
ろ (ro) - pronounced like the 'ro' in "roll"
わ (wa) - pronounced like the 'wa' in "wax"
ゐ (wi) - not commonly used in modern Japanese
ゑ (we) - not commonly used in modern Japanese
を (wo) - pronounced like the 'wo' in "wonder" (Note: 'o' is usually used as the particle)
ん (n) - pronounced like the 'n' in "sun"
These are the basic sounds in the Japanese language represented by Hiragana and Katakana. Understanding and mastering these sounds are fundamental to Japanese language learning.
In the next article, we will provide a detailed explanation of the Muddied Sounds(dakuten handakuten) , The Sokuon and the Long Vowel Sound