Video:Learn Japanese: How to Write Hiragana Part 1: a, i, u, e, owith Michael Metcalf
Hiragana is the Japanese alphabet that represents all the sounds in the Japanese language and is used to write Japanese words. Learn how to write a, i, u, e, and o in Hiragana.See Transcript
Transcript:Learn Japanese: How to Write Hiragana Part 1: a, i, u, e, oHi, my name is Michael Metcalf I'm a student of Japanese at the University of Missouri in Columbia for About.com, and by the end of this video you will be able to write a, i, u, e, and o in Hiragana.
The Japanese Alphabet is Called HiraganaHiragana is the Japanese alphabet that represents all the sounds in the Japanese language and is used to write Japanese words and various grammatical functions. I will show the the proper stroke order for each character and then I will show you a simple word that uses that character. So let's get started.
Learn to Pronounce and Write Hiragana Characters CorrectlyLet's start with "a", "a" is a three stroke character and a simple word that uses this character is "ai", "ai" means love. Next, we'll go to "i", it's very simple, it's just two strokes. A word that uses "i" is "ichi" which means one. Next is "u", "u" is also simple, it's a two stroke character. A word that uses "u" is "ue", this means up in Japanese. Next will move on to "e", which is a two stroke character. This is a little difficult and might take some practice until you get the hang of it, but it's fun once you get it. A simple word that uses this is "ie", that means House in Japanese. And lastly, "o", this one is also a little fun. It's a three stroke character. A simple word that uses this is "ooi", which means "many" in Japanese.
Thanks for watching and for more information about how to write Hiragana, check us out on the web, at About.com.