Self_teacher of Japan language. Lesson 12.

Hiragana (continue).

Lesson 12

Translated from Russian by Anton Ilchenko.

Drawing and pronouncation.
Please note right order of painting parts of glyphs. It's important, because you'll stand in future, that glyph painting is a kind of art, so it has its ows rules:

There are some rules, according to which you can check whether painting order is right:

1. Lines draws from up to down and from left to right
2. In cross first goes horizontal line
3. If there are 3 vertical lines, they must be drawn in following order: center one, left one and the last - right one.

There are close-up pictures of some glyphs. You can learn its pronouncing from the tables below.
Digits shows drawing order
of the glyph's elements, arrows shows
elements' drawing directions:

[A, I, U, E, O]: by pronouncing short A,I,E,O are the same as in russian, but notice, that O,E are less opened (semi-opened). Also notice, that vowel pronouncing shouldn't change according to its position and stressing (they're not become longer under stressing as in russian).
"U" is completely different from its european pronouncing. When you're pronounc it, your lips are not circled and stretched forward. Its position should be same as you try to pronounc "W", but in last moment, with unchanged lips position, say "U".

[KA, KI, KU, KE, KO]: Sound "K" in parts KA,KI,KU,KE,KO won't differ from its russian analogues, but you should notice, that K before I in KI become soft, as in words "Kit","Kiss", as in other cases its hard - as "c" in "court" and "c" in "car".
!!! Remember about pronouncing "U" as in "KU", and in other parts with U.

[SA, SI, SU, SE, SO]: "S" in SA,SU,SE,SO are identical to its european equivalent, but in SI "S" is soft as in word "stock", it can be pronounced as soft "sch". So, "SI" can be transcripted as "schi", but by russian transcription rules it won't be right (surely it was done for avoid hardness for pronouncing).

CHI TSU

[TA, TI, TSU, TE, TO]: Please, pay attention to "TI". Right transcription of this will be "CHI", e.g. it pronounces like "CH" in "cheat". To make a right pronounsation, try to say "softy" or "meeting". You'll see that you can't say "T" clearly. It softs into "CH".

[NA,NI,NU,NE,NO]: Same as in english/russian. No comments.

[HA, HI, FU, HE, HO]: "H", in difference from russian equivalent, is guttural. Pronounces with lowered tongue as clear breathe. "F" is similar to english. In old times, "H" pronounced as "P".
Again, remember "U"!!!

[MA,MI,MU,ME,MO]: Same as in english/russian.No comments.

[YA, YU, YO]: "YA" as "ya" in "yacht". "YU"=soften "U" - the same technique as in "ya", but replace "a" with "u". "YO" has same tech as "yu", with "u" replaced to "o".
There's a small trick: try to mix short "i" (as in "trip", but even shorter) and "u","a","o". As result you should receive onesound!
These sounds are similar to its russian analogues.
Also, "IO"="YO".

[RA, RI, RU, RE, RO]: "R" is one-stressed. When you pronounce it, touch your high-teeth-roots only once. Also japanese "R" cannot doubling.

[WA,O,N]: ordinal pronounce of "N" is short "n" as in "stand". If "n" comes in front of "K" or "G", it reads as "NG" in "-ing".