Hiragana - next step

  Have you memorize all the hiragana character? Can you read  " おめでとう" without referring to the hiragana chart? I hope you can. It means congratulation. If you can't read it, please try to memorize hiragana as soon as possible.  I won't teach Japanese in romaji. Sorry. I just feel that won't work. Remember, romaji is for you to learn the pronounciation of the kana. That's all.

Please read these words before we move to the next step.

1) おはようございます 

　-Good morning　

2) はじめまして  

   -Nice to meet you

   -始めまして　　　  (kanji)

3) おげんきですか？

   -How are you?

   -お元気ですか？　(kanji)

4) さようなら

  -Good bye

5) がっこうへいこう

    -Lets go to school

　-学校へ行こう     (kanji)

　

Can you read all of them correctly?

*Watch out for the pronounciation:

 よ    - yo

 よう - yō  (long "o", as in "more" ) Even though in romaji we write "you" , the correct pronounciation is yō, not yo-u

 (eg: おはようございます）

The correct pronounciation is ohayōgozaimasu, not ohayo-o-gozaimasu

The same goes to いこう, refer to no 5) がっこうへいこう. 

The correct pronounciation is gak-kō-e-ikō, not gak-ko-u-e-iko-u.

Another example, おめでとう。

The correct pronounciation is omedetō. 

Confused? Don't worry, you will find more of these a lot later. You will get used to it in no time.

Each time when お、こ、そ、と、の、ほ、も、よ　and 　ろ  meets  う、 just pronounce it longer.

Please refer to hiragana chart, most right vertical line.

よう　- yō

そう   - sō

とう    - tō

のう   - nō

ほう   - hō

もう    - mō

よう   - yō

ろう   - rō

がんばりましょう 

(remember, it's gan-ba-ri-ma-shō, not gan-ba-ri-ma-sho-u)

Let's put more effort.