Many of you who might be reading my blog posts, might be already familiar with Hiragana (\u5e73\u4eee\u540d\u3001\u3072\u3089\u304c\u306a).\u00a0Hiragana (\u5e73\u4eee\u540d\u3001\u3072\u3089\u304c\u306a) is the basic form of writing in Japanese. Among the three styles of writing, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji in Japanese, Hiragana is the most simple and the first style you should learn when learning Japanese.<\/p>\n
Today, I would like to show you a simple Hiragana Reading Game.\u00a0This game is possible because Hiragana is unique in that each syllable\u00a0is represented by one character.<\/p>\n
Try reading the following Hiragana sentence.<\/p>\n
\u308f\u308b\u3044\u306b\u308f\u3068\u308a\u3068\u308f\u306b\u3044\u308b\u308f<\/strong><\/p>\n WARUI NIWATORI TO WANI IRUWA<\/p>\n Did you notice something in this sentence? Well, if you look closely, you will see that you read the same way left to right, and right to left (or from beginning to end, end to beginning). It means the same exact thing no matter which way you read this sentence.<\/p>\n Each word means as follows:<\/p>\n \u308f\u308b\u3044\u3000=> bad<\/p>\n \u306b\u308f\u3068\u308a => chicken<\/p>\n \u3068 => and<\/p>\n \u308f\u306b ==> alligator<\/p>\n \u3044\u308b\u308f => are there<\/p>\n So, the sentence means, “A bad chicken and an alligator are there.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let’s try another one.<\/p>\n \u305e\u3046\u304f\u3093\u3071\u3093\u304f\u3046\u305e<\/strong><\/p>\n ZOKUN PAN KUUZO<\/p>\n Try reading this sentence from the left, and then from the right. Hiragana’s are arranged in the same way however you read it.<\/p>\n \u305e\u3046 \u304f\u3093\u3000==> elephant (\u305e\u3046means an elephant. \u304f\u3093 is often used to indicate “boyish” nature of the subject. )<\/p>\n \u3071\u3093 ==> bread<\/p>\n \u304f\u3046\u305e ==> will eat<\/p>\n With this said, the sentence means, ” An elephant will eat bread”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Try reading the next sentence.<\/p>\n \u3053\u306e\u3089\u3044\u304a\u3093\u304a\u3044\u3089\u306e\u3053<\/strong><\/p>\n KONO RAION OIRANOKO<\/p>\n \u3053\u306e\u3000==> this<\/p>\n \u3089\u3044\u304a\u3093 ==> lion<\/p>\n \u304a\u3044\u3089\u306e ==> my<\/p>\n \u3053 ==> baby, child<\/p>\n This sentence means, ” This lion is my baby (child).”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This one is much simpler one.<\/p>\n \u3057\u3093\u3076\u3093\u3057<\/strong><\/p>\n SHINBUNSHI<\/p>\n \u3057\u3093\u3076\u3093\u3057 means “newspaper” in Japanese.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lastly, here is another one.<\/p>\n \u308f\u305f\u3057\u307e\u3051\u307e\u3057\u305f\u308f<\/strong><\/p>\n WATASHI MAKEMASHITAWA<\/p>\n \u308f\u305f\u3057\u3000==> I<\/p>\n \u307e\u3051\u307e\u3057\u305f\u308f ==> lost<\/p>\n This sentence simply means, ” I lost.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Can you make a unique sentence like this using the Hiragana you might know already? Share with me if you come up with one!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many of you who might be reading my blog posts, might be already familiar with Hiragana (\u5e73\u4eee\u540d\u3001\u3072\u3089\u304c\u306a).\u00a0Hiragana (\u5e73\u4eee\u540d\u3001\u3072\u3089\u304c\u306a) is the basic form of writing in Japanese. Among the three styles of writing, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji in Japanese, Hiragana is the most simple and the first style you should learn when learning Japanese. Today, I…<\/p>\n