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HIRAGANA PART 9
The Revenge of the Ravaging R's

R's are perhaps the most difficult for native speakers of English to pronounce well. That is because the Japanese R's are in between English R & L. (that's my theory anyway) We will look a little at pronunciation, but this page's goal is for reading hiragana.

Today's lesson will teach the 'R' line.  Put on your safety hat and hang on!

ら - ra
り - ri
る - ru
れ - re
ろ - ro

NOTE: First click here and listen to ra-ri-ru-re-ro many times. Try to imitate her voice. Notice how sometimes they sound like R and sometimes L and sometimes even D.

(You can skip this part if you want...) I think ら ra, り ri & れ re are similiar to how we pronounce "L." That is, with our lips open. And る ru & ろ ro are more like "R" with more rounded lips (puckered-up-for-a-kiss shape)

At any rate all ra-ri-ru-re-ro are pronounced with the tongue slapping the roof of the mouth. (like when making "LA")

I know this is confusing so don't worry too much about it. You have plenty of other things to worry about!

SILLY ASSOCIATIONS: (What do the characters look like to you?)

ら - It looks like ____________
り - It looks like ____________
る - It looks like a ROOt
れ - It looks like ____________
ろ - It looks like a man in a boat ROwing

STOP!!!

Did you write the above hiragana 10 times? Did you sound them out as well? Well, do it again! And then take the following test & Javascript quiz...

TEST & REVIEW
How do you read these Hiragana characters?

さら ______________ This means plate, dish
それ ______________ This means that, those (near the person being spoken to)
みる ______________ This means to see
くすり ______________ This means drugs, medicine
おれ ______________ This means I, me (used by men)
よる ______________ This means night, evening
おふろ ______________ This means bath tub, bath
りす ______________ This means squirrel

NOTE: no notes!

Click here or go to the bottom to check your answers

NOW TAKE A QUIZ ON THE HIRAGANA YOU HAVE LEARNED!
There are 8 questions. Gambatte!

INSTRUCTIONS: I will test your knowledge by giving you a Hiragana in the left box.
Type the sounds in roman characters in the box on the right and press Tab to submit your answer.
Nihongo-san will tell you if you were right or wrong.
Use the Tab key or the Continue button to continue. USE ONLY LOWERCASE --> like this


is...

Nihongo-san says:

Note: This fantastic quiz was originally created by Kerri R. Schiller...Homepage
URL: http://www.oocities.org/SiliconValley/7116/jv_quiz.html

Gambatte!

　

　

ANSWERS:
さら  sara  This means plate, dish
それ  sore  This means that, those (near the person being spoken to)
みる  miru  This means to see
くすり   kusuri  This means drugs, medicine
おれ   are  This means I, me (used by men)
よる   yoru This means night, evening
おふろ   ofuro  This means bath tub, bath
りす  risu  This means squirrel
Click here to take the Quiz