あ and ア
For these first 2 characters, I’ll be going into detail on how each section of this course will work.
Pronunciation
“A” in Atlas.
It’s important to note that this is NOT an extended Aaah, but a short Ah.
Every single Japanese Kana, in every single word, is given exactly the same amount of time when speaking. You can think of each kana representing a single BEAT. These BEATS are called MORA in linguistics.
Here is the native pronunciation of this character.
あ Memorization Story
The first 2 strokes in the hiragana あ look kind of like a sword or dagger, blade facing down, stuck into an island on the round ATLAS below.
ア Memorization Story
The katakana ア is simply a flag blowing in the wind, stuck into another part of the ATLAS.
＊If you really try to imagine these stories and images clearly while linking them to their respective characters, they will stick MUCH better than if you try to memorize them through brute force alone.
Writing
While stories ARE a great way to remember hiragana and katakana, WRITING each character a few times while saying the sound out loud can also be SUPER helpful. Combining them BOTH is a surefire way to make sure these characters each stick. Write along with Yuki here, and pause the video if you need more time, or if you want to write it a few extra times.
The important parts to pay attention to with the hiragana あ are that the sword blade goes through the BOTTOM of the loopy part, and the curly stroke cuts back through itself on top.
For the katakana ア, make sure that the second stroke DOESN’T cut through any parts of the first stroke.
Font Examples
あ ア
あ ア
あ ア
あ ア
あ ア
In this section we will show you various computer fonts for each character, and note any differences from the written form that are important to be aware of.
We’ll also list how you can TYPE it if you have the Windows Japanese IME, which you can download easily off the internet. If you use a Mac, the Japanese keyboard can be installed through the settings menu.
You can add these keyboards on ANY computer or mobile phone regardless of the keyboard you have, or the carrier you use, so I highly recommend doing that early in your Japanese journey!
Typing
Hiragana あ
Type the letter “a”.
Katakana ア
Type "a" and press the F7 key, or press spacebar until the katakana appears.
Word(s)
In this section we’ll learn some WORDS using ONLY characters we’ve learned up to this point.
ああ
Yes, that’s right.
アアア！
Ahh! Oh no!
Historical Form
Hiragana
安→あ
HISTORICAL VERSION
Katakana
阿→ア
PART BORROWED
All Kana are based on specific Japanese KANJI!
Hiragana are usually based on CURSIVE versions of kanji , with Katakana being based on one or two PARTS of a modern kanji. Often they’re based on the SAME kanji. The kanji chosen were originally used to indicate a SOUND, BEFORE Hiragana and Katakana were created.
We won’t be worrying about what these kanji mean. We’ll just show you the kanji of origin, the cursive version that the hiragana is based on, and the PARTS that the katakana are taken from.
While this might not help some of you memorize the kana, it is still super interesting to see where they CAME from.
