Hiragana is…
…one of the two phonetic writing systems in the Japanese language. Phonetic means each symbol is associated with a sound, which does not carry a meaning on its own.
The other phonetic writing system in Japanese is katakana. Hiragana and katakana are both syllabic scripts. They include not only the single characters a, i, u, e and o, but also syllables such as ka, ki, ku, ke and ko.
Trivia: Hiragana and katakana are sometimes collectively referred to as kana.
Hiragana Practice Videos (work in progress)
A I U E O
KA KI KU KE KO
SA SHI SU SE SO
Further Wisdom
Who Am I?
Hey, Adam here. Thanks for visiting "hiraganapractice.org".
I am 34 years old, and I live in Japan with my beautiful wife Misato. I wasn't born here and I've learned Japanese from zero, long after finishing college and joining the workforce. As such I believe I have a unique perspective on learning this language.
On this site I'll give you an overview of hiragana, the first step towards reading and writing Japanese. The videos will let you practice Hiragana, with pen and paper in hand.
Use the "Contact Me" tab to reach me should you need anything else.