HIRAGANA
AND KATAKANA:
TIPS
FOR AVOIDING CONFUSION
This
document is intended for those who have learnt the two phonetic syllabaries of
Japanese but who occasionally confuse similar characters:
«A³G@@TAΉG@@ίAΚG@@iAG@@ιAλ;@@VAcG@@\AG@NAPA
and
so on.
1.
Certain characters are almost identical in both
hiragana and katakana:
Hiragana Katakana
€ E u
© J ka
« L ki
Ή Z se
± R ko
Ι j ni
Φ w he
ΰ mo
β ya
θ ri (the similarity is more
marked in written hiragana)
*
Thinking of the hiragana € (u)Afor example, will help
you distinguish between the katakana t (fu), (wa), and E (u), because of the
small stroke at the top.
*
Thinking of the hiragana θ (ri) will help you
distinguish between the katakana (ri) and (ru).
2.
<*>Similar Katakana:
The
more often you see a word, the more likely you are to remember it. Association will help you call to mind
an elusive character:
*
tC furai (deep-fried
food)
C wain (wine)
ECXL| uisukii (whisky)
*
N(ku) and P (ke):
ANZT akusesari (accessories)
P|L kēki (cake)
-
Remember the difference between N (ku) and P (ke) by
sound and letter association: Ku has two strokes, Ke has thrEE.
*
(me) and i(na):
J kamera (camera)
-
Note that (me) is
leaning backwards, like a Japanese tourist attempting to photograph a tall building
in a narrow street.
-
i (na) is more
upright, almost as straight as the eonefs in 11, the atomic number of sodium.
*
(mu) and }(ma):
Ao arubamu (album)
-
(mu) is a
character that you may not encounter very often. It may be confused with } (ma). Remember:
-
You start to write } (ma) by
moving your pen to the right; MAssachussetts is on the right of America.
-
(mu) is also
similar to the Greek letter Κ (mū).
*
\(so) and (n); c(tsu) and V(shi):
Katakana
is sometimes confusing because of:
a) The difference
between Japanese pronunciation and the pronounciation of the word in the
language from which it was
borrowed;
b) The
Japanese habit of abbreviation.
For
point (a), the sounds that cause most confusion are l/r, f/h, and b/v. For those of us from
An
example of point (b) can be found in:
p\R pasokon (personal
computer)
-
\(so) and (n) are very similar, as
are c(tsu) and V(shi), and it may help
to learn them as two groups:
-
V(shi) and (n) form SHIN. The long stroke starts at the bottom,
and works its way up; the short strokes are more horizontal than in c(tsu) and \(so) – almost at a right
angle, like the foot to the shin
-
In c(tsu) and \(so), all strokes form a
steeper angle, and the long stroke starts at the top. Think of SOaring up a blind
*
(yu) and (yo):
Visual
and sound association: (yo) looks
like a cOmb.
For
(yo), think
of a YOrker being bowled at three stumps.
3. Similar
hiragana:
*
«(ki) and ³(sa):
«(ki) has 2
horizontal lines, ³(sa) has
one. Think of 2 KIdneys.
*
³(sa) and Ώ(chi):
You
can trust the Japanese to complicate things! ³ seems to contain a ecf, short for echif – but it must be
viewed in a mirror!
*
ί(me) and Κ(nu):
Think
of MENU. Associate by sound: Κ(nu) has a kNot, or a
lOOp, at the end.
*
ν(wa), κ(re) and Λ(ne):
κ(re) ends to
the Right; Λ(ne) has a kNot
at the end.
*
ι(ru) and λ(ro):
Sound
association: ι(ru) has a
lOOp.
*
Δ(te) and Ζ(to):
Visual
association: think of Ζ(to) as a
sandal with a strap that separates the big TOE.
4. Similar
hiragana and katakana representing different sounds:
*
T(katakana:
sa) and Ή(hiragana:
se):
-
In T(sa), the
long, final stroke ends to the left; in Ή(se), the long stroke ends to the right. SA is the onyomi (Chinese reading) for
the kanji Ά, meaning eleftf
(kunyomi, or Japanese reading: hidari).
SE stands for Southeast, which is on the right of the country.
-
So: SA left, SE right.
-
Associate katakana with left, and hiragana with right:
KL,
HR,
Human Rights, Human Resources, Home Run, House Refurbishmentc Form your own associations!
You
may also remember the similarity of SE in hiragana Ή and katakana Z.