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Writing Hiragana – お

“O” OR “お” SAYS “long o sound as in potato”
3 STROKES

First, Starting on the upper left, make a medium horizontal line.

Second, starting a little bit above stroke one, make a vertical line down. Then (WITHOUT PICKING UP YOUR PEN) make a small loop to the left, cross back over the line and make a large curved line to the right.

Notice that the line and loop are not centered, they are actually a little bit to the left of the character box. You can see in the picture below that the big curve (4) actually extends pretty far to the right – past the end of Stroke (1).

The Third stroke belongs in the upper right of the character. Starting on the left, make a very small sloped line downwards.

eh-1

FINAL

EXAMPLES (FROM TOP 1000 JAPANESE WORDS)

おもい (Omoi) = Heavy
おい (Oi) = Nephew
おやつ (Oyatsu) = Snack
おちゃ (Ocha) = Green Tea

Tags: お, Beginner Japanese, Characters, Hiragana, How to write Japanese, Japanese, Japanese Language, Learning Japanese, Read Hiragana, Reading Japanese

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Categories Japanese, Language, Life

Writing Hiragana – え

30 Nov

“E” OR “え” SAYS “short e sound as in egg”
2 STROKES

The First stroke belongs in the upper middle of the character. Starting on the left, make a very small sloped line downwards.

eh-1

Sometimes, you might see this line with a small side-stroke back towards the left. These characters were originally written with a brush, and this was just a small pull sideways that gave it flair. It shouldn’t be too deliberate – more a fast pull than anything.

eh-2

Second, below the first line and without picking up your pen! Start by making a sloping-upwards line. Then pull your pen down quickly in a slight diagonal. Drag it back up again about 1/2 way. Then pull off into a sloping “s” shape.

Kind of like a slanted “h” with a fancy top and a hooked end.

eh-3

Pay attention to proportions – note that Step 2 ends up close to where Step 1 started. Step 3 pulls off at close to where Step 1 started. The hook on Step 4 goes below Step 2.

Eh 7.png

Final Version of This Part:
eh-4

FINAL

EXAMPLES (FROM TOP 1000 JAPANESE WORDS)

かえる (Kaeru) = Frog
いえ (Ie) = House / Home
えんぴつ (Enpitsu) = Pencil

Tags: え, Beginning Japanese, Hiragana, Japanese, Japanese 101, Language, Learning Japanese

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Categories Japanese, Language, Life

Writing Hangul – ㄴ

27 Nov

“N” (ㄴ)
1 STROKE (DON’T PICK UP YOUR PEN AT ALL)

Start on the top left and make a short vertical line, then bring your pen right to make the longer horizontal line .

FINAL

EXAMPLES (FROM TOP 6000 TOPIK WORDS)

원(Weon) = KRW (Korean Money)
인간 (Ingan) = Human Being
눈 (Nun) = Eyes

Tags: ㄴ, foreign language, hangul, Korean, Language, Writing Hangul, Writing Korean, Written Language

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Categories Japanese, Language, Life

Writing Hiragana – い

26 Nov

“I” OR “い” SAYS “EE”
2 STROKES

The first stroke looks a little like a fish hook (but not quite written that way). Make a slightly curved vertical line down, then (without picking up your pen) give it a small up-stroke. These characters were originally written with a brush, and this was just a small pull upwards that gave it flair. It shouldn’t be too deliberate – more a fast pull than anything.

Second, on the right – make a vertical line downwards slightly curved to the left.

FINAL

EXAMPLES (FROM TOP 1000 JAPANESE WORDS)

しかい (Shikai) = Dentist
せんせい (Sensei) = Teacher
い (i) = Stomach

Tags: い, Beginning Japanese, education, Hiragana, How to write, Japanese, Japanese 101, Language, learning

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Categories Art, Japanese, Language, Life

Writing Hiragana – あ

23 Nov

If you want to live, work, or study in Japan, it’s almost required that you start to learn how to write Hiragana. If I wanted to just travel to Japan for a short time, I didn’t need to bother. But if I wanted to be fluent or for extended trips, I need to be able to write the Characters. Many foreigners simply learn how to read Hiragana but are never taught how to write it. They just kind of guess how to write the letters. However, if you write the character in the wrong way, it sometimes isn’t clear. Just like English handwriting – if you don’t form your letters correctly, sometimes it’s hard to read.

So without further ado, here is the first Hiragana Letter and how to write it!