![]() The different patterns can change the meaning of words. ![]() This means the pitch of a word will follow a pattern of highs and lows. This consonant sound sits somewhere between the English “r” and “l.” The sound is made by lightly tapping the tip of your tongue just behind your teeth. There is only one consonant sound in the language ever pronounced on its own (ん), usually pronounced like the English “n." Another big differences between Japanese and English is the ら・り・る・れ・ろ sounds. Each syllable has either a singular vowel, or a combination consonant and vowel. Japanese has five main vowels (あ, い, う, え, お) pronounced as ah, ee, oo, eh, and oh. Katakana may also be used in place of hiragana for emphasis. Katakana is most widely used to write loan words. Some words are written entirely using hiragana. Hiragana works as both a way to conjugate verbs and write particle markers. Hiragana and katana are phonetic and both represent the same sound-set but have different usages depending on context. Kanji characters carry meanings and can be read multiple ways. Japanese words are written using a combination of 3 writing systems: kanji (Chinese characters), hiragana, and katana. Japanese can be written left to right horizontally like English, but it’s traditionally written vertically and read from right to left. Japanese words fall into a couple major categories: native Japanese words, including onomatopoeia, Sino-Japanese words, and loan words. For those of you who are starting from zero with Japanese, let’s go over some basics.
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