Hiragana 3

Today I'll list off the SA line of characters. You should be seeing a pattern at this point. It is easy to remember what sounds are in the Japanese language. You just have to associate those sounds with the letters, which is obviously the hard part. Again, if you are having trouble remembering them, I can't say enough how much I love the book Remembering the Kana.

Full lesson here:
http://japanese-lesson.com/characters/hiragana/hiragana_drill/hiragana03.html

さ (sa)

し (shi)

す (su)

せ (se)

そ (so)

Whoa! That doesn't follow the pattern! No need to worry. There are only 3 exceptions to the a, i, u, e, o pattern. し by all means is "si"... but in spoken Japanese it is pronounced SHI. So thus we romanize it shi. Just keep calm and take it all in slowly. Now go practice at http://www.realkana.com/. Remember to practice writing it by hand too.

I haven't mentioned how important stroke order is yet. In the full lesson link they teach you how to write the character, they also show you proper stoke order. You NEED to write it in this fashion. I am not sure why, but I am fairly sure if you don't, a にんじゃ will be at your house in a couple minutes to show you his かたな.