4. Basic Hiragana Chart (Audio)

Each Japanese syllable is made up of either a single vowel: a,i,u,e and o or a combination of a consonant plus a vowel. The only exception is the n, m or ŋ sound which is represented by the character ん.

3. Japanese Alphabets

Japanese alphabet

There are three types of Japanese letters: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. In this section, the history and the role of each Japanese script are introduced.