Japanese Characters

The pronounciations of both syllable systems are perfectly the same.

The classic order of Kana is a table, by the Vokals A-I-U-E-O (not A-E-I-O-U!) and by that what WE would call its beginning consonant, K-S-T-N-H-M-Y-R-W. That is 5 by 10 combinations, the 50 classic syllables. In Japanese, they are called by the first "vocal" (A) → "KA-Gyo" か行, "SA-Gyo" さ行 and so forth, in the "row" ("Gyo" 行).

The "Vocal" Syllables

あ A, い I, う U, え E, お O

The "Rows" (Gyo, 行)

K → か KA, き KI, く KU, け KE, こ KO
S → さ SA, し SHI, す SU, せ SE, そ SO

and so forth, there are 10 rows beginning at K-S-T-N-H-M-Y-R-W.

"Sound Smoothing" - The Diacritics ("Daku-On" 濁音)

4 more rows are derived as "Daku-On" 濁音, these are the so called "diacritics", using the original kana, but adding "two upper commas", the "Nigori-Ten" 濁点. That makes 20 more syllables. They are "smoothing" the syllables: G-, Z- (voiced s), D- and B-.

か KA → が GA
さ SA → ざ ZA
た TA → だ DA
は HA → ば BA

From the H row, another "harder" version is also derived, by adding a short circle ("Maru", 丸, or "Han-Daku-Ten" 半濁点). These are the "Han-Daku-On" 半濁音, the "half-voiced" or "hard" syllables. There is only one row of this kind:

は HA → ば BA → ぱ PA

The system of the "diacritics" is perfectly the same for Hiragana and Katakana.

"Sound Breaking" - The Digraphs or "Broken Syllables" ("You-On" 拗音)

き KI + や YA → きゃ KYA

き KI + ゆ YU → きゅ KYU

き KI + よ YO → きょ KYO

These can be "smoothed", too:

き KI + や YA → きゃ KYA → ぎゃ GYA

One very special syllable is the der "tensioned" Sound ("Soku-On" 促音), that is transscribed for us as double consonant of the following syllable, pronounced quasi-Italian, that is hold the consonant and do NOT speak it faster! The short "TSU" is used for this:

っ / ッ
ゲ GE + ッ(tension) + プ PU → ゲップ GEPPU = BURP!

分 か った
WA-KATTA = "roger", "I understand", "Yessir".

The two syllables KA か and KE け are also used in smaller variants for countings.

And finally, there is the pseudo syllable "NG" ん - yes, "ng"! It is called the "Bi-Daku-On" 鼻濁音, a voiced ng, like in "bang", but the "g" is not like in German "bank":). ん has no row for obvious reasons ... and it even looks like an n.

NOTE: ん leads to the fact that what WE would call a syllable, like "KAN" カン, is NOT one syllable, but two! It is written with two Kana! At the phone, where no visual communication is possible, Japanese "spell" like this: "This is KA-NG! - それは カ ン です".

So after all we have about 100 syllables per syllable set. All rules for "smoothing", "hardening" and "breaking" are valid for both and have no exceptions. So, Hiragana and Katagana are some kind of "binovular twins".

All beginners ask: "But, WHY do they have TWO kanas?!"

It has nothing to do with some kind of "capital and small kana", they do not have that concept. In fact, a naive Japanese writes EVERYTHING IN CAPITALS...

Hiragana and Katakana have different origins from different eras.

Hiragana were invented by aristocratic women writing lyrics, so it is a "Women´s Writing", round and soft :)

Katakana was an easy-to-learn allday writing system, invented for DUMMIES, "Men´s Writing", rough and hard :)

Historically, both systems were used for different purposes:

Hiragana - ひらがな general grammar particles Suffixes of Verb flections, präfixes Replacement of too complicated Kanji Reading helps for Kanji (Furigana) Lyrics, Poetry, Haiku Also commen Hiragana überall im Alltag vor.

Katakana - カタカナ Foreign words and names A kind of highlighting or stress "Bang!" in Mangas! grammar advises in ancient Kanbun texts

"And where is the L row :) ?"

Well - the Japanese do not know L ...

"WHAT???"

... You mix up with Chinese :) Japanese CANNOT pronounce L, even when they are drunk:

"Tanaka-san, say ´I LOVE YOU!´" - "Ai-rabu-yu!"
"Tanaka-san, PLEASE use Your tongue, LLLLLLOVVVE!!!" - "Ra-bu... もう だめだなぁ...sorrii, mai tangu izo kaputto!"

Well, Japanese may take a revenge with this one: となり の きゃく は よく かき くう きゃく だ