Family Terms & Hiragana は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ

This week, the students learned family terms.

In Japanese, the terms of family relationships differ according to whether you are talking about your own family to someone else, or the other person's family.

Talking about your family                  Talking about another's family

father                    CHICHI               OTOO SAN

                                         

mother                  HAHA                  OKAA SAN

                                                      

older brother         ANI                      ONII SAN

                                                      

older sister            ANE                      ONEE SAN

                                                      

younger brother    IMO OTO             IMO OTO SAN

                                                   

younger sister        OTO OTO            OTO OTO SAN

 

 

When Japanese address family members, OTOO SAN or PAPA is used for father, OKAA SAN or MAMA for mother, ONII SAN for older brothers, ONEE SAN for older sisters and the given names for younger brothers and younger sisters.

PAPA and MAMA are generally used by younger persons. Usually, Japanese do not use given names for family members older than themselves. Even spouses who have child(ren) rarely use their given names when addressing on another!! 

In addition to these family terms, your child learned more hiragana.

This week's hiragana were:

 

は　/HA/

ひ　/HI/

ふ　/FU/

へ　/HE/

ほ　/HO/

 

 

There are some Japanese words used as English words today, such as "Mt. Fuji," "tofu" or "futon". However, the Japanese "f" is slightly different from the English "f". The Japanese don't bite their lips when pronouncing it. It is more like blowing out a candle with your voice.

 

Coming Monday (October 7th), the students will take an another hiragana written test. It will cover all hiragana they have learned so far:

 

あ　い　う　え　お

か　き　く　け　こ　　　が　ぎ　ぐ　げ　ご

さ　し　す　せ　そ 　　   ざ　じ　ず　ぜ　ぞ

た　ち　つ　て　と　　　だ 　　   で  　　  ど

な　に　ぬ　ね　の

は　ひ　ふ　へ　ほ　　　ば　び　ぶ　べ　ぼ　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　ぱ　ぴ　ぷ　ぺ　ぽ