More On Hiragana
There are five vowels in the Japanese language, just like in English.
A ( あ ) which is pronounced: AHH
I ( い) which is pronounced: E (Like in "Eat")
U ( う ) which is pronounced: OO
E ( え ) which is pronounced: E (Like in "Elk")
O ( お ) which is pronounced: OH
All "Hiaragana" ends in a vowl, if it doesn't end in one of the five vowels. If not then it will end in an N ( ん )
The letter R is "rolled" so instead of it sounding like: ARGH
It sounds like a combination of D, R and I.
は (ha) is pronounced "wa" when it is at the end of a word. It is usually only pronounced "ha" when it is part of a word.
Example: Konnichiha ( こ ん に ち は ), is a commonly known Japanese word. It means hello. When you look at the Romaji you would automatically think you say it: Kon-nich-e-ha
But, really its pronounced: Kon-nich-e-wa. Because the は (ha) is at the end of the word.
へ (he) is pronounced "e" when it ends a word. Where as it is pronounced "he" when in the middle of one.
Both of these are very simple to detect.
You probably noticed that there are 2 "zu" and 2 "ji".
づ (zu) and ぢ (ji) are very rarely used.
づ (zu) only occurs when there is a つ (tsu) in front of it like in つづく (tsuzuku - to continue) or when a Kanji (Chinese character) that starts with つ (tsu) is paired at the end with another character changing the つ (tsu) to a づ (zu). The same applies for ぢ (ji). Since they are used so rarely I wouldn't worry about them too much.
