Dakuten!

Woo! I made it back 今夜 (kon'ya - tonight!) I almost put it off but I pressed on and here I am. :)

今夜, I studied dakuten. Dakuten are either the sideways quotation marks or circles added to certain ひらがな lines to expand the 46 symbols and create even more sounds.

Dakuten only apply to the K, S, T, and H lines of ひらがな. The H line is special in that both types of dakuten can be applied. If a 仮名 in the H-line has the sideways quotes it turns from an H sound to a B sound. On the flip side, if a 仮名 in the H-line has the circle it turns from an H sound to a P sound.

As far as the K, S and T lines, only the sideways quotation dakuten is used. This changes the sounds to G, Z and D respectively.

The 'magical pattern' is still followed as before but there are a few exceptions to the pronunciation. They are:

In the S-line, し becomes じ - pronounced ji.

In the T-line, ち becomes　ぢ - pronounced dzi and つ becomes　づ - pronounced dzu.**
**Koichi-san says the ぢ and づ 仮名 are rarely used, but still a good idea to know how to pronounce them in the event that you come across them.

I watched the videos for the dakuten lines 三 times each and then played the T-line ones a few more times to try and get that dzi and dzu pronunciation down. I learned most of this already with My Japanese Coach on the DS, however I don't remember there being stress on the fact that these two were really a D+Z sound. Probably not covered due to their rare usage but yea.

That's about it for tonight. I just keep rattling through the lines over and over out loud. Practice makes perfect. ;)

またね!