Help with hiragana

[osurveys]

I'm learning hiragana and I've started to read the jpod transcripts for practice. I came across watashi-wa, and to my surprise, the wa symbols didn't match. Strictly speaking, it should have been watashi-ha. This also happens in the "magical wa" podcast. Ha is wa.

Does this hiragana "switch" happen often? I've just started, so I haven't come across too many discrepancies.

Arigato gozaimasu!

[Derek]

Yeah, this can be a little confusing a first. When "wa" is used as a particle it is written as は. However when it is used as part of a word, ie watashi （わたし）　It appears as わ.

A similar thing occurs with the particle "(w)o". It is pronounced "o" ｂut you don't use お, you use を.　　Although, you will hear some people pronounce it as "wo."

Don't worry, you'll get used to it.

By the way, if you're looking for a good way to learn Hiragana and Katakana (And Kanji, too), I recommend using Kanji Trainer PenPen. You can download it free here: http://coolest.com/penpen/

This is the program that I used to learn and it worked great for me. Plus it has a penguin, so there you go.

がんばってください！

[Bueller_007]

The other big one is that へ is normally pronounced as "he", but is pronounced "e" when used as a particle.

[Derek]

The other big one is that へ is normally pronounced as "he", but is pronounced "e" when used as a particle.

Ahh, that's right!!! I knew that I was forgetting one. I couldn't think of it to save my life.

ぼくはばかだよ！

[osurveys]

Arigato you guys. I appreciate the time for a reply. Also, thanks for the link.

[Derek]

Arigato you guys. I appreciate the time for a reply. Also, thanks for the link.

No problem. I'm glad that I could be of some help.