ら (ra) – Hiragana

Pronunciation

– Pronounced as the Japanese ‘ra’. This can be a difficult kana to pronounce for new students. There’s no direct word in the English language that has this sound, it’s rather a cross between the English ‘r’ and the English ‘l’. Imagine a sort of soft ‘r’ where your tongue doesn’t roll, then add the Japanese ‘a’ at the end of it – ‘ra’.

About

ら, in hiragana, or ラ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both versions are written with two strokes and have origins in the character 良.

Mnemonics

Mnemonic 1: This is a picture of a man, facing to the left. You can see his eye, mouth, and pointy nose. He is shouting “rah!”.