Why is Wa written as Ha

[Razahia]

I don't really understand why the letter Wa is not used in some words for Wa and rather Ha is used.

Such as in Watashi Wa both Wa's use the Ha symbol.

Forgive me as I don't know how to type japanese on my computer.

thanks.

 

[SomeCallMeChris]

わたし is written with わ, but the 'topic particle wa' is written は.
The particle is the only 'wa' written は in modern Japanese. (Although some common phrases may be taught to you as if they were words, like 'こんにちは', but that's actually the particle-wa there). When 'wa' is part of a word it's written わ.

If you really want to know -why-, here's the history.

The history behind this is very long but it all comes down to the ha-line (ハ行) of the hiragana alphabet and how it has evolved over time.

Prior to the Nara Period, the letter and particle は was pronounced 'pa' and there was no 'wa' sound yet. Let's look at 川 (かわ) as an example.

-Prior to the Nara Period, 川 was written as かは and pronounced 'kapa.'

During the Nara Period, the pronunciation of は (the letter and particle) changed to 'fa.'

-So 川 was then pronounced 'kafa' (still written as かは)

This is where the big change happens. During the Heian Period, it was decided that は would be pronounced as 'wa' anytime it wasn't at the beginning of a word.

-Now 川 was pronounced as 'kawa' since the は wasn't the first letter of the word
-But 花 (はな) was still pronounced 'fana' since は was the first letter of the word.
-The particle は was still pronounced 'fa' since it was considered an independent word.

Between the Kamakura and Muromachi Periods in Japanese history, the particle は was no longer considered an independent word, but instead part of the word it followed. So by the previous rule, the particle は was then pronounced 'wa.'

After World War II, the alphabet was updated to reflect the modern pronunciation of words. In other words, writing the letter わ when the pronunciation called for the sound 'wa.'

-So finally, 川 was both written as かわ and pronounced 'kawa' formally as we know it today.

However, since the particle は is so commonly used in Japanese and they didn't want to over-complicate the change in writing-system, they decided not to change the writing of the particle は, even though it is pronounced 'wa.'

That's why the particle は is written with the character for 'ha' but pronounced 'wa.'

Why the particle "wa" is written with the character "ha" – Tips

 

[Razahia]

わたし is written with わ, but the 'topic particle wa' is written は.
The particle is the only 'wa' written は in modern Japanese. (Although some common phrases may be taught to you as if they were words, like 'こんにちは', but that's actually the particle-wa there). When 'wa' is part of a word it's written わ.

If you really want to know -why-, here's the history.

Ah ok, that helped a lot.

Now to figure out if I've been pronouncing R in Japanese correctly or not. It's killing me =D

 

[Mike Cash]

Ah ok, that helped a lot.

Now to figure out if i've been prenouncing R in japanese correctly or not. It's killing me =D

If the sound originates from your throat at all....as the English "R" sound does....you're doing it wrong. The Japanese version originates solely in the front of your mouth. Aim for something halfway in between an "L" and a "D".

 

[BrianLewis]

That's the only instance that I can think of that substitutes a different letter for the sound. Japanese is pretty darn easy to pronounce once you get the basics down.

Unfortunately, they make up for it with their crazy writing system.