Simple Hiragana Reference Page

Cultural Note:  Hiragana originally came about as simplified versions of kanji, and was originally known as women's script, that allowed them to write poetry.  Many were convinced that kanji were too difficult for women to learn, so kanji were made more simple and standardized to allow women the ability to write, again, usually poetry.

Children in Japanese schools learn hiragana by memorizing a hiragana table like the one below.  It should be read from left to right, and will sound like this: A, E, I, O, U, - Ka, Ke, Ki, Ko, Ku, etc.,  Please read the pronunciation notes under the image.

Where A sounds like 'ah' or the 'a' in the word 'father'.
Where E sounds like 'eh' or the letter 'a' in the word 'lay'.
Where I sounds like 'ee' or the letter 'e' in the word 'be'
Where O sounds like 'oh' or the letter 'o' in 'Odin' (the Norse God).
Where U sounds like 'ew' or the 'oo' in 'baboon'.

Japanese vowels all sound the same, all the time.
Please be careful not to change their sound based on the letters that surround them, as we do in English.  This will make your pronunciation unrecognizable to a native speaker.
For example: Aniki is not 'Ah-nuh-key', but 'Ah-knee-key', and Neko is not 'Neck-oh' but 'Nay-ko'.

The only exception are combination sounds:
'ou' which makes a long 'o' sound, like the sound in 'toe'.
Example word in Japanese: Ototou (younger brother)

'ai' sounds like 'i' or the word 'eye'
Example word in Japanese:  Aishiteru (I love you)

'ei' sounds like 'eh' again, or the 'a' in 'day'.
Example word in Japanese: Sensei