For text that runs vertically, the furigana is generally on the left or the right. Furigana is sometimes called “ruby” (ルビー), a term that derives from the size of a font once used in printed type.įor Japanese text that runs horizontally, the furigana is often above the word of phrase, though it can be below. So I’d like to do that here.įurigana––often written in kanji as 振り仮名, but also in hiragana as ふりがな, or in katakana as フリガナ––are reading hints that tell you about the pronunciation of a word or phrase in Japanese. The other day I was thinking about something when it suddenly dawned on me that I haven’t written a focused article on Japanese furigana, a particularly important part of the language for beginner and intermediate students. But as a teacher, being unable to put yourself in the shoes of a beginner makes it harder to understand their challenges, and harder to teach them effectively.
As a learner, this isn’t a big deal since if you stay fixed on every little detail that you have learned you’ll have trouble moving forward. You can look at this in terms of loosing the “beginners mind” as you progress (that reminds me of a good book on Zen Buddhism here). The longer you study something, the easier it is to forget things you learned when you first started studying.
