こんにちにゃあぁ～！Welcome to Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online, the blog, probably the only Japanese learning blog approved by 10/10 dentists, or at least ten people wearing white coats. We’re your hosts, guiding you through Japanese language and culture, Kiki and Koko~! We’re out on the scene, working every day to make sure you get the vital Japanese language and culture knowledge that you need to broaden your horizons, expand your mind, and making sure you absorb as much information as comfortably possible. Whether you’re someone dabbling in Japanese language or looking to become fluent, we’re here for you. We give you the information you need, but information without application might simply tumble right out of your mind~! So, we’re here to anchor that knowledge by challenging you! We ask the important question that has plagued man for centuries:….Do you know「らりるれろ」?

Wow, so, this is our ninth instalment of our hiragana, (平仮名), lessons in gojuuonjun, (五十音順). After this, we have one more lesson, but not to worry!! We have so much more in store, more lessons, more writing. Learning hiragana is a huge accomplishment. If you’ve been learning with us since 「あいうえお」, then not only are we proud of you for learning so many new characters, absolutely chuffed you’ve stuck with it, but you’ve prepared yourself for dozens more characters! We’ll explain it when we get there, but just know that what you’ve learnt will apply to so much more. And throughout all of that, we want to make sure we’re able to give you the best content we can provide. That being said, we think it’s time for a culture note.

This is an article-worthy concept that we’ll simply mention in a note, but we would like to mention the concept of meiwaku, (【めいわく】or 迷惑 in kanji). In Japanese culture, it’s probably one of the biggest social faux pas to inconvenience anyone. Though, inconveniencing, or being a burden or nuisance, isn’t something as simple as in Western culture. Inconveniencing isn’t simply overtly inconveniencing people by actually causing someone a significant bother, but simply doing anything that interrupts their flow. This could be anything from an unwanted ring on the telephone to not having your payment ready on the bus, a child being rambunctious to stopping someone on the street to ask the time. It’s anything to keep people waiting, anything to cause discomfort, anything that makes anyone have to go out of there way. It’s an nuanced concept that is deeply ingrained in some that prompts people not to want to meiwaku wo kakeru (迷惑をかける) or cause a bother/trouble/inconvenience. We mention this because even asking for support can be difficult with this notion weighing on one’s mind.

So knowing this, our actions may become more apparent—that we’re breaking through our deeply rooted sense of not asking anyone to go out of their way for us in order to serve the greater good. It’s not fair to those who use and enjoy what we create here on SpeRaToBo and Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! to let something like that get in the way of being able to make more and even better content which would benefit everyone. And, up till now, it’s the kindness of readers/viewers/listeners that has kept us going this far! And, of course, if people were prompted to assist us in our quest, we figured it was important to give the opportunity to spread the message so the contributions from those lovely people will go further.

But, we don’t want to make you read the same thing two different ways— In collaboration with our site host, here’s the scoop:

Grooving to the content we’re creating? You can leave a TIP in the TIP♡JAR to keep it going! 
(Can’t? No worries! The content is free for everyone! We’re just glad you’re here!!!)

Support the Art from the Kindness of Your Heart ♡

There are quite a few people who ask where to leave a tip, or 心付け, kokorodzuke,  and usually, we would direct them to Patreon, and even though it is definitely a very useful place where we have received one-time gifts that has kept us afloat this far, the format really is geared towards long-term patrons.

So, to answer the need, we’ve created a tip jar page!

Of course, your readership and viewership is of the highest value, and we couldn’t do it without you, but sadly, ad revenue isn’t enough to keep things going. And, we sadly haven’t garnered enough subscribers to monetise our channel after the ad-pocalypse. But, we want to make sure to continue to keep this content free for everyone~!♡ That’s completely free lessons and content for everyone on the planet! You would literally be making that possible. You could take credit for that!!

So, whilst free is free, it doesn’t really cover basic everyday expenses that it costs to actually run the site, create videos, keep the electricity on, and live in the flat. We want to do so much more for you! But, sadly, being an Earthling requires money to live…

But, that being said! If you’re someone who really absolutely can’t spare a rectangle, we understand, but there are lots of free ways to help out!There’s sharing our content, subscribing to the channel, sharing the content, visiting the site often, sharing the content– It really really REALLY helps when you share the content. If no one sees or hears the content, does it even exist? Well, sure, but does it really? Our mission is to share this content with as many people as possible, fulfilling a need and hopefully entertaining in the process, all whilst surviving on Earth.

Soon, there will be a specific storefront for SpeRaToBo, Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!!, and wakuwakuWorkshoppe, here, where you can purchase items that in-turn help keep the site and everyone afloat. But in the meantime, if you also want to show your support by physically displaying some of the artwork, there’s apparel, prints, stickers, and more from our Redbubble! While only a small percentage goes to us, it’s still very neat. That’s why, if there’s a specific amount you would like to donate with no strings attached, the best way is this page, or for recurring support, there’s Patreon.

Our saying at the end of videos isn’t just a fun rhyme, coincidentally, 心付け, kokorodzuke, or gratuity, 心 is heart, and 付け is literally attachment. So, when you leave a tip, you’re giving from your heart so that we can spread that kindness to everyone else who visits SpeRaToBo.

Thank you for supporting the art from the kindness of your heart!
♡Kiki+Koko × Indigo East

Tip♡Jar | Support the Content ♡

Each ‘item’ is a bill (bank note) put into the jar~! So, you can use anything from a one dollar note to a (brilliantly incredible) one-hundred dollar note. We’ll be sure to thank you! Every dollar counts towards making great things happen. 

Thank you for supporting the art from the kindness of your heart!
And, if you can’t, no worries! We’re just glad you’re here~!
♡Kiki+Koko × Indigo East × SpeRaToBo

So, like we said, the content is meant to be available to as many people as possible~! If everyone who visited this site today contributed as little as $5 (as of posting this article, we hope our visitors continue to grow, of course), we would be able to create content for an entire month!! 

But, simply visiting our site and browsing around, revising / reviewing lessons would be a great help, and more importantly, it would help you, too! Learning isn’t just about the first encounter, repetition is key~! Learning isn’t just about the first encounter, repetition is key~! Learning isn’t just about the first encounter, repetition is key~!

And, speaking of repetition, we think it’s long overdue to test your skills! Do you know 「らりるれろ」? We’ll find out!! And, if you don’t quite know them, this is a great place to practise them~! But, these characters had a very specific pronunciation, so if you need a recap of the explanation, on the Japanese R sound, take a look at the main らりるれろ lesson, linked here,then you can return for your quick quiz with QUIZBO™くん！

頑張りましょうね！Let’s try our best!

Speaking of QUIZBO™, here he is now~! Here to help us test your knowledge, you know him from his Word of the Week segment and his lovely quizzes, it’s our helpful quiz generating robot computer friend. With the amazing technological advances of the internet and sound relay, he can assist you 24/7 in telling you how to read each character in the previous lesson, and reading hiragana to quiz you in this lesson. If you press the 「▶」button on the virtual sound player, QUIZBO™ will read the random hiragana to you. From there, all you have to do is answer which character he’s saying from the options below. (No worries, you can have him repeat it as many times as you wish, that’s what he’s here for!)

And, remember, you can just refresh or return to the page to try again as many times as you wish!

Now, without further ado, let’s test our skills!

Let’s NihonGO!! らりるれろ!!
[Questions with QUIZBO™]

#1) Which hiragana do you hear? Hint: 【ro】

ろ

◎正解~!! Seikai~!! Correct~!!
In romaji, 「ろ」 is transliterated as 「ro」which sounds sort of like 「low」

ら

× 惜しいなあ！Oshii naa! So close…!

り

× 惜しいなあ！Oshii naa! So close…!

る

× 惜しいなあ！Oshii naa! So close…! 

れ

× 惜しいなあ！Oshii naa! So close…!

#2.) Which hiragana do you hear? Hint: 【ra】

#3.) Which hiragana do you hear? Hint: 【re】

#4.) Which hiragana do you hear? Hint: 【ru】

#5.) Which hiragana do you hear? Hint: 【ri】

Yayy! We did it! ¡lo hicimos! 出来ました! Dekimashita! Did you get them all correct? Or maybe you only missed a few? If so, well done!! よくできました! yoku dekimashita! And, if you received more than a few wrong answers… Well done!! That’s right, even if you didn’t get them all correct, we’re still proud of you. The first step to learning is failure. If you don’t know what you don’t know, then you won’t know what to work on. At the same time, if you already did revise / study and got a great score, then the same amount of congratulations to you as well!

Everything doesn’t always come easily to everyone, and sometimes they need a bit more effort to learn. But, think of it this way, if you’re an English speaker, Japanese is one of the farthest languages from English. And, you’re already going out of your way to learn something above and beyond. At the same time, of course, it’s the norm in most countries to learn more than one language, but that still doesn’t make it any less work.

And, remember, if you didn’t get them all correct, you can refresh the page and start over again. It’ll truly be a learning experience as the answers to each question are randomised in order. You can return as often as you wish to make sure you’ve learnt them properly.

If the study methods that you’re using now are working for you, then you should have smooth sailing for the rest of the lessons. Even though we’re one more section away from the end of gojuuon, (五十音), we have quite the journey ahead of us. This will just be the first leg of the journey, the first petrol pumps in a few kilometres, just heading to the outer limits of the city. Once you’ve reached the end, what’s in store will be quite the adventure.

We hope this was/will be helpful for you on your Japanese learning journey! You mean so much to us, and we appreciate that you’ve chosen to learn with us. We’ll be with you every step of the way~

Until next time, thank you for visiting!

♡Kiki+Koko