The New ABCs: Surprising Foreign Alphabets Kids Will Love Learning

Do your kids love saying their ABCs?  Then they'll be delighted to find out about completely new alphabets, such as Russian, Arabic, or Japanese. Not sure where to start? We've created a quick overview of just a few options we have at Little Pim. Try them out with your kids for some tongue twisting, language learning fun!

RUSSIAN

Pay attention to the following letter combinations that do not exist in the English language:

" “hl” as in “Hlieb” (bread) " “zh” as in “Nozhe” (bread), “Zholtoy” (yellow) " “ts” as in “Tsveta” (color) " “hv” as in “Hvost” (tall) " “zs” as in “Litzso” (face)

It’s important to pronounce your vowels correctly to be understood – you should open your mouth wide and purposely stretch out the sounds (always fun instructions for little learners!)

Now try this sentence out:

Hello, my name is Little Pim. I am a panda.

Привет! Меня зовут Крошка Пим. Я панда.

Privet! Menya zavut kroshka Pim. Ya panda.

ARABIC

The consonants in the following table are distinctly Arabic in the way they sound.

Kh -- The "ch" in "Bach" or "loch"; has a raspy sound H -- H is pronounced from the back of the throat The phrase SabaaH al-Khayr(good morning)  has both the “Kh” and “H” R -- A rolled "r" sound, similar to the Spanish R, as in the word marHaban (hello)Gh -- A "gargling" kind of sound between "g" and "r," produced deep in the throat, as in the word Ghadaa (lunch)

Now put them together:

Hello, my name is Little Pim. I am a panda.

• .الصغير "بيم" إسمي مرحباً،
• .باندا أنا

Marhaban, Ismi Pim Assagheer. Ana Panda

JAPANESE

Here are some basic pronunciation guides for Japanese:

• A pronounced “AH”
• I pronounced “EE”
• E pronounced “EH”
• O pronounced “OH”
• Double vowels – note elongation of the vowel

Now see if you can use the rules in the following sentence:

Hello, my name is Little Pim. I am a panda.

• こんにちは、
• 私の名前は小さいピム。
• 私はパンダ。

• Konichiwa, watashi no namae wa chiisai pim,
• Watashi wa panda

Ready for more unique alphabets? Keep the fun going with Litte Pim's Mandarin Chinese and Hebrew.