R
ラリルレロ — The R Row
01
Why the R row carries so many loanwords
The R row — ラ リ ル レ ロ — does double duty: the Japanese r is a single light tap of the tongue, sitting between an English r and l, so it stands in for both. That's why レストラン (restaurant) and メロン (melon) both use this row. The sounds match hiragana ら り る れ ろ exactly.
The Japanese r: don't roll it and don't fully say an English r — just tap the tongue once behind the teeth, almost like a quick “l” or the tt in “better.” One tap covers every word in this row.
02
Pronunciation at a glance
03
Loanwords built on the R row
The R row turns up across a vast range of loanwords. Here are two for each character.
ラジオrajioradio
ライトraitolight
リストrisutolist
リボンribonribbon
ルールrūrurule
ルームrūmuroom
レストランresutoranrestaurant
レモンremonlemon
ロボットrobottorobot
ロケットrokettorocket
04
What's next
Next is the ワ-row (ワ ヲ ン) — the last of the basic syllabary, including ン, the only katakana for a standalone “n” sound and the partner of ソ in another look-alike pair.