Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana
Modern Japanese is written in a combination of Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. The kanas (hiragana and katakana) are relatively easy to learn. Those wishing to study Japanese are well advised to begin by learning to read the kanas.
HIRAGANA:
Hiragana is used:
- to write Japanese words which do not have a kanji,
- as a guide to denote sounds of unusual or difficult kanji,
- for grammatical particles
- for verb and adjective inflictions e.g. 見る (miru, "see") 見た (mita, "saw").
Note that the kanji is the same but the hiragana indicates verb tense. - in furigana which is small hiragana written about kanji characters to indicate sounds (often seen in Japanese language textbooks and childrens story books) Hiragana is smoothly written with flowing curves.
KATAKANA
The katakana sounds are the SAME as the hiragana sounds, however they are written differently. Some kana are quite similar looking (e.g. "ka" Hiragana か Katakana カ) and I therefore learned katakana much quicker than hiragana.
Katakana is used for:
- Japanese words that are foreign in origin (e.g. "taxi" - タクシー "tomato" トマト)
- Technical / Scientific words
- when writing names of plants and animals
- Onomatopoeia (N.B animals sounds in Japanese are very different to English ones! "Woof Woof" is "Wan Wan") Katakana script is very sharp / angular and, as such, it is often used in advertising as it stands out - demanding attention!
KANJI
The Japanese Kanji are Chinese in origin. However, they have been simplified over the years and the Japanese incorporated them into their existing language which obviously changed their sounds. Kanji have one or more different "readings" and, as such, are a challenge for many Japanese language students. Deciding which reading to use depends on context, intended meaning, whether the character occurs as part of a compound word or an independent word, and sometimes location within the sentence. Some common kanji have ten or more possible readings. Kanji readings are categorized as either on'yomi (literally, sound reading) or kun'yomi (literally, meaning reading). The On'yomi (Chinese reading) is the modern descendant of the Japanese approximation of the Chinese pronunciation of the character at the time it was introduced. Whilst the kun'yomi, Japanese reading, or native reading (literally, meaning reading), is a reading based on the pronunciation of a native Japanese word that closely approximated the meaning of the Chinese character when it was introduced. As with on'yomi, there can be multiple kun readings for the same kanji, and some kanji have no kun'yomi at all.
HIRAGANA:
Hiragana is used:
- to write Japanese words which do not have a kanji,
- as a guide to denote sounds of unusual or difficult kanji,
- for grammatical particles
- for verb and adjective inflictions e.g. 見る (miru, "see") 見た (mita, "saw").
Note that the kanji is the same but the hiragana indicates verb tense. - in furigana which is small hiragana written about kanji characters to indicate sounds (often seen in Japanese language textbooks and childrens story books) Hiragana is smoothly written with flowing curves.
KATAKANA
The katakana sounds are the SAME as the hiragana sounds, however they are written differently. Some kana are quite similar looking (e.g. "ka" Hiragana か Katakana カ) and I therefore learned katakana much quicker than hiragana.
Katakana is used for:
- Japanese words that are foreign in origin (e.g. "taxi" - タクシー "tomato" トマト)
- Technical / Scientific words
- when writing names of plants and animals
- Onomatopoeia (N.B animals sounds in Japanese are very different to English ones! "Woof Woof" is "Wan Wan") Katakana script is very sharp / angular and, as such, it is often used in advertising as it stands out - demanding attention!
KANJI
The Japanese Kanji are Chinese in origin. However, they have been simplified over the years and the Japanese incorporated them into their existing language which obviously changed their sounds. Kanji have one or more different "readings" and, as such, are a challenge for many Japanese language students. Deciding which reading to use depends on context, intended meaning, whether the character occurs as part of a compound word or an independent word, and sometimes location within the sentence. Some common kanji have ten or more possible readings. Kanji readings are categorized as either on'yomi (literally, sound reading) or kun'yomi (literally, meaning reading). The On'yomi (Chinese reading) is the modern descendant of the Japanese approximation of the Chinese pronunciation of the character at the time it was introduced. Whilst the kun'yomi, Japanese reading, or native reading (literally, meaning reading), is a reading based on the pronunciation of a native Japanese word that closely approximated the meaning of the Chinese character when it was introduced. As with on'yomi, there can be multiple kun readings for the same kanji, and some kanji have no kun'yomi at all.
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