Konnichiwa minna-san. In this lesson we are
going to cover the Japanese writing system. I'll do this lesson in
three parts, and this part will have both the intro, and the first
part ^_^. Now I know that this may seem like a very hard system to
learn, but if you just try to do a consonant group a day (ka, ki,
ku, ke, ko) you'll be able to learn them without much difficulty
(no really). If you can't see the Japanese characters, click here
Introduction
Traditionally Japanese is written from top to bottom, and from
right to left, but it can also be written like English, that is
horizontally, and from left to right.
The Japanese writing system uses three different alphabets. The
Katakana (outlined in red in the following pic), the Hiragana
(in blue) and the Kanji (in green).
Kanji
The Kanji system was adapted from the Chinese, and
has over 10,000 characters, and each character is called a kanji.
These characters represent both a meaning and a sound (so ²Ð
means fire, and can be read as hi, ha, or ka ). Kanji can
range from simple, with one or two strokes, to complex, with more
than fourteen. Some can even look like pictures of what they
represent. A kanji usually has a minimum of two readings
(the original Chinese one (called the ON reading), and a
Japanese one (called a Kun reading) and some can have
six readings or more. By the end of junior high, one is expected
to know 2,000 basic kanji. (BTW: that first box in the last
line says Naoko Takeuchi ^_^)
Hiragana
Hiragana is one of the two syllable alphabets, in
which letters stand for sounds like a, i, u, e, o, or ka, ki, ku,
ke, ko. In this alphabet the only consonant that can be without a
vowel is n. Often, in manga kanji are written with
small hiragana letters over them denoting pronunciation.
These hiragana letters are then called furigana.
Hiragana is used for native Japanese words only.
Katakana
Katakana has the same structure as hiragana,
but is only used for foreign words, and for emphasis. We'll start
with Katakana this week ^_^.
Here's a chart of the basic characters:
What you need to keep in mind is this: to turn a ka (¥«
) into a ga (¥¬ ) with the addition
of what looks like a quotation mark at an angle (just call it
that, and you'll remember it easier ^_^) the same additions
turns a s into a z, a t into a d
(except for the ¥Á which is read as chi,
so it becomes a ji.) in the same way a h
becomes a b. Also you can turn an h into a p
with this ° (ie hu-pu: ¥Õ to ¥×) Try reading this:
¥»¡¼¥é¡¼¥à¡¼¥ó (the dashes just tell you to prolong
the sound) Also often you'll see the y's (ya, yo, and yu) written
smaller, and after certain letters. In those cases take the
consonant of the first character and add the y_ sound to
it. so ¥¥ç is read as kyo. Now lets practice a bit
with some words:
ホテル
カタカナ
マーキョ リ アクア イリュジョン
ルナ
ホームラン
ワイスマン
That pretty much covers Katakana, and ends our lesson for this
week ^_^.next week I'll go over the Hiragana alphabet, and Kanji
will be the week after that (no we won't do all the Kanji, but
I'll just explain the basics, and I might do a few extra Kanji
each following week )
Answers: hotel, katakana, Mercury Aqua Illusion
^_^, Luna, home run, wise man
