Before you learn a single word, it is a must to know some basic knowledge about the language. If you are here just to know a few words and act like you are a Language King such as saying random Japanese words, this site is not for you.
Learning a few words in a particular language is not learning the language itself. So you better work the language out as a whole.
In this lesson, you will learn the following information:
1. Hiragana
2. Katakana
3. Kanji
4. Romaji
5. Exceptions in Japanese
In this lesson, you will learn the following information:
1. Hiragana
2. Katakana
3. Kanji
4. Romaji
5. Exceptions in Japanese
The Japanese language has three main character sets namely Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. There is no such thing as Japanese alphabet because Japanese people use two or three letters per character. To make it simpler, Japanese language uses syllables per character in order to identify and pronounce words. Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji characters should be known and memorized in order to fully understand the Japanese language. When I am just starting to learn the language, I thought that you just need to choose one character set and you can write in Japanese. I was horrified when I found out that these three character sets are written even in a single sentence. Altogether. So, you are obliged to understand these character sets one by one to read and write in Japanese.
Hiragana
Let us talk about Hiragana. Hiragana, for me, is the most useful set of characters in the Japanese language. For Japanese language starters, books and other online references use Hiragana for easy reading recognition. Here are some brief uses of Hiragana character sets:
1. Verb/Adjective (others) conjugations. We learn in English that any verb or adjective are conjugated by following grammar rules. For example, the word "talk" can be conjugated by adding -ing if you want to make it in present tense. The -ing should be written in Hiragana characters. Other stem forms are written in Hiragana and we will talk more about it in the future.
2. Using particles. Particles do not exist in English. It is a Japanese term and is use for adding characters to elaborate a sentence more. Some particles are almost equivalent as Prepositions in English such as to, in, by, etc. However, I cannot directly inform you that particles are prepositions as what other references claim. Some particles are prepositions if directly translated, but not all the time.
Here is an example of a word written Hiragana characters:
ひらがな
This read as: Hiragana
Familiar?
Here is an example of a word written Hiragana characters:
ひらがな
This read as: Hiragana
Familiar?
Katakana
Katakana characters are used for foreign words that cannot be translated in Japanese directly. It has three main uses:
1. Foreign names. Foreign names that are translated by how they are pronounce must be written in Katakana. For example, John in Japanese will be "Jon" according to Japanese pronunciation and Katakana adaptation. However, some translations are very hard to identify such as translating a popular American surname "Smith" to Japanese. It is translated as "Sumisu". Most of the time, you can actually translate any foreign words from English to Japanese if you have mastered Katakana characters. Below is the list of words from English translated to Japanese.
a. Table - Teburu テブル
b. Bus - Basu バス
c. Cake - Keki ケキ
d. Katakana - カタカナ
If you compare Hiragana characters to Katakana characters, the latter character sets are more pointed. You can also notice that these words are almost having the same sounds from English to Japanese but have different spellings. This is because of the adaptation in the Japanese language. You will understand it more by learning Katakana.
2. Foreign words. Foreign words that do not have exact translation in Japanese should be written in Katakana. The above examples are written in Katakana characters. Writing those words in Hiragana will make it difficult for a sentence to understand. That is why Katakana is very useful when writing Japanese sentences.
3. Slang terms and other expressions. Sometimes, Japanese people write characters in Katakana that should be written in Hiragana. You can see some when you read a manga. Most of the expressions in Japanese are also written in Katakana. For example, "Ah!", "Oh!" and other expressions are written more in Katakana.
Kanji
The final character set. There are more or less 6,000 Kanji characters in the Japanese language. However, even Japanese people do not master the 6,000 characters. The standard for Kanji knowledge is about 2,000 Kanjis both for native and non-native speakers. Many people quit learning Japanese because of this. You cannot choose not to study this character set as it is one of the roots of the language. These character sets came from Chinese characters. You can notice that Japanese and Chinese have similarities when it comes to writing and this is because of Kanji. A Chinese or a Japanese person can actually understand each other by writing Kanjis. However, pronunciations vary some of the time.
Here are some examples of using Kanji characters:
1. Japanese words. Japanese words are written in Kanji characters. Japanese. Words. Kanji. Characters. These words must be written in Kanji. If a person does not know how to write in Kanji, he/she could write it in Hiragana instead. However, if a Kanji is known (or is listed in 2,000 must-known Kanji characters), the person is considered below average.
2. Japanese names. Japanese names are written in Kanji characters. Sometimes, Japanese names are also written in Hiragana if the person's name does not have a direct Kanji equivalent.
Here are some examples of Kanji characters:
日本語 - Nihongo
漢字 - Kanji
These are the three Japanese character sets use by the Japanese. Mastering the three will be your key to communicate to them. Also, mastering grammar is also an important part.
Romaji
I should also tell you about the Romaji. This special snowflake is not known by the Japanese people. This is use to basically introduce how character sets and words are pronounce. These sets must only be use at the start of learning Japanese. Here is the Romaji:
U Zu Ma Ki Na Ru To
These are the Romaji characters. Well, it means the Roman alphabet, hence, Romaji. "Roma" from the word "Roman", removing the letter N. However, some references called it Romanji, but majority of the books and references you can depend state this as Romaji. And "Ji" means character in Japanese. These character sets will help you grasp the Japanese language.
To summarize things up, there are three main character sets use by the Japanese:
Hiragana (ひらがな), widely use for conjugations and particles.
Katakana (カタカナ), widely use for foreign words.
Kanji (漢字), widely use for Japanese words.
There is also another character set which is highly used only for learning the Japanese language during the first course which is the Romaji.
Also, capital letters, question marks, spaces, plural and singular forms and future tenses do not exist in Japanese.
On my next post, I will teach you the Hiragana character sets.
a. Table - Teburu テブル
b. Bus - Basu バス
c. Cake - Keki ケキ
d. Katakana - カタカナ
If you compare Hiragana characters to Katakana characters, the latter character sets are more pointed. You can also notice that these words are almost having the same sounds from English to Japanese but have different spellings. This is because of the adaptation in the Japanese language. You will understand it more by learning Katakana.
2. Foreign words. Foreign words that do not have exact translation in Japanese should be written in Katakana. The above examples are written in Katakana characters. Writing those words in Hiragana will make it difficult for a sentence to understand. That is why Katakana is very useful when writing Japanese sentences.
3. Slang terms and other expressions. Sometimes, Japanese people write characters in Katakana that should be written in Hiragana. You can see some when you read a manga. Most of the expressions in Japanese are also written in Katakana. For example, "Ah!", "Oh!" and other expressions are written more in Katakana.
Kanji
The final character set. There are more or less 6,000 Kanji characters in the Japanese language. However, even Japanese people do not master the 6,000 characters. The standard for Kanji knowledge is about 2,000 Kanjis both for native and non-native speakers. Many people quit learning Japanese because of this. You cannot choose not to study this character set as it is one of the roots of the language. These character sets came from Chinese characters. You can notice that Japanese and Chinese have similarities when it comes to writing and this is because of Kanji. A Chinese or a Japanese person can actually understand each other by writing Kanjis. However, pronunciations vary some of the time.
Here are some examples of using Kanji characters:
1. Japanese words. Japanese words are written in Kanji characters. Japanese. Words. Kanji. Characters. These words must be written in Kanji. If a person does not know how to write in Kanji, he/she could write it in Hiragana instead. However, if a Kanji is known (or is listed in 2,000 must-known Kanji characters), the person is considered below average.
2. Japanese names. Japanese names are written in Kanji characters. Sometimes, Japanese names are also written in Hiragana if the person's name does not have a direct Kanji equivalent.
Here are some examples of Kanji characters:
日本語 - Nihongo
漢字 - Kanji
These are the three Japanese character sets use by the Japanese. Mastering the three will be your key to communicate to them. Also, mastering grammar is also an important part.
Romaji
I should also tell you about the Romaji. This special snowflake is not known by the Japanese people. This is use to basically introduce how character sets and words are pronounce. These sets must only be use at the start of learning Japanese. Here is the Romaji:
U Zu Ma Ki Na Ru To
These are the Romaji characters. Well, it means the Roman alphabet, hence, Romaji. "Roma" from the word "Roman", removing the letter N. However, some references called it Romanji, but majority of the books and references you can depend state this as Romaji. And "Ji" means character in Japanese. These character sets will help you grasp the Japanese language.
Bear in mind that unlike English, Japanese do not use the following:
1. Capital letters - Capital letters do not exist in Japanese. Proper nouns are written just like any other nouns. Names are written in Katakana, Kanji or Hiragana characters. It is almost recognizable if it is a name by reading the sentence. Unfortunately, some Japanese names and words are the same both in written and pronunciation, so you must be very observant when it comes to identifying those.
2. Question mark - Japanese uses the word "ka" instead. If you see, hear or read the word "ka" at the end of a sentence, it is considered a question. Also, we have intonations so you could easily know if it is a question.
3. Spaces - Yes! There are no spaces in Japanese that is why it is very hard to identify each word in a sentence. It is also difficult to read at first. But don't worry, you will get used to it.
4. Plural or singular forms. Unlike English, Japanese do not have plural or singular forms. You will just notice if the word is in plural or singular form depending on the context or how the thoughts are implied. For example, in English we use one apple for singular term and two apples for plural term. In Japanese, one apple is singular and two apple is understood as plural even if you don't have the S. It just means that stating the numbers are important to identify if the word is in plural form. Also, if you say a particular topic by just using a single word without numbers or any supporting words claiming that what you are saying is plural or singular, the thought will be either singular or plural. Both are correct but wholly depends on the context or the thought you want to state. You will fully understand this through the series of Japanese grammar lessons.
5. Future tenses. Majority of the books are claiming that Japanese do not have future tenses. As I deeply explored the Japanese grammar, I found out the answer. Japanese has no future tenses such as will go, going to and so on. However, one can assume if the context is in future form when someone states some words that support the context itself such as tomorrow, this afternoon, next year and so on. Take this for example:
I go tomorrow.
This sentence is grammatically incorrect in English. However, if you translate this in Japanese, it is perfectly error-free.
I go tomorrow in Japanese implies that you don't need any future tense to make the sentence claim that the action will take place in the future. Because of the word tomorrow, one can say that the context will happen tomorrow, which is in future form.
4. Plural or singular forms. Unlike English, Japanese do not have plural or singular forms. You will just notice if the word is in plural or singular form depending on the context or how the thoughts are implied. For example, in English we use one apple for singular term and two apples for plural term. In Japanese, one apple is singular and two apple is understood as plural even if you don't have the S. It just means that stating the numbers are important to identify if the word is in plural form. Also, if you say a particular topic by just using a single word without numbers or any supporting words claiming that what you are saying is plural or singular, the thought will be either singular or plural. Both are correct but wholly depends on the context or the thought you want to state. You will fully understand this through the series of Japanese grammar lessons.
5. Future tenses. Majority of the books are claiming that Japanese do not have future tenses. As I deeply explored the Japanese grammar, I found out the answer. Japanese has no future tenses such as will go, going to and so on. However, one can assume if the context is in future form when someone states some words that support the context itself such as tomorrow, this afternoon, next year and so on. Take this for example:
I go tomorrow.
This sentence is grammatically incorrect in English. However, if you translate this in Japanese, it is perfectly error-free.
I go tomorrow in Japanese implies that you don't need any future tense to make the sentence claim that the action will take place in the future. Because of the word tomorrow, one can say that the context will happen tomorrow, which is in future form.
To summarize things up, there are three main character sets use by the Japanese:
Hiragana (ひらがな), widely use for conjugations and particles.
Katakana (カタカナ), widely use for foreign words.
Kanji (漢字), widely use for Japanese words.
There is also another character set which is highly used only for learning the Japanese language during the first course which is the Romaji.
Also, capital letters, question marks, spaces, plural and singular forms and future tenses do not exist in Japanese.
On my next post, I will teach you the Hiragana character sets.
