![]() ![]() Kanji (漢字), the Chinese characters, make up the final (sort of) native Japanese script. Other than the basic syllables and a couple of conventions for creating voiced ("da" vs "ta"), lengthened ("so-o" vs "so"), and combined sounds ("hyo" vs "hi-yo"), you can count the remaining spelling rules on one hand. So what's the difference? Quite simply, Hiragana is used for writing native Japanese words (ひらがな/Hiragana, かたかな/Katakana) and Katakana for borrowed words (テレビ/terebi/television), sounds effects (ドン/don/"boom"), emphasis (like English italics), and the like. In fact, any Japanese word can be written using Hiragana or Katakana alone. ![]() This works well in languages like Japanese that have a small inventory of sounds and a simple syllable structure. Additional sounds are derived from these using several additional conventions. Hiragana and Katakana each have 46 symbols, representing the same 46 basic syllables. (More specifically, each Kana symbol represents one mora, a distinction that we'll examine in greater detail.) So Hiragana is spelled hi-ra-ga-na and Katakana as ka-ta-ka-na. A syllabary is much like an alphabet, except that each symbol represents an entire syllable like "ka". ![]() Kanaįirst and foremost are the syllabaries Hiragana and Katakana, known together as Kana. If you're already looking to learn the actual characters, see the pages for Hiragana and Katakana and Kanji. This lesson is an overview of what each of the Japanese scripts is and how they are used. This isn't so weird considering that even English uses two: the Latin alphabet and Arabic numerals (Roman numerals being the original complement to the Latin alphabet). There are three native and two nonnative scripts (for a total of five) used together in one cohesive Japanese writing system. Perhaps you've heard about Japanese having four "writing systems", as if there are four separate ways to write Japanese. ![]()
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