Japanese Language Now

When you start studying the Japanese language the first major difference that stands out is the different writing system.  We discuss Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji in other articles on this site (see “writing Japanese“), but for now we are just going to cover how to write ‘Japanese’ in Japanese.  If you are going to study it, you should be able to write it, right?

The first and easiest way is to use Romaji, which is using the Roman alphabet, to spell out Japanese words.  Next, we can write it using Hiragana which is a way to write out the individual syllables, and finally, we can write it using the Japanese Kanji symbols.  So here is what  ‘Japanese’ looks like:

The word Japanese in Romaji is:

Nihongo

Using Hiragana it would be written as:

にほんご

Finally, written in Kanji, Japanese looks like this:

There you have it!  Now you know how to write ‘Japanese’ in Japanese.

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When starting on your path to learning Japanese one of the most obvious differences that stands out over English and many other languages is the use of Japanese characters instead of the letters that most of us are used to.  Although it looks very difficult, with time and practice one will find that the reading and writing of Japanese characters can be a lot of fun and not overly difficult.  Like any other organized system of writing there are some basic rules and core components that, once mastered, make it easy to build upon and advance your knowledge.

Japanese characters consist of three sets, Hiragana, Katakana (collectively known as Kana), and Kanji.  The Kana consist of 48 characters each and Kanji number in the thousands.  Before you panic about the sheer number of Kanji, the actual number in common usage is approximately 1850 and a person could get by without learning any Kanji if they are proficient in the other Japanese characters (Kana).

The two sets of Kana characters are actually quite similar with Hiragana being used for native Japanese words and Katakana being used for foreign words that have no Japanese equivalent (like foreign names, products, etc).  Each Japanese syllable is represented by both a Hiragana and Katakana character and in many cases, they look quite similar but Katakana is much more angular in style.

Written Japanese characters - Kanji and Hiragana

Kanji is by far the largest set of Japanese characters but learning it is not as difficult as one might think.  Many of the Kanji are derived from pictures or look somewhat like the word they represent.  For example the Kanji for three is simply three lines, the Kanji for tree looks very much like a simple drawing of a tree.  They are not all that easy, but it will give you confidence in your learning when you are able to get off to a good start.

If you spend some time practicing, it will not take long to get the basic Japanese characters down and from there you can build on your vocabulary by tackling a few characters per day or week.  Before long you will be reading and writing  at a level that you wouldn’t have thought possible only months earlier.  Like any learning pursuit however, the fundamentals are key and a good program that teaches the basics is key.  MegaHiragana from Rocket Japanese is an example of one that will set you off on the right path to learning the basic Japanese characters.

Practice, don’t try to do too much at once, and most of all have fun.  Learning Japanese is a great adventure,  Gambatte kudasai!

Click here for an easy way to learn Japanese characters

One of the most interesting and rewarding aspects of learning Japanese is learning how to write Japanese.  Unlike the majority of languages out there that use the basic latin alphabet, Japanese has a completely different structure that is very interesting and fun to learn.  If you are going to learn to speak Japanese it will not be long before you will need to learn how to write Japanese or at the very least read it.

The Japanese language consists of three character sets or “alphabets” that you will need to learn.  They are: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.  Hiragana and Katakana (often referred to together simply as kana) are sets of 48 characters each and each character represents a single syllable.  Hiragana is used to write native Japanese words and Katakana is used to write foreign or “borrowed” words (for example you would use Katakana to write “football” or “McDonalds”).  Kanji are the more elaborate characters that were taken from the Chinese language.  There are literally thousands of Kanji characters of which nearly 2000 are in common usage.

Writing Japanese Hiragana and Kanji

The good news for someone that is learning how to write Japanese is that if you know the word but do not know the Kanji for it, you can write it out in Kana and it would still be understood.  So for the beginner the focus is on learning the 48 Hiragana and Katakana and to make that less daunting, the two character sets are actually quite similar.  In many cases the Katakana is simply a more angular version of the equivalent Hiragana syllable.

Practice is the key to learning how to write Japanese and with commitment to it, you can be proficient in kana in a very short period of time.  A solid step by step program that leads you through the order of the strokes and the accompanying sound will speed the learning time tremendously and Rocket Japanese contains a module called MegaHiragana that does exactly that.  Once you have mastered the Kana, then Kanji will be less intimidating and it won’t be long before you are reading and writing Japanese.

One other interesting point about Japanese is the format or way it is written in books.  The western style of reading and writing has the sentences reading from left to right (horizontally) on the page.  Japanese however, is written from top to bottom (vertically) and then read from right to left so if you were to pick up a Japanese book you would start reading at the “back” and read the print up and down not back and forth.  It’s just another unique aspect of how to write Japanese that makes it fun and challenging to learn!

Click here to easily learn how to write Japanese

One of the more interesting, and to many westerners, daunting aspects of the Japanese language is its written form. Japanese uses three sets of characters in its writing, two “alphabets”, hiragana and katakana, and a large set of characters or symbols called Kanji. Japanese Kanji represent words or parts of words and are the base of written Japanese.  The Japanese government has compiled a list of 1945 essential Kanji characters that are used in Japan today, but the actual number of Kanji characters in existence is much higher.

Japanese Kanji characters were originally derived from the Chinese language as the Japanese did not have a formal writing system over 2000 years ago. Most Kanji have two pronunciations, one of which is the on-yomi which is based on the original Chinese pronunciation and the other is kun-yomi, or native Japanese. That is beyond the scope of the beginning Japanese language learner, but is simply shared with you for historical context.

One can certainly learn to speak and understand spoken Japanese without learning Kanji, but it will not take long into your studies before you will need to start reading Japanese, and some understanding of Kanji will be necessary. The good news is that written Japanese has been simplified significantly over the years and that many of the basic Japanese Kanji symbols are based on simple pictures and in many cases “make sense” based on their meanings.

Do not be discouraged by the large number of characters, as many of the Kanji build upon earlier characters and thanks to many of the computer based language programs (like Rocket Japanese) the basics are relatively easy to master. With any type of writing, practice is the key and Japanese Kanji is no exception. Learning the correct order of the strokes and being able to see and repeat them step by step is the most important thing to do, then it’s a simple matter of practice. In little time at all you will be able to boast an impressive list of Kanji characters that you can read and write.

Enjoy this video that is a beautiful introduction to some Japanese Kanji characters.

As you might suspect, no one program will give you all that you need to know to master nearly 2000 characters, but Rocket Japanese will give the user a solid foundation on which to build their Japanese writing skills.  Learning Japanese Kanji can be a very rewarding and fun experience if it is approached with the right attitude and the right tools. Many language learners will find it (as I have) to be their favorite part of the Japanese language.

Click here to read more about learning Japanese Kanji with Rocket Japanese