The Japanese written language consists of a combination of
three types of characters. To a lesser extend it nowadays also uses some Latin
alphabet for abbreviations and numbers.
1. Kanji (漢字)
Kanji originally came from China to Japan. The term “kanji”
literally means “Han characters” or “Chinese characters” and it is identical to
the characters in China to describe their writing.
Kanji are mainly used to describe names and nouns. When used in
verbs and adjectives they mostly are written in combination with hiragana.
Most sentences include kanji as well as hiragana.
Japanese dictionaries list around
10,000 kanji. The Japanese government limited the kanji used in
official publications to the 1945 touyou kanji with about 4000 readings.
The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) is based on these 1945 touyou
kanji.
A Japanese with average education
knows around 3000 kanji and it is estimated that around 4000 kanji
are used in Japanese literature.
2. Hiragana (平仮名)
Hiragana is a phonetic alphabet that was developed in the ninth
century to simplify writing. It nowadays is mainly used for native Japanese
words. Hiragana are derived from more complex kanji and each hiragana
represents a syllable. A total of 46 hiragana are used in contemporary
Japanese writing.
List of the 46 hiragana and
their 25 diagritics (with ゛or ゜)
A
|
I
|
U
|
E
|
O
|
あ (a)
|
い (i)
|
う (u)
|
え (e)
|
お (o)
|
な (na)
|
に (ni)
|
ぬ (nu)
|
ね (ne)
|
の (no)
|
ま (ma)
|
み (mi)
|
む (mu)
|
め (me)
|
も (mo)
|
や (ya)
|
ゆ (yu)
|
よ (yo)
|
||
ら (ra)
|
り (ri)
|
る (ru)
|
れ (re)
|
ろ (ro)
|
わ (wa)
|
を (wo/o)
|
|||
ん (n)
|
The combination of some of these
hiragana is used to express a few additional sounds used in
Japanese. The first character is written in normal size whereas the second character is written a little bit smaller. These combinations are called digraphs.
Japanese. The first character is written in normal size whereas the second character is written a little bit smaller. These combinations are called digraphs.
List of 21 hiragana digraphs
and their 15 diagritics
YA
|
YU
|
YO
|
きゃ (kya)
ぎゃ (gya) |
きゅ (kyu)
ぎゅ (gyu) |
きょ (kyo)
ぎょ (gyo) |
しゃ (sha)
じゃ (ja) |
しゅ (shu)
じゅ (ju) |
しょ (sho)
じょ (jo) |
ちゃ (cha)
ぢゃ (ja) |
ちゅ (chu)
ぢゅ (ju) |
ちょ (cho)
ぢょ (jo) |
にゃ (nya)
|
にゅ (nyu)
|
にょ (nyo)
|
ひゃ (hya)
びゃ (bya) ぴょ (pyo) |
ひゅ (hyu)
びゅ (byu) ぴゅ (pyu) |
ひょ (hyo)
びょ (byo) ぴょ (pyo) |
みゃ (mya)
|
みゅ (myu)
|
みょ (myo)
|
りゃ (rya)
|
りゅ (ryu)
|
りょ (ryo)
|
3. Katakana (片仮名)
Katakana also is a phonetic alphabet covering the same syllable as hiragana
and therefore also has 46 different characters. It is mainly used for foreign
loanwords and sometimes to replace kanji or hiragana for
emphasis. Katakana were developed in the ninth century and are also
derived from more complex kanji.
List of the 46 basic katakana
and their 25 diagritics (with ゛or ゜)
A
|
I
|
U
|
E
|
O
|
ア (a)
|
イ (i)
|
ウ (u)
|
エ (e)
|
オ (o)
|
ナ (na)
|
二 (ni)
|
ヌ (nu)
|
ネ (ne)
|
ノ (no)
|
マ (ma)
|
ミ (mi)
|
ム (mu)
|
メ (me)
|
モ (mo)
|
ヤ (ya)
|
ユ (yu)
|
ヨ (yo)
|
||
ラ (ra)
|
リ (ri)
|
ル (ru)
|
レ (re)
|
ロ (ro)
|
ワ (wa)
|
ヲ (wo/o)
|
|||
ン (n)
|
List of 21 katakana digraphs and their 15 diagriticsAs with hiragana there also are combinations to express the
other sounds required for the Japanese language.
YA
|
YU
|
YO
|
キャ (kya)
ギャ (gya) |
キュ (kyu)
ギュ (gyu) |
キョ (kyo)
ギョ (gyo) |
シャ (sha)
ジャ (ja) |
シュ (shu)
ジュ (ju) |
ショ (sho)
ジョ (jo) |
チャ (cha)
ヂャ (ja) |
チュ (chu)
ヂュ (ju) |
チョ (cho)
ヂョ(jo) |
ニャ (nya)
|
ニュ (nyu)
|
ニョ (nyo)
|
ヒャ (hya)
ビャ (bya) ピャ (pyo) |
ヒュ (hyu)
ビュ (byu) ピュ (pyu) |
ヒョ (hyo)
ビョ (byo) ピョ (pyo) |
ミャ (mya)
|
ミュ (myu)
|
ミョ (myo)
|
リャ (rya)
|
リュ (ryu)
|
リョ (ryo)
|
These 46 katakana and their
variations are sufficient to express all sounds used for Japanese words. In
order to get closer to the pronunciation of foreign words, a list of not so
common extended katakana is used.
List of extended katakana
A
|
I
|
U
|
E
|
O
|
イィ (yi)
|
イェ (ye)
|
|||
ウァ (wa)
|
ウィ (wi)
|
ウゥ (wu)
|
ウェ (we)
|
ウォ (wo)
|
ヴァ (va)
|
ヴィ (vi)
|
ヴ (vu)
|
ヴェ (ve)
|
ヴォ (vo)
|
ヴィェ (vye)
|
||||
キェ (kye)
|
||||
ギェ (gye)
|
||||
クァ (kwa)
|
クィ(kwi)
|
クェ (kwe)
|
クォ (kwo)
|
|
グァ (gwa)
|
グィ (gwi)
|
グェ (gwe)
|
グォ (gwo)
|
|
シェ (she)
|
||||
ジェ (je)
|
||||
スィ (si)
|
||||
ズィ (zi)
|
||||
チェ (che)
|
||||
ツァ (tsa)
|
ツィ (tsi)
|
ツェ (tse)
|
ツォ (tso)
|
|
ティ (ti)
|
テゥ (tu)
|
|||
ディ (di)
|
デゥ (du)
|
|||
ニェ (nye)
|
||||
ヒェ (hye)
|
||||
ビェ (bye)
|
||||
ピェ (pye)
|
||||
ファ (fa)
|
フィ (fi)
|
フェ (fe)
|
フォ (fo)
|
|
フィェ (fye)
|
||||
ホゥ (hu)
|
||||
ミェ (mye)
|
||||
リェ (rye)
|
||||
ラ゜(la)
|
リ゜(li)
|
ル゜(lu)
|
レ゜(le)
|
ロ゜(lo)
|
4. Writing a Japanese text
It is possible to write everything in hiragana or katakana since
both scripts cover the entity of sounds of the Japanese language, although this
is not very practical due to the high number of words having the same
pronunciation but different meanings.
All characters are written one by
one and in the same size. There are no spaces between different words, which
feels a little bit unusual for most foreigners. It takes time to get used to
this and easily distinguish different words.
It is important to write the strokes
in the correct order and directions to give the characters the right shape. The
reason why becomes obvious when practicing with a brush pen, which is very much
recommended for beginners.
Japanese writing is made in two
directions. Horizontal writing (yokogaki) is from the left to the right
as in western style. Traditional writing (tategaki) is vertical starting
from the right top and ending at the left bottom. A book printed in tategaki
opens from what Westerners would call the back, while a book printed in yokogaki
opens from what traditionally in Japan would have been considered the back.
Source : Nihon go site
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