Japanese Language
Image by: © Olivia Braddock
The Japanese language (nihongo日本語) was originally only spoken. For writing, the Japanese borrowed Chinese characters, kanji (漢字), from nearby China, just like the Vietnamese and Koreans did for their languages.
Kanji
This is how pictures became symbols (kanji)
Although all the official documents in Japan were written in Kanji, they did not fit perfectly with spoken Japanese as the structure of the language is different. This is why Hiragana (ひらがな) and Katakana （カタカナ）were created from Kanji to create a flow in written language. Now, Japanese writing is mixture of Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. Kanji is used to write nouns, stems of adjectives and verbs and Japanese names.
Hiragana
Kanji were simplified and used to represent phonetic syllables (hiragana)
This shows how the vowels of hiragana, a, i, u, e, o were made from kanji. Hiragana has 46 phonetic syllables which are used for words, particles and endings of adjectives and verbs.
Initially, Hiragana was used among aristocrat women to write Tanka (mostly love letters but also seasonal poems) Due to the rounded shapes of Hiragana, it was considered as very feminine. In order for the men to reciprocate the love letters, they had to learn Hiragana!
Katakana
Katakana was used to supplement Kanji for easy reading.
Katakana also uses 46 phonetic syllables (the same syllables/sounds as the 46 hiragana) to write mainly “borrowed” foreign words. It is also used for emphasis and onomatopoeia. This means that there are two letters for every phonetic syllable. This may sound confusing but it is simple! One of these letters is used for native words (hiragana) whilst the other is for foreign words (katakana) e.g. ‘a’ = あ or ア.As there aren’t any gaps between each word like English, having these three different scripts makes Japanese easier to read.
For example,
私はイギリス人です。
Watashi wa igirisu jin desu.
I am English.
Where watashi and jin are kanji, wa and desu are Hiragana and igirisu is Katakana.
Example of some katakana words
Katakana
pronunciation
English
パスタ
pa-su-ta
pasta
サッカー
sack-ka
football
カメラ
ka-me-ra
camera
グレープフルーツ
gu-ray-pu-fu-roo-tsu
grapefruit
テーブル
tay-bu-ru
Table
Common Expressions.
Japanese pronunciation
English
おはようございます。
Ohayō gozaimasu.
Good morning
おやすみなさい。
Oyasumi nasai.
Good night.
こんにちは。
Konnichiwa.
Hello
ありがとうございます。
Arigatō gozaimasu.
Thank you very much.
どういたしまして。
Dou itashimashite.
You're welcome
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