[Learn Japanese] Lesson 1- HIRAGANA & KATAKANA

Japanese people use 3 types of Letters

The first thing to know is that the Japanese do not use Alphabet.

We study English and loves the alphabet, so we know and can read.

In the Japanese language, We have our own set of characters below.

1. Hiragana

   46 letters with 5 vowels, the simplest “sound” of Japanese.

   You must learn all to know the base sound of Japanese.

   Looks like あいうえお

2. Katakana

   Same sound base as Hiragana. This was developed to translate foreign words.

   Many of the English words such as Hamburger, Coffee, and Table are also used in Japanese.

   Those words often are written in Katakana.

   looks like アイウエオ

3. Kanji

   There are so many Kanji letters and i do not know how many there are even.

   These originally came from China to describe things thru symbols.

   For example, the word “TREE” came from how the tree looks and became a letter.

   Looks lie 大、人、愛

My recommendation is to start with Hiragana, then Katakana.

Then, if you are interested to learn even more, then start learning Kanji.

As you learn Hiragana, use Romaji to link the Hiranaga sound with the sound you already know from alphabet.

As for Hiragana learning, I recommend to WRITE the letter to LEARN. Writing is the only way to learn this. Use the link at the bottom of the blog to practice.

ROMAJI

ROMAJI was developed to translate the sound of Japanese into the alphabet.

We will use Hiragana and ROMAJI to illustrate our text book.

Example of Romaji: SU-SHI comes from Japanese Hiragana 2 letters. “SU=す” + “SHI=し”.

＠Yoshi sushi, Ueno Tokyo

Use below to practice your Hiragana and Katakana. Good Luck.

Any Questions, please email Motokyo.

Also, if you want to chat in Japanese with me, please start a chat thru this link.