The Japanese Writing System

Academic Study Lesson

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

 The Alphabets

Kana
 Hiragana ( ひらがな )
 Katakana ( カタカナ )
 Represent all Japanese sounds
 Each alphabet is less than 50 characters

Kanji ( 漢字 )
 Chinese characters
 Over 40,000 Kanji
 2,000 Kanji = about 95% used in text
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
 The Alphabets

Hiragana – curvier characters
 Grammar
 Particles
 Words with rare or difficult Kanji
 Colloquial expressions
 Onomatopoeias

Katakana – more straight lined characters
 Loan words
 Sound effects
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
 Intonation
 In Kana
 Either a single vowel sound (a, i, u, e, o)
 Or, consonant + vowel
 The only exception is “n”

Unambiguous pronunciation
 However, watch homophones and high/low
pitches

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
 Hiragana
 Irregular pronunciations (only a few)
 “Shi” ( し)
 “Chi” ( ち )
 “Tsu” ( つ )
 “Un” ( ん )
 Hearing pronunciations:
http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/cover.html

You must learn the correct stroke order:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shrine/7047/hboth.
htm
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
 Hiragana – Muddied Sounds

More possible consonant sounds

Dakuten ( 濁点 )
 Two tiny lines affixed to character
 Appears like double quotation mark
 Examples: ざ　だ　が

Handakuten ( 半濁点 )
 Tiny circle affixed to character
 Appears like a degrees (temperature) mark
 Examples: ぺ　ぴ　ぽ

Hearing pronunciations:
http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/cover.html

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

 Hiragana – Muddied Sounds
 Irregular pronunciations
 じ and ぢ are pronounced as “Ji”
 づ is pronounced as “Dzu”

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

Hiragana – Small や , ゆ , and よ
 Combines a consonant with “Ya,” “Yu,” or
“Yo” sounds

The や , ゆ , or よ will be smaller or half-
width
 Hearing pronunciations:
http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/cover.
html

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

Hiragana – Small や , ゆ , and よ

With じ, all small や , ゆ , and よ sounds are
based off of “ji” sounds
 じゃ
 じゅ
 じょ

With し, all small や , ゆ , and よ sounds are
based off of “shi” sounds
 しゃ
 しゅ
 しょ

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

 Hiragana – Small つ

Indicates double consonants
 Example: Issyoni  いっしょに
 Example: Bikkuri  びっくり
 Example: Happyaku  はっぴゃく

Pronouncing a double consonant
 A “clipping sound” – clipping with the right
consonant
 Example: いしょ versus いっしょ
 Example: もと versus もっと

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

 Hiragana – Long Vowels
 Extending the duration of a vowel sound
 In Hiragana “a,” “i,’ or “u” is added depending
on preceding vowel
 あ = あ
 い, え = い
 う, お = う
 Rarely, え is extended with another え
 Rarely, お is extended with another お

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

 Hiragana – Long Vowels
 Pronunciation
 Hold the vowel a little longer
 Example: おばさん versus おばあさん
 Example: ゆき versus ゆうき

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
 Katakana

A little more difficult to master
 Spelling in Katakana can be tricky
 Not as much practice as Hiragana

Optional middle dot space is used for
Katakana Words ( ・)
 Example: ロック・アンド・ロール

You must learn the correct stroke order:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shrine/7047/h
both.htm
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
 Katakana – Long Vowels
 All sounds devoted by a dash ( – )
 Example: コンピューター
 Example: メリーランド

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

Katakana – Small a, i, u, e, o, and
tsu

Small ア　イ　ウ　エ　オ
 For sounds not originally in Japanese
 Example: “Vodka” = ヴォッカ

“V” in Katakana ( ヴ )
 Katakana ウ with a 濁点
 Japanese cannot pronounce “v” usually
 Sometimes, “b” is used in place of “v”
 Example: “Violin” = “ バイオリン” or “ ヴァイオリン”

Small ツ used again for double consonants
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
 Kanji ( 漢字 )
 Used for
 Nouns
 Stems of adjectives
 Stems of verbs
 Adverbs
 Not impossible to study, but requires effort

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

 Learning Kanji
 Tuttle Flash Cards
 Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC
 http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.ht
ml
 Big dictionaries
 Stroke order diagrams for thousands of Kanji

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

 Reading Kanji

Onyomi ( 音読み )
 Original Chinese reading
 Compound Kanji usually read this way

Kunyomi ( 訓読み )
 Original Japanese reading
 One standalone Kanji usually read this way

Can have multiple 音読み and 訓読み

Can rarely have irregular pronunciations

All pronunciations must be memorized
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
 Reading Kanji – Okurigana
 A string of Kana that comes attached with the
word

Keeps Kanji constant while Kana can change
 Example: 食べます versus 食べました
 Example: 行きます versus 行きません
 Also for distinguishing transitive and
intransitive verbs (another lesson)

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

 Special Kanji
 々 Indicates repetition
 Example: “ 時々” = “sometimes”
 Example: “ 色々” = “in various ways”

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese

 Kanji Numbers
 One = 一  Eight = 八  Twenty = 二十
 Two = 二  Nine = 九  Thirty = 三十
 Three = 三  Ten = 十  Forty = 四十
 Four = 四  Eleven = 十一  Fifty = 五十
 Five = 五  Twelve = 十二  Sixty = 六十
 Six = 六  Thirteen = 十三  Seventy = 七十

Seven = 七  Fourteen = 十  Eighty = 八十
四
Zero = 丸 or ゼロ
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
 Ways to Study Writing Systems

Writing
 Write all Kana characters over and over by hand,
following correct stroke order.
 Write each Kanji you study over and over by
hand, following correct stroke order

Books
 Various books have been published to assist
with familiarity of Kana and Kanji.

Kanji flash cards
 Tuttle flash cards were mentioned previously
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
 Ways to Study Writing Systems

As you study Kanji, make up stories for your
Kanji to help you remember their meanings

Online resources
 Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese includes some
online resources and exercises for studying
Kana and Kanji

Podcasts
 Some Podcasts offer PDFs for free (Not
Japanesepod101.com) that aid with Kana and
Kanji study.

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese