The Japanese

Writing System
 The Japanese Writing System is
divided into three types, Hiragana,
Katakana and Kanji. Hiragana is used
for native Japanese words, and
Katakana is used for words borrowed
from other languages. Kanji are
Chinese characters used to simplify a
word. Hiragana is the first script to
begin with.
 あ a - as in father

HIRAGANA and KATAKANA

are syllabaries, meaning there
is a symbol for every syllable in
い i – as in eel

the Japanese language. The

Japanese call these symbols: う
u – as in rule

Kana. The first kana in

hiragana are the vowels…
え e – as in end

お o – as in ode
 か ka – as in car

HIRAGANA follows
with a different
き ki – as in keen

consonant sound
before the a, i, u, e, く ku – as in cool

or o sounds. For
example, next is
the K set…
け ke – as in keg

こ ko – as in cone
Next are the S, T, and N consonant sounds…

さ sa - salt た ta – tall
な na – nah

し shi - sushi
ち chi – cheek
に ni – need

す su - soon つ tsu – tsunami

ぬ nu – nuke

せ se – send て te – tell
ね ne – net

そ so - soda と to – tote
の no - note
Followed by the H, M, and Y sounds…

は ha – hall
ま ma – mama
や ya – yard

ひ hi – heel
み mi – mean
ゆ yu – you

ふ fu – Mt. Fuji
む mu – moon
よ
yo - yoke

へ he – henna
め me – men
Note: There are no yi
or ye sounds in

ほ ho – home も mo - mocha
Japanese
Finally, come the r, w, and the “n” sound.

ら ra – ramen
わ wa - water
ん n

り ri - reel Note: there is no wu sound.

There used to be a kana for
wi and we, but they are
dubbed obsolete and are

る ru – rude not used today. If either

sound is necessary, the
Japanese prefer combining
u with either i or e

れ re – red (example: ui or ue).

wo – actually, it’s

を
pronounced
the same as “o,” like
ろ ro - rope before, but its
usage is different.
 “Wait a minute,” you might be
thinking. “N?”
That’s right, ‘N’!
But this one can
only come after
another kana. ん
For example…

ten = sky/heaven en = Japanese money (yen)

ban = evening honto = truth
 Following these are the voiced
consonant sounds.
All of these are the same kana we used before.
The difference is that there are two small slant
lines at the right upper corner of each kana.
Now the consonant is voiced. So ka becomes
ga, sa becomes za, ta becomes da...
が ga- as in mega
ざ za- bazaar
だ da- Mazda

ぎ gi- as in geek
じ ji- jeep
ぢ (ji)- jeep

ぐ gu- as in goop
ず zu- zoom
づ (zu)- zoom

げ ge- as in get
ぜ ze- zen
で de- den

ご go- as in ago
ぞ zo- zone
ど do- dome
 The h’s have 2
different voice marks
One for a ‘b’ sound and the other for a ‘p’ sound.
ば ba- as in ball
ぱ pa- as in party

び bi- as in beech
ぴ pi- as in peel

ぶ bu- as in boom
ぷ pu- as in pool

べ be- as in bed
ぺ pe- as in pen

ぼ bo- as in bone
ぽ po- as in pole
Next comes a part of hiragana called ‘Youon’
(pronounced YOON).Youon combines ya, yu
and yo with other consonants. So now you can
make words like…

ryu = dragon
byouin = hospital

Kyoto = former capital of Japan

Tokyo = current capital of Japan

Youon are only combined with

consonants that have an ‘i’ ending
sound.
 Youon looks like this:

ぴょ pi + small yo =pyo

りゅ ri + small yu =ryu

ぎゃ gi + small ya =gya

There are many possible combinations.

Lastly, the other use for the
‘tsu’ symbol -つ

When つ appears as big as all the other

syllables, it is pronounced ‘tsu’, as usual.
However, when it appears much smaller
than the other syllables, it indicates the
syllable coming right after will have an
emphasis on whatever the consonant
sound is.
 ~examples~
Here つ appears as big as the other characters. Therefore it is pronounced ‘tsu’.

つなみ tsunami= tsunami つきひ tsukihi =time

しつもん shitsumon =question まつ matsu = pine tree

Here, つ is noticeably smaller, which symbolizes there is an emphasis on the

consonant proceeding , つ

こつ か kokka= nation/country
もつと motto =more

がつこう gakkou =school ざっし zasshi = magazine

Note: this use of tsu also appears in katakana

That’s it for Hiragana
Katakana is fundamentally the
same as Hiragana
It’s used for loan words or borrowed from
foreign languages.
Some borrowed words include:
アメリカ = amerika (America)

バナナ = banana (banana)

ナイフ = naifu (knife)

マクドナルド = makudonarudo (McDonalds)

ハンバーガー = hanbaagaa (hamburger)

 Katakana also has this symbol

Which hiragana doesn’t have.

ー
This symbol indicates that the katakana
syllable before it is elongated… as in the
sound will last twice as long as usual.
 ~Examples~
mariina= marina aakeedo= arcade

mayoneezu= mayonnaise bataa= butter

pasupooto= passport piinattsu= peanuts

Note: the stressed consonant

symbol before the big tsu
 And Finally, Kanji

As I mentioned before, Kanji are Chinese

style characters that are assimilated for
Japanese usage. Kanji eventually overrides the
hiragana syllables.
 For example, the word ‘big’
‘Big’ in Japanese is ‘ookii’

But instead of writing that, we can just write 大 cause that’s ookii too,
but more convenient

大 also can mean: ‘very’

Here are some more examples of kanji:

 Mountain= yama やま
One= ichi
いち
Woman= onna
おんな
Samurai=japanese warrior
さ むら い
There are thousands of kanji in
Japanese language. It takes many
years to memorize & become fluent in
Kanji reading. Let’s start the
journey. Ganbarimashou !!!
 Omedetou! (Congratulations!)
• We have successfully completed Basic
Japanese script. Let’s start using it !!