I Speak Japanese

Ive got a quick question, which is more important Katakana or Hirgana for learning first? See im just getting into the alphabet so I was getting confused on which comes first. Or is it Kanji you want to learn first?

Hiragana should be learned first.

what is the difference between Katakana and Hirgana?

@Msmagnificent
Katakana is for foreign words (i.e., names, etc) and hiragana is for words of japanese origin (i.e., chakuseki which means “sit”, would be spelled using the characters above, hiragana)

they’re both important, but when in Japan you’ll likely see more hiragana. alot of the time their mixed together which can cause confusion if you don’t know katakana.
like said before, hiragana is used for japanese originating words (watashi = I, shinbun = newspaper, denwa bango = phone number, etc..)
and katakana is used for foreign words (toide = toilet, tobaku = tobacco, etc…)

i’ve a question, on the list there are also shown kanji from which the characters originated, do we have to learn them?do people use it?

i’ve a question,like name banneza what character it means..

i speak japanese a littile bit!!!!you now the gifu city!!

I was going to use your website untill I noticed mistakes with your hiragana chart. Fu should be Hu. Wi and We should be in other sounds chart.

@anat167

You need to learn them only to the point of their pronunciation and what they mean. They no longer really hold meaning as to what they were derived for to hiragana. Since the “a” kanji is now used as part of many kanji/phrases - yasui (安い), anshin (安心）. I hope that makes it clear. Just learn the pure hiragana and kanji comes later.

@furanku Thanks for the comment. There are actually a few styles of romaji (the most common being the Revised Hepburn, Nihon, and Kunrei Romanization styles) and the chart above just shows one type. That’s actually why using romaji can be so tricky. Hope this helps to clarify what you’re seeing!

Enjoy your website, but just can’t get to it enough. This is a picky comment, but on your ” Learn Hiragana” page - you state “the hiragana is on the left” - while I am sure that you meant “in the middle”. Similar to how you said on “Learn Katakana`page.

Your webiste is quite well `constructed`& I am visiting whenever possible.

Thanx much

furanku :
I was going to use your website untill I noticed mistakes with your hiragana chart. Fu should be Hu. Wi and We should be in other sounds chart.

a few mistakes, so? this is a great site! it is one of the BEST and i mean BEST websites ive ever been to! This is JUST what i was looking for! im learning alot and my friends go Huh? everytime i say something Japanese! you guys rock! litsen to comments and fix the VERY little mistakes ur website has!
Yours Truly,
Caadori Husdon

ji is put twice the second one is suppose to be changed to di

@Gordon C.
it’s easiest to learn them bolth at the same time.if you try to learn them seperatly you will get confused because the characters make the same sounds.A good way to learn them together is to remember this: a i u e o ka ki ku ke ko sa shi su se so ta chi tsu te to na ni nu ne no ha hi fu ha ho ma mi mu me mo ya yu yo ra ri ru re ro wa wo n. that’s all the noises now you just have to learn the characters for them.a good way to do that is to go a(hiragana character)a(katakana character) and learn bolth two characters at once.

[quote]i’ve a question, on the list there are also shown kanji from which the characters originated, do we have to learn them?do people use it?[/quote]

Kanji it’s Chinese Simplified, one Kanji match word or number eg. 火 - fire, 八 - 8 , 六 - 6 , 日 - sun, day. You can read more on the wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji

Maybe I’m incorrect, but isn’t “ri” (リ) shown above the katakana form? The hiragana form is actually り.

is there a difference between ji from shi/し and ji from chi/ち ? ex. change the meaning of the word?

I’ve got a little question. The Kanji looks so hard to learn and I personaly think that the Hiragana is easier to learn. So the question is:
If I went to Japan, whould I see Kanji or Hiragana? Like in newspapers and resturants etc.
And it really is a great site! I’ve learned much here, so thank you very much ^__^

You would see both written together in the same sentences. Kanji is used heavily.If you have any wish of traveling to japan of reading japanese literature kanji is a must.@Mushii

@Przemek178

Kanji are not simplified Chinese characters, they are Chinese traditional characters. Only Chinese from the PRC use Chinese simplified. Everyone else (Taiwanese, Japanese, Koreans, etc) uses traditional.

Hey guys, love the website, and speekit, simply put, is awesome.
I was wondering how would I type the charactes for wi and we, because the IME software doesn’t register it as a character, but instead as ウィ・ウイ　　ゑ・ウェ…my God, i just figured it out. Thanks, anyway guys. Please continue updating the website. xxx

uuu cool .
i lovejapan

as someone who lives in japan and doesnt read kanji i will say that it’s not a must, but it is helpful. Most signs and things are hiragana and some katakana (but if you’re in Tokyo most things have English, too) so if you’re just visiting its not completely necessary to learn any. But i recommend Hiragana

There is such thing as “wi” and “we” now? I never learned that in my Japanese class. When did that happen?

So I just looked over this and I’m wondering why there are two “ji”s and “zu”s. Please respond.

nyaaaaa~!!
can’t understand kanji! what do you mean by the characters after hiragana? how do you compose words with kanji? o.o

Godess059, “we” and “wi” came before the rest of the alphabet.

For those confused about the fu and hu sound, you have to remember, the romaji are the closest sound they have for English speakers. They are really only there to help out none native speakers. The sound that character is suppose to make is somewhere in between the F and H sound. I dont know if it makes sense, but thats how I learned it. I’ve had luck with pronouncing the sounds thanks to my Spanish.

Japanese is so annoying they made it so complex

nandaka yoku wakaranai

nihongo de hanasu….

@ jim beam
in some ways your right(learning hiragna and katagana ect) but hiragana itself is easier than English, if you get the proper training.

but after that comment, I’m stuck with my JAP homework (and it’s very basic homework). I have to translate the romaji names to hiragana, but I’m having trouble with one question, wouriKKu, the two k’s really got me and I don’t know what to put in. Does anyone know about the double k’s.

wonderful resource!
@jim beam you think Japanese is hard? try working out all the rules for English! its hard enough for me and it’s my native language!

Thanks, this site has been very helpful…I lived for a short time in Yokosuka when I was young in the early 1970’s, spoke Nihon-go with the neighborhood kids and English at home. I took a class in college and the prof thought I was “sandbagging” her; I asked what she meant by that, and she replied that I already had nailed the hardest part of learning Japanese as an English-speaking adult; that being the sound, rhythm, tone and timber. I suppose it was something remembered, but not consciously. So if you get a chance and want to truly understand not just Japanese, but ANY non-native language, I’d suggest you go to a country where that particular language is used. My mom also hosted a few Japanese exchange students and truly enjoyed it…rock on, your site is awesome!!

Well, I just started learning japanese and it’s the hardest challenge I have faced in life. 4 days took me to memorize just the basic hiragana. Now I’m going to study here the rest of the hiragana mixes.

Very amazing resource, indeed. I’m going to be always a step forward at class.

its like saying what?
Take the Name of Japanese?

このサイトをありがとう！

@furanku
Hu and Fu are the same thing, my Japanese textbook uses the same symbol for “fu” that they do, and my Japanese professor (who is from japan) confirms it.
Also, Wi and We don’t have diacriticals or extra symbols, they’re just regular sounds that like nobody uses…

@Msmagnificent
Hiragana letters are rounded whereas Katakana letters are not.

Im a chinese and i understand the words that was originated from the hiragana. The only thing I can say is that the pronunciations are like Martian language and English… they are completely different…

If you actually understand chinese and a few chinese dialects and combining here and there, you can actually get Japanese
But not for all… So from my theory It would be much easier to learn japanese if you are an Asian

@Nicholas Bizaoui
I think that’s where you use a little tsu to get a double consonant sound.

i dont understand why there are two different symbols for each letter.
if i wanted to write NE would i use the one on the left or the one on the right?

hiragana, katakana en kanji zijn nodig om de taal volledig te begrijpen en te beheersen.@Msmagnificent

@Gordon C.
Hiragana is better for first lessons!

yeh, i don’t know how much japanese you speak but fu is right? theres no such sound as *hu*. im japanese myself and have never heard of it.@furanku

@furanku

This is not incorrect. It is supposed to be that way.

@Gordon C.
hiragana is the best to learn first because that is always used in Japan

can you suggest some technique on how i can easy remember the hiragana hehe

I have a question about “zu.” Tsu and su can both be used to make zu. I rarely ever see the version that uses tsu symbol though. Why is this?

Hiragana is probably first then katakana then kanji@Gordon C.