i am so confused which alphabet is used most and when your writing something do you use all the letters or some of them and if there is 3 different alphabets are they all together or what i cant learn to read or speak japanese if i dont know what the letters are and which ones im supposed to be using i just dont get and i just cant seem to learn im trying to learn my 5th language and i cant learn this one its just TO HARD!!!!!!! hElP mE!^_^

@sayaka
Great question, sayaka. You’re definitely not alone. I know a lot of people who get confused by the 3 Japanese alphabets.

Strictly speaking, hiragana is your most basic alphabet. It’s the first alphabet that Japanese children learn, and the first alphabet we’d learn if you or I took a beginner Japanese course. Technically, you can spell all the words in the Japanese language using this alphabet. Unfortunately for us learners of Japanese, everything *isn’t* written in hiragana.

Katakana is a copy of hiragana, except with different letters. In other words, there is a katakana for every hiragana and vice versa. So you’re probably thinking, “why have 2 alphabets with the same sounds and different symbols??” Well, the katakana alphabet is mainly used to write borrowed words from foreign languages and distinguish them from standard Japanese words.

For example, the Japanese word for “bus” is “basu.” The two sound similar right? That’s because they “borrowed” the word “bus” from English and made it Japanese. So, instead of writing it as ばす (hiragana), they write it as バス (katakana) to differentiate it from ordinary Japanese words. It’s easy to tell the difference between the two alphabets because hiragana looks more rounded and smooth, whereas katakana look more rigid with lots of short, straight strokes.

Last, but not least, there’s kanji. Kanji are actually a subset of Chinese characters. The Japanese use kanji to help convey meaning and to make it easier to read written text (…unfortunately, it sometimes makes it harder for us non-native people to learn!)

Here’s an example:

明日、動物園に行かない? (Sentence using hiragana & kanji) vs.
あした、どうぶつえんにいかない？ (Same sentence with only hiragana)

As you can see, it’s easier to tell where one word starts and another ends and easier to scan the sentence (assuming you know what the kanji means)

Here’s an example of where Kanji can be useful for meaning:

All of the following words say “toru” but each have a different meaning:
とる (hiragana…it can mean a number of things!)
撮る (to take a picture)
取る (to take something/pick something up)
盗る (to steal something)

As tough as it is to learn, kanji is very important to the Japanese language useful for the above reasons.

To learn to completely read Japanese, you will unfortunately need to learn all 3 alphabets. Sounds overwhelming, I know, but stick to it and in time I know you’ll learn to get it!

Start with hiragana because that will give you a good foundation and make it easy to pick up katakana. It’s like a 2 for 1. Kanji is a struggle for almost everyone learning Japanese, so it will take longer to master. Set some realistic goals for yourself and get as much exposure to Japanese as possible. Personally, I’ve found that learning by immersion has been the most effective and quick way to learn Japanese!

Wow…sorry for the long post!

Hope this helps & good luck!!

0_o … and I thought that my language (Polish)is difficult

hi my god how do i know how to make symbols from kanji &hiragana

Well the japanese have it tough but then again there born in an enviorment that uses it more than anywhere else im guessing, its almost like learning english for someone whos born in a family and goes into an enviorment that uses that language (this being english) they are bound to understand it in a heartbeat. Or I could be wrong and it just takes practice

Where can I find the kanji characters for “Mens Room” and “Womens Room”?

hi i wanted to know the japanese kanji symboles for
samuari
love
courage
devotion
patience
honesty
thank you!

its quite impresive , you people out there can memorixe and use those letters. is it more easier to write or speak?

Arrgghh I have just started learning japanese and I have a small question..:What should I learn first?Speaking or Writing?:S

you are so beautiful kevin!!!!!!!!!!! kireiiii!!!

i want to learn English, who can teach me?i am Chinese.

@sayaka
The most commonly used alphabet is kanji, katakana is used for foreign words & names, and hiragana is used as all the words which there are no kanji for, or sometimes the hiragana translation (or romaji) of the kanji is writen above or next to the kanji to make it easier for people who dont know kanji well like kids or foreigners

thanks now i can write kanji perfectly. also its not hard at all.

Hi thanks for the nice informations you gave.I’ve got a question ,for a foraigner is it easier to learn japanese or chinese????

Kevin help i got this Japanes game Mother 3 and i dont understand then i go to the Nintendo Japan website and more Kanji!

I’d like to learn the kanji simbol for “sea” or “ocean”.

thank you!

ooooh my god

it is hard to learn … but easy to speak ^_^

I love this language … how can I learn??

with my respect,
Emy

I have an old military pin and need to know what it says - or if is even Japanese. It has two symbols: the first looks like a person running to the left with a detached head swoosh, the second resembles a 4 or a capitol A. I’d be happy to send a picture. Thanks, Peggy

so basically kanji is Chinese characters? I noticed the numbers are written the same in Japanese and in Chinese, they are just said differently.

yo arron,yo kev
i got your podcasts and i just have 2 say; you both would be so kool to hang with, so funny loool. i watch certain parts over and over again lol.

japanese is so kool
also thank you both for helping me through the understanding of hand gestures and the culture of the japanese people, you both have inspired me.

from a young man to two kool men
hope you both are well:)
GOD BLESS

nataly :hi i wanted to know the japanese kanji symboles forsamuarilovecouragedevotionpatiencehonestythank you!

i know some of the words in japanese:)

@kenny its hard to speak and its alot harder to write

Aaron :@yuuki-chanHi Yuuki-chan! It really depends on what your goals are. If your primary goal is to be able to read books, comics, etc. then you might be better off starting with learning to read/write (Hiragana, then Katakana, then Kanji in my opinion). If on the other hand, your primary interests lay in traveling, making friends, or watch TV, then learning to understand and speak in conversation will be more important to learn first.
Generally speaking, I think it takes a lot more time to learn the alphabets than it does to get a basic grasp of spoken Japanese, but don’t let that deter you if your interest is in reading/writing. Also, learning to read and write will greatly help your ability to speak and understand the culture on a deep level. Hope this helps!
Aaron

im new here and im kenny lewis

naruto :hi my god how do i know how to make symbols from kanji &hiragana

who’s naruto

So how much did white elephant pay you two to do that. A professional job on the advertising!, ‘cept for one thing…. WHERE DO YOU BUY THEM?

To you learn completely read Japanese, you will unfortunately need to learn all 3 alphabets. Sounds overwhelming, but stick to it and in time I know you’ll learn to get it!

Chinese is WAY harder than japanese. The pronounciation is more difficult to master than Japanese I think.But I guess it is easier to memorize Chinese characters…@Ada

@AJ
If you want to know the translation to specific kanji, you can go to google translator.

can someone pleaaase tell me the difference between kou and gakkou?? I been trying to find that out, and I just can find anything…… look at this link
http://japanese.about.com/library/blkod23.htm
on top it shows the kanji for school as kou, but on the botton, it shows the kanji of kou+gak… and both of them kou and gakkou are translate as the same thing. Can you also give examples on when to use kou or gakkou?
Thanks

@amado
True…. Thats really Great !!!!

Hey me again been awhile, new question about kanji, after getting more and more into writing it I seem to have caught a snag in my writing it’s not the strokes that caught me it’s that when i write the kanji it comes out way too sloppy to even read. I don’t mean the easy ones like ichi, ni, yama, or even writing Japan, I’m talking more about the ones with a lot of lines like for instance the one in the list “airplane” it has quite a bit of lines to write and if I were to write that it would seem illegable, and scrunched up therefore making it even more illegable. I guess my question is, is there an easier way to write kanji or even a tip when writing it?

@kenny
i think inow you

How many Kanji at least I have to remember in order to be able reading and wrinting japanese sentences??
Because there are so many kanji out there..shikatanai ne..
Nani ka Tasukete kudasai

Please, por favor, se alguém puder me auxiliar agradeço muito. Gostaria que alguém me enviasse uma escrita em japonês (fudegaki) as letras Oonishi, em kanji.

Muito grato.

hey,

i have learnt the hirigana alpahbet, but i am really struggling with the kanji. im learning jap as a hobbie… and i dont really want to spend too much money.. any ideas of how i can learn kanji!?!?

Wow, this is a lot easier than I thought o.o I already know Chinese kanji and I thought Japanese would be totally different, but some of the characters mean the same xD like the numbers.

google translator is great but sometimes there are so many errors on the translation ,”:

hi i am getting a tattoo of the cancer ribbon with flowers and want the japenese signs for. Health, happiness,love, family. because thats what helps me fight and win this cancer…

Hi. I just learned how to read/write Hiragana and Katakana but I dont know what the words mean! I can just read it phoneticly, should I stop everything i’m doing and start to actually understand how to speak Japanese?

whats the best thing to do read and write kanji?

Hi, I have a Tip for all you would be students of the Japanese language this really helped me speed things up, you can use it on your smart phone in Google as well,Learning the words for the most part is easy, the hard part comes with association, but theres a simple way to find any kanji once you have at least hiragana down or can at least find your way through it with a cheat sheet, just switch over to Hiragana input on your puter and when you type the word in hiragana hit the space bar and it will convert over to the equivalent kanji, example, you know the word for teacher in Japanese is “sensei” so type it in hiragana “せんせい” now just tap the space-bar after the last character and you end up with the Kanji “先生” too easy right? good luck and work hard or dont bother wasting your time xD <3

Hi iam a japanese student here in Uganda. how will i be able to perfect it yet i have not people to speak it

wow so similar to chinese

English is the hardest second language in the word so Japanese isn’t that hard to me. kanji is the same as Chinese kanji

I’m 16+ years old. I love Japanese becouse it’s my faviroute LANGUAGE. But, KANJI is too dificullte know……… what can i do for this????
Please tell me. I love study at JAPAN but KANJI???????????

Hi, I love Japan and the Jap Language, but really Kanji is really hard for me to understand.

Is there any way for me to learn a simple or basic type of kanji?

Thank you so much for this! I havent already been this delighted by a blog for any long time period! You’ve got got it, what ever which means within blogging. Anyway, You’re definitely a person that has some thing to express that people really should hear. Keep up the outstanding work. Keep on inspiring the individuals!

WOW! I am learning Japanese in my high school(11th grade, junior) and I can read almost 80% of the kanji! yay!

kanji is really hard to learn! most kanji looks like the actual meaning. for example(look up at the kanji that they showed above)yama, which means mountain, kind of looks like a mountain. and river also looks somewhat like a river. It’s easier if you take a class to learn japanese. hope that helps! @Eunice

I just want to write somthing to help you all. I’ve been learning Japanese for around two years now and have enjoyed every moment of it. I have very little accademic talent and left school with few qualifications. I find it hard to learn. But, one thing I do have have is determination and I never give up! I’m just a painter and decorator. I wish I had found this concept two years ago!Japanese is hard…yes! But, if I can do it anyone can! Ganbare!

Ganbare Nihon Ganbare Tohoku. Kosai no aite ga ichinoseki ni sunde imasu. Ganbare Iwate.

Ryan

honestly,i love to learn japanese language.But it is a bit hard than other language.I always confuse about hiragana and katakana alphabet..

@kevin

Thanks for that, I read all of your long post…it cleard things up for me ^.^ thanks.