Japanese Hiragana Katakana For Beginners: Fir... [BETTER]

Japanese has 3 writing systems, all used together: hiragana, katakana and kanji. Japanese Hiragana & Katakana for Beginners helps newcomers learn how to use the first two systems' basic 92 characters to read, write and communicate. Memorable picture mnemonics connect each character to English words already familiar to you, which makes remembering easier.

Japanese Hiragana Katakana for Beginners: Fir...

This Japanese Youtuber gives free videos for JLPT preparations ranging from all levels. His lessons are pretty laidback and chill, and he even has some content dedicated to learning Japanese from anime. He has a dedicated playlist called the Writing Systems for introductions to all aspects of the Japanese writing system: hiragana, katakana and kanji.

myjapanese is a channel covering levels from beginner to advanced. The topics covered are hiragana, kanji, JLPT, and business Japanese. There are many informative videos and are all well narrated and explained in English. The channel posts a new video every week.

The modern Japanese writing system uses a combination of logographic kanji, which are adopted Chinese characters, and syllabic kana. Kana itself consists of a pair of syllabaries: hiragana, used primarily for native or naturalised Japanese words and grammatical elements; and katakana, used primarily for foreign words and names, loanwords, onomatopoeia, scientific names, and sometimes for emphasis. Almost all written Japanese sentences contain a mixture of kanji and kana. Because of this mixture of scripts, in addition to a large inventory of kanji characters, the Japanese writing system is considered to be one of the most complicated currently in use.[1][2]

In modern Japanese, the hiragana and katakana syllabaries each contain 46 basic characters, or 71 including diacritics. With one or two minor exceptions, each different sound in the Japanese language (that is, each different syllable, strictly each mora) corresponds to one character in each syllabary. Unlike kanji, these characters intrinsically represent sounds only; they convey meaning only as part of words. Hiragana and katakana characters also originally derive from Chinese characters, but they have been simplified and modified to such an extent that their origins are no longer visually obvious.

There is also some flexibility for words with common kanji renditions to be instead written in hiragana, depending on the individual author's preference (all Japanese words can be spelled out entirely in hiragana or katakana, even when they are normally written using kanji). Some words are colloquially written in hiragana and writing them in kanji might give them a more formal tone, while hiragana may impart a softer or more emotional feeling.[6] For example, the Japanese word kawaii, the Japanese equivalent of "cute", can be written entirely in hiragana as in かわいい, or with kanji as 可愛い.

Sentences are commonly written using a combination of all three Japanese scripts: kanji (in red), hiragana (in purple), and katakana (in orange), and in limited instances also includeLatin alphabet characters (in green) and Arabic numerals (in black):

All words in modern Japanese can be written using hiragana, katakana, and rōmaji, while only some have Kanji. Words that have no dedicated kanji may still be written with kanji by employing either ateji (like in man'yogana, から = 可良) or jukujikun, like in the title of とある科学の超電磁砲 (超電磁砲 being used to represent レールガン).

No full-fledged script for written Japanese existed until the development of man'yōgana (万葉仮名), which appropriated kanji for their phonetic value (derived from their Chinese readings) rather than their semantic value. Man'yōgana was initially used to record poetry, as in the Man'yōshū (万葉集), compiled sometime before 759, whence the writing system derives its name. Some scholars claim that man'yōgana originated from Baekje, but this hypothesis is denied by mainstream Japanese scholars.[9][10] The modern kana, namely hiragana and katakana, are simplifications and systemizations of man'yōgana.

In addition to attending their regular Japanese classes, children can complement their study by using apps. The first step for kids learning Japanese is to master hiragana and katakana, and later kanji. Although repeated handwriting of hiragana and katakana letters can still be used, using apps to support children learning is so much more fun. The experience of using apps is enhanced with lively animation and background music, transforming what used to be a bland activity into an engaging learning experience instead. Below we round up six educational apps that are useful for school children who are beginner learners of Japanese.

This FREE app is so simple yet so delightful. As the name of the app suggests, it enables users to learn hiragana and katakana by tracing the letter. There is an audio file for each of the letter. When users trace the letter correctly, a burst of stars will appear. As users progress, they will unlock new cute cursors to trace the letters in the form of a butterfly, a rocket, and so on, as a form of incentive. It is perfect for very beginner learners who are just starting to learn hiragana and katakana writing.

This is a FREE app that makes learning hiragana and katakana a game. The game mode allows users to choose to play in a practice mode or a game mode. In the practice mode, users simply trace the hiragana/katakana with their fingers. Stroke order and audio file are shown. Just follow the robo cursor to practice writing the letters. In the game mode, users compete with the robo cursor to quickly complete writing the hiragana/katakana. The only con with this app is you have to view a 5 second game ad before using the app each time.

This app is useful for students wanting to learn Japanese vocabularies. The Lite version is FREE and gives users access to four categories of vocabularies (animals, food & drinks, adjectives, actions). Users use flash cards containing cute cartoons to revise new vocabularies, complete with native speaker audio and the vocabularies written in hiragana, katakana, or kanji. The most interesting function of this app is that it enables you to create your own flash cards by taking a photo or choose from your photo album, write down the word (either in English for romaji or in Japanese if you have the Japanese language installed on your phone), and record your own voice. However, the flash cards are limited to 20 cards. For $1 fee, users get access to six more categories with a total of 300 vocabularies to learn in total and DIY flashcards.

Japan is a country located in East Asia in the Pacific Ocean.The island of Japan is a little smaller than the state of California, but astonishingly holds a population of approximately 128 million. The Japanese language consists of a complex system of casual, distal, and honorific styles reflecting the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, and the writing system employs three distinct styles: hiragana, katakana, and kanji (Chinese characters). At times, learning the Japanese language may be challenging, but students will be fascinated by the unique heritage and traditions of the Japanese culture and language.

Students interested in concentrating on Japanese language and culture may take up to 26 credit hours of Japanese language courses by selecting a major or minor in Asian Studies. Students will learn to read, speak, and write Japanese, including hiragana, katakana, and a few hundred kanji characters. Students also have the opportunity to study abroad for one or two semesters in exchange programs at one of two Japanese Universities during their undergraduate studies. Some of our graduates have acquired teaching positions in various language schools in Japan, and others have participated in the Japanese government-sponsored JET program.

Let's start by saying that not all words follow this rule. According to Japanese Wikipedia, a number of words are written in katakana but with doubled vowels, as if they were written in hiragana (in which they can be equally well written):

In Japanese Splatoon media, Inkling language is represented through regular Japanese, while Octarian speech is written entirely in katakana. In Japanese media, a character's dialogue being written with katakana can imply a foreign accent or language of some sort. When Callie is brainwashed, her speech is entirely in katakana, showing that she may be speaking Octarian. Marina occasionally slips into speaking Octarian; detailed in The Art of Splatoon 2. Off the Hook's songs are bilingual, with both Pearl and Marina singing portions in Octarian. They mostly sing in their respective languages, but there are times when Pearl sings with Marina in Octarian, even if her lyrics are still written in hiragana. An Inkling's experience listening to them has been compared to Japanese people listening to English-language songs without an understanding of the language, but an appreciation of the melody.[5]

Anyway, normal Japanese writing uses a nice mix of its three writing systems. There are even professional guidelines that prescribe how much hiragana, katakana, and kanji any given sentence should ideally have.

Katakana, like hiragana, only has about 50 characters and can be used to write every word in the Japanese language. Many early developers chose to write everything in katakana. In fact, it seems katakana-only games far outnumbered hiragana-only games.

Japanese characters, which include hiragana, katakana, and kanji, are brand new scripts for most Japanese learners. At first, you can rely on romaji (the romanization of Japanese) to help you pronounce a word. But that's not the ideal way to perfect your Japanese pronunciation in the long run.

The best way to master your pronunciation is to learn the Japanese alphabet- hiragana & katakana. It can be challenging and frustrating in the beginning, but once you have an idea of how the Japanese characters work, you can then proceed to further your knowledge of the language by acquiring essential words and phrases for practical application. And we've found 5 great apps that will help you learn and memorize the Japanese characters more easily. 041b061a72