![]() Where English letters represent sounds, kanji characters each represent a word - or if not a word, then at least a meaningful unit of language, such as a syllable. Unlike the letters in the English alphabet, kanji look more like pictures. They might have changed a little from their Chinese counterparts, but kanji are still used in Japanese today.Įvery kanji character has a meaning. ![]() When the Japanese first wrote down their language many centuries ago, they borrowed characters from the Chinese language. You can already pronounce all 46 of these characters, since they have the exact same sounds as hiragana! The characters are read from left to right, beginning from the top row. The 46 katakana characters are shown in the same "alphabetical" or "dictionary" order below. Nearly every other syllable consists of a consonant and one of these vowels, so as long as you can distinguish these five clearly, you’ll be alright! Let's give them a try: Japanese pronunciation is easy! The most important pronunciations are those of the five vowels: あ (a), い (i), う (u), え (e), and お (o). The 46 hiragana characters are shown in the table below in "alphabetical" or "dictionary order." In this table, the characters are read from left to right, beginning from the top row. However, the alphabetical order in Japanese is quite different. In Japanese dictionaries, entries are placed in alphabetical order - just like in English. Rōmaji is read the same way as you would read a text in English of course, you'll be needing the Japanese pronunciation though! Hiragana Syllables Rōmaji is the romanization of Japanese words using Latin script - that is, the same letters that we use in English. While you're still familiarizing yourself with hiragana and katakana, it might help to take a look at the rōmaji. Since these two alphabets are phonetic, anything you can say in Japanese, you can write down using these characters. Katakana, on the other hand, is mainly reserved for foreign names and loan words. ![]() Hiragana is used in nearly every Japanese sentence, in conjunction with kanji. The hiragana and katakana alphabets both have 46 basic characters and share the same sounds. Each character of the phonetic alphabet represents a syllable (a unit of sound). These were invented to better fit the Japanese language, instead of depending on the Chinese characters (kanji), alone. Japanese has two phonetic alphabets known as hiragana and katakana. Pronunciation of the Japanese Alphabet Hiragana ひらがな and Katakana カタカナ
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