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Sep 29, 2019 · The first, on’yomi (sound reading), is based on the Chinese reading, and kun’yomi (meaning reading) is based on the native Japanese reading. On’yomi is the modern version of the Japanese approximation of the Chinese pronunciation of the character at the time it was first translated.
For anyone learning Japanese, you won’t get far without learning the “alphabet”. In this guide, I’ll explain the Japanese “alphabet” (quotes intended) for you by breaking down the 3 writing systems and how they work.
Sep 14, 2024 · So, what is the alphabet/syllabary of Japanese? Japanese uses “kana” to represent sounds. Even kanji can always be re-written as kana to show their pronunciation. In modern Japanese there are two separate (but strongly related) syllabaries that make up the kana. One is called hiragana and the other is called katakana.
Aug 6, 2016 · It's simply a standard way of writing the Japanese "alphabet" using Latin alphabet characters. A process called transliteration, or romanization in this case. To have an idea, the English word "ice" loaned into Japanese becomes aisu アイス.
- Romaji. Is Romaji English? Romaji (ローマ字) is a writing system that is a romanization of the Japanese language. It is basically a way to express Japanese writing using the Latin alphabet.
- Kana. What is Kana? Kana is simply a word for both – Hiragana and Katakana. So, if someone asks, “do you know all of the Kana?” They’re asking you if you know both Hiragana and Katakana.
- Hiragana. Hiragana (平仮名) is a type of Japanese writing system. How many Hiragana are there? There are 46 “letters” or characters in total. But unlike our alphabet where one letter represents one sound, each Hiragana character or “letter” represents a syllable.
- Katakana. Katakana is another type of Japanese alphabet that represents the Japanese syllables. It’s said that the origin of these characters come from fragmented versions of Chinese characters.
May 19, 2022 · The Japanese alphabet is called a “syllabary,” or “syllabic script.” That’s because each “letter” in Japanese represents a whole syllable in English. There are two main ways the characters represent syllables: as a sole vowel and as a consonant with a vowel.
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Dec 13, 2022 · Hiragana is used to depict the pronunciation of words, while kanji is used to convey the meaning of a word. For example, take the kanji characters 花 and 鼻. Both of these are pronounced はな (hana).
