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Let’s Get Ready For Learning Japanese!

Let’s get started with your Japanese learning journey.

First and foremost, we need to be able to read the Japanese characters!

In Japanese, we have 3 different types of scripts: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji.

We call the Hiragana and Katakana characters “仮名 /kana/” which is the system of the Japanese syllabic writing. One kana character shows one sound.

First, we are going to look at how to read the Hiragana and Katakana characters and how to pronounce them.

It may seem a lot to memorise all the characters at first, but once you learn them, they will also help you read the Chinese characters (漢字 /kanji/) later, as kanji characters will be accompanied by furigana (phonetic guide in kana) on this website!

Good luck ☺︎

Japanese Scripts

ひらがな

Hiragana are syllabic characters. There are 46 characters in total. Hiragana characters are used to write 1: okurigana, which is kana added to a Chinese character to form a word, 2: grammatical part of speech such as particles. They are written in a cursive and flowing style.

カタカナ

Katakana are also syllabic characters and there are 46 of them like Hiragana. Katakana characters are used to write loanwords, which have become a part of the Japanese language. They are written in an angular and straight style.

漢字

Kanji (Chinese character) are ideograms that were adopted from ancient China. There are around 2000 to 3000 kanji characters for daily use. Kanji characters have two reading systems – kun-yomi, the Japanese style reading, and on-yomi, the Chinese style reading.

Japanese Vowels

There are 5 vowels in Japanese.

The Japanese Kana Syllabary

Hiragana / Katakana

Vowels		A		I		U		E		O
		あ / ア		い / イ		う / ウ		え / エ		お / オ
Unvoiced Consonants	K	か / カ		き / キ		く / ク		け / ケ		こ / コ
	S	さ / サ		し / シ		す / ス		せ / セ		そ / ソ
	T	た / タ		ち / チ		つ / ツ		て / テ		と / ト
	N	な / ナ		に / ニ		ぬ / ヌ		ね / ネ		の / ノ
	H	は / ハ		ひ / ヒ		ふ / フ		へ / ヘ		ほ / ホ
	M	ま / マ		み / ミ		む / ム		め / メ		も / モ
	Y	や / ヤ				ゆ / ユ				よ / ヨ
	R	ら / ラ		り / リ		る / ル		れ / レ		ろ / ロ
	W	わ / ワ								を / ヲ
		ん / ン
Voiced Consonants	G	が / ガ		ぎ / ギ		ぐ / グ		げ / ゲ		ご / ゴ
	Z	ざ / ザ		じ / ジ		ず / ズ		ぜ / ゼ		ぞ / ゾ
	D	だ / ダ		ぢ / ヂ		づ / ヅ		で / デ		ど / ド
	B	ば / バ		び / ビ		ぶ / ブ		べ / べ		ぼ / ボ
Semi-voiced Consonants	P	ぱ / パ		ぴ / ピ		ぷ / プ		ぺ / ぺ		ぽ / ポ
Contracted Consonants	KY	きゃ / キャ				きゅ / キュ				きょ / キョ
	SH	しゃ / シャ				しゅ / シュ				しょ / ショ
	CH	ちゃ / チャ				ちゅ / チュ				ちょ / チョ
	NY	にゃ / ニャ				にゅ / ニュ				にょ / ニョ
	HY	ひゃ / ヒャ				ひゅ / ヒュ				ひょ / ヒョ
	MY	みゃ / ミャ				みゅ / ミュ				みょ / ミョ
	GY	ぎゃ / ギャ				ぎゅ / ギュ				ぎょ / ギョ
	BY	びゃ / ビャ				びゅ / ビュ				びょ / ビョ
	PY	ぴゃ / ピャ				ぴゅ / ピュ				びょ / ピョ

Brief Introduction to Kanji

As you saw earlier, there are roughly 2000 to 3000 kanji characters that are regularly used in day-to-day life. Most of the time, each Kanji character has two different reading systems: kun-yomi and on-yomi.

Kun-yomi（訓読み）is a reading style of native Japanese for Kanji. Normally, a word in kun-yomi stands alone, or if it’s a verb, a word consists of one kanji and okurigana (kana added to a Chinese character to form a word).

Examples:
港みなと Port｜橋はし Bridge｜手て Hand
話はなす To talk｜食たべる To eat｜読よむ To read

On-yomi（音読み）is a reading style with the Chinese origin for Kanji. Normally, a word in on-yomi consists of two or more Kanji characters.

Examples:
会話かいわ Conversation｜食事しょくじ Meals｜読書どくしょ Reading
※Turn these words into verbs by adding “する”
会話かいわする To have a conversation｜食事しょくじする To have a meal｜読書どくしょする To read a book

Glossary – Dictionary form, Plain form, and Polite form

Dictionary form

The dictionary form is the form of a word that you would find listed in a dictionary. It is the most basic form of the words and is used as the base from which other conjugations are derived.

Plain form

Plain forms include dictionary from, simple negative form (nai-form), simple past tense (ta-form), and simple past negative form (nakatta-form).

Polite form

The polite form, also known as the “desu/masu” form, is used to show respect and politeness. This form is commonly used in formal settings, with people of higher status or older, or when speaking to someone you do not know well.

Are you ready?

Ok, enough for the introduction! Let’s get started!