What Kind Of Japanese Is Used In Anime

Hiragana vs Katakana: What'south the Difference?

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Struggling to grasp how to write in Japanese? Information technology's non as difficult as it seems!

Sure, hiragana and katakana, two of the key systems in Japanese writing, wait so foreign and intimidating, just they can actually exist quite simple. The characters don't represent unique meanings the manner Chinese characters practice. They're more like a Japanese alphabet. And they have some helpful advantages that brand learning Japanese characters easier.

All you need is a quick breakup of the Japanese writing system, and some useful mnemonics — and I'k about to requite you both of these.

Are y'all ready to rock your Japanese language learning skills? Let's go!

How to Make Sense of Japanese Writing — Information technology's the Aforementioned as English language (Well, Almost)

Believe it or not, Japanese and English writing take something in common. Excluding kanji which comes from Communist china, Japanese has ii native writing styles — hiragana and katakana. Together they're known every bit kana. In other words, hiragana and katakana are ii different ways to write the same thing.

English also has 2 writing systems that read the same way: print and cursive. Whether you write A or A, information technology's yet the same letter. But how nosotros employ them is different. The same is true for writing and reading in Japanese. Information technology doesn't thing if information technology'southward hiragana or katakana, they both stand for the same sound and graphic symbol.

Hiragana vs Katakana: What's the Difference?

Then, so, what's the difference between hiragana vs katakana?

Hiragana is the almost commonly used, standard form of Japanese writing. It's used on its own or in conjunction with kanji to grade words, and it'southward the starting time course of Japanese writing that children larn.

Written on its ain and without kanji, it'south a chip difficult to read and kid-similar, and tin simply be read with some attempt. But, it's fine to write in only hiragana if you are a beginner learner.

Japanese people can nevertheless understand, and they know kanji's difficult for 外国人 (gaikokujin – "foreigners"). Most children'southward books, and even some video games like Pokémon, are but written in hiragana.

Hiragana is curly like English cursive, simply it functions more like impress — it's used more for easy reading. It'south the standard mode to write for clarity and understanding.

Katakana, on the other manus, is more similar print in its appearance: more than block-ish and sharp. Just information technology's used to signal to the reader that a discussion is foreign, adapted to Japanese from another linguistic communication. It's as well used for emphasis, and onomatopoeia. You may also notice some brands and celebrities write their names in katakana every bit a stylistic selection.

You may call back, and so, that it'south virtually of import to acquire hiragana and that you tin slack off on katakana — only that would exist a myth. The number of Japanese loan words from other languages continues to abound every twelvemonth. You lot'll see a lot more words written in katakana on a daily basis. And onomatopoeia is ridiculously common in daily spoken language and writing — non just in まんが (manga – "comic books"). Then make sure y'all larn them both!

Reading and Understanding Hiragana vs Katakana

The all-time matter about reading in Japanese is that hiragana and katakana are phonetic, meaning they're always read the same. Menstruation. Unlike English, where the letters can have many different pronunciations, the Japanese alphabet is always read exactly the aforementioned. Even when put together in words, they never modify. Kanji readings will change (something to look frontwards to when yous advance!), but not kana.

So if y'all recollect Japanese symbols are impossible to learn, conduct in mind that they're a lot easier than learning English language, considering English has then many inconsistencies in pronunciation.

Something else helpful to know: katakana well-nigh ever sounds similar a word you know. Yous already know manner more than vocabulary in Japanese than you think! Then if y'all meet katakana, you can sound it out and effigy out the meaning with very petty guesswork. Like オレンジジュース (orenjijūsu – "Orange Juice"). Some words are taken from Portuguese, French, and other languages as well English language, but they're still always written in katakana. Such equally パン (pan – "breadstuff"), and ズボン (zubon – "pants").

Hiragana vs Katakana Chart

Here'southward a helpful chart to assistance you learn hiragana and katakana (I'll explain how to use the chart in a moment):

HIRAGANA

		M	S	T	N	H	G	Y	R	Westward	N
A	あ	か	さ	た	な	は	ま	や	ら	わ
I	い	き	し	ち	に	ひ	み		り
U	う	く	す	つ	ぬ	ふ	む	ゆ	る
Eastward	え	け	せ	て	ね	へ	め		れ
O	お	こ	そ	と	の	ほ	も	よ	ろ	を

KATAKANA

		K	Southward	T	N	H	One thousand	Y	R	W	N
A	ア	カ	サ	タ	ナ	ハ	マ	ヤ	ラ	ワ
I	イ	キ	シ	チ	ニ	ヒ	ミ		リ
U	ウ	ク	ス	ツ	ヌ	フ	ム	ユ	ル
E	エ	ケ	セ	テ	ネ	ヘ	メ		レ
O	オ	コ	ソ	ト	ノ	ホ	モ	ヨ	ロ	ヲ

How to Read in Japanese: Sounding Out Hiragana and Katakana (With a Breakdown of Sounds)

The Japanese alphabet is broken down into rows and columns, as pictured in the chart above. The vertical cavalcade marks the vowel, and the horizontal row marks the consonant sound. As well the singular vowel sounds, all Japanese characters will have a consonant and vowel, except for ん ("n" or "m").

Accept a look at the chart. You lot have a cavalcade for each vowel audio: あ / ア (a), い / イ (i), う / ウ (u), え / エ (east), お / オ (o). And so the first row on the horizontal line is the "Grand" row. So the characters are か / カ, き / キ, く / ク, け / ケ, こ / コ (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko). It's a good idea to memorize this chart because when you lot get to grammar conjugation, information technology helps simplify how you change the words to conjugate.

Let's break down the sounds:

• あ: "ah", like "Ahhhhhh," with an open oral cavity.
• い: "ee," like "bee."
• う: "oo," like "tooth."
• え: "eh," like "1000edicine."
• お: "oh," like the alphabetic character "O"

So then the adjacent row reads similar:

• か: "kah," like "cat."
• き: "kee," like "key."
• く: "koo," similar "coo," the sound a infant makes.
• け: "keh," similar "kettle."
• こ: "koh," similar "Coca-cola."

Let's try it again with the next row:

• さ: "sah."
• し: "shi."
• す: "soo"
• せ: "seh"
• そ: "soh"

You lot can see in the S-row, that there is i irregular – し ("shi"). There are only a few other irregulars, such as ち ("chi"), つ ("tsu"), ふ ("fu"), and ん ("northward" or "m"). Only nigh are straight-forward. So if you acquire the vowel audio and memorize the rows, you can read the whole sound.

Subsequently yous learn this standard course, you'll notice some have actress sounds. Past calculation characters from the Y-row, や, ゆ, よ, y'all make new sounds. Like: しゃ ("sha") ちゃ ("cha"), なゃ ("nya"), ちゅ ("chu") and ちょ ("cho"). When the Y-characters are added to others, they are written smaller and create a conjunctive sound. Kind of like how "I have" becomes "I've." And so, instead of maxim とうきょ う every bit "Toe-primal-yoh," it's "Toh-kyo."

Characters also change with dakuten (ﾞ), two small lines, and handakuten (ﾟ), a small circle. This sounds complicated, but it'south actually not. By adding the dakuten and handakuten, it changes the consonant slightly. Let'southward take a wait:

• か (kah) becomes が (gah)
• し (shi) becomes じ (ji)
• そ (soh) becomes ぞ (zoh)
• つ (tsu) becomes づ (zu)
• て (te) becomes で (de)
• へ (he) becomes べ (be)
• へ (he) becomes ぺ (pe)

Only M, Southward, T, and H rows use these characters. When they utilise dakuten, they become G, Z, D, and B, respectively. H is the only row that uses handakuten, and it becomes P when the small circle is added.

With dakuten:

• K → G
• S → Z
• T → D
• H → B

With handakuten:

• H → P

At that place are a couple irregulars here too: じ: "ji," ぢ: "ji," and づ: "zu." Although ず ("zu") and づ ("zu"), and じ ("ji") and ぢ ("ji") have the aforementioned meanings, information technology's near common to see ず and じ.

Noodles and Keys! How to Become a Retention Master of Kana

To assist memorize the kana, it's best to use mnemonics — which means seeing each symbol as a moving picture. A friend once shared the mnemonics she learned in high schoolhouse with me, and they immediately helped me memorize the kana. I've never forgotten them since!

Some examples:

ぬ: "Nu" for "noodle." Information technology looks similar a squiggly pile of noodles!

め: "Me" for "medal." Information technology looks like a medal with the ribbon around it to hang effectually your neck

れ: "Re" for "Ret'southward go out of here!" Picture Scooby Doo and the Gang running off, considering it looks like a person dashing off.

む: "Mu" for "Moooooo," similar a cow. It looks like a cow's face, with the swirl existence its nose! (Especially if you've always seen the cow designs in Animal Crossing.)

あ: "A" for "Ahhhhhhh." Someone'due south mouth is wide open! (Maybe at the dentist.)

き: "Ki" for "Fundamental." Information technology looks like an old-fashioned key.

け: "Ke" for "Pikestaff." It looks like a stick-effigy onetime man using his walking cane!

そ: "So" for "Sewing." It looks like a zig-zag sew together in a sewing pattern.

と: "To" for "Toe." It looks like a big toe and toenail.

へ: "He" for "Hill." Information technology looks like a pocket-size hill.

に: "Ni" for "Articulatio genus." Information technology looks like your leg and knee!

Yeah, it may be silly. Only it helps! And that's all that matters. Create your ain, or attempt some of these. Yous'd exist surprised how they stick with you. I learned this listing near 12 years agone!

The crazier and more vibrantly you tin can associate them in your listen, the easier information technology will be to memorize them. The same is true when yous move on to kanji memorization.

Tips for Hiragana and Katakana Practice

Honestly, the best tip is to write it out as much equally you lot can. Whenever I was bored (ordinarily in higher classes…), I would brand a box and mark information technology vertically with the consonants, and horizontally with the vowels. Then I would fill in all the spots with the right hiragana and katakana. I'd double check them after, only any blank spots let me know which ones I was having trouble with.

Yous could too practice Japanese writing, and write right to left, and vertically. It'southward a challenge to get used to, merely information technology looks so elegant!

At that place are also tons of easy reading resources to larn Japanese and go exercise reading hiragana and katakana. You lot can exercise in kana-only fashion on games like Pokémon, read NHK News Easy or Kodomo Asahi. Any reading and writing practice you tin can do will help amend your hiragana vs katakana agreement!

At present Become Out and Kana On!

Don't let a strange writing organization concur you back! Learn how to practice the 4 pillars of linguistic communication learning, and it volition go easier. Learning hiragana vs katakana isn't as bad every bit it first appears, and I know y'all can do it!

How are your Japanese studies going? Do you take some keen tips or mnemonics to learn hiragana and katakana? I'd dearest to hear from you in the comments!

Caitlin Sacasas

Content Writer, Fluent in 3 Months

Caitlin is a content creator, fitness trainer, zero waster, language lover, and Star Wars nerd. She blogs most fettle and sustainability at Rebel Middle Dazzler.

Speaks: English, Japanese, Korean, Castilian

View all posts by Caitlin Sacasas

Source: https://www.fluentin3months.com/hiragana-vs-katakana/

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