Learn Japanese • By Hikaru Takanashi •
Discover The 3 Japanese Alphabets 😲 How Do They Work Together? Why Three?!
DID YOU KNOW – the Japanese Alphabet is not just a series of letters/characters like in English or Cyrillic… why? Because there are actually 3 Japanese Alphabets.
That’s right, way to start off with a head spinning fact on your road to learning Japanese, but don’t worry it’s not as crazy as it seems.
Today we learn about the 3 Japanese Alphabets, why there are 3 and how they work together.
KEY POINT – Japan’s Alphabets are:
- Hiragana
- Katakana
- Kanji
Anyway, let’s rewind… In the language learning process, what people learn at the very beginning is the alphabet.
The English alphabet has 26 letters, Spanish has 27 and Cyrillic has 33.
The Japanese Alphabet is a little bit more complicated than most western languages, because it has 3 types of alphabet. Hiragana & Katakana have 46 letters, but Kanji has thousands!
It sounds confusing but hopefully after reading this article you can understand why, and even differentiate between them already.
The differences of those alphabets are so clear that it is not as hard as many people think.
Let’s dive in and give some basic introductions to the Japanese Alphabet.
Japanese Alphabet – Hiragana
Japanese Alphabet – Katakana
Japanese Alphabet – Kanji
Japanese Alphabet – FAQ’s
Japanese Alphabet – Hiragana
First of all lets talk about Hiragana (ひらがな), which is the most basic alphabet of the Japanese language.
Hiragana consists of 46 letters and some combined letters/additional sounds such as ちゃ,しょ,きゃ etc.
Every letter is unique with many curved lines, which make a sentence look like a flowing river.
Hiragana was created during the 9th century in a noble society, mainly for describing something informal, or telling stories.
While men would serve at the court, a whole host of literature was produced by female novelists and poets, and many of them are still read today.
The reason why it is regarded as the basic alphabet, is because everything can be described in Hiragana. This is not true of the other two alphabets.
Japanese elementary school education starts with learning Hiragana because every word, phrase, and sentence written in Hiragana makes sense without the need for using the other two alphabets.
Hiragana and Kanji cannot claim the same thing, making Hiragana the most important Japanese Alphabet in theory.
A Kanji for example can also be written in Hiragana, but we’ll come to that later!
For foreign learners, learning Hiragana is the simplest, most useful introduction to gain a basic understanding of the Japanese language.
WANT TO DISCOVER OUR TOP TIPS FOR LEARNING HIRAGANA? We have provided a list of surefire ways to win at Hiragana with a bonus free quiz in our “How to learn Hiragana” article.
Japanese Alphabet – Katakana
Katakana (カタカナ) is the 2nd Japanese alphabet which we’ll look at.
It is fairly similar to Hiragana but only used in particular situations.
The number of letters in Katakana is 46. This is the same as Hiragana as the same sounds are represented, but just written in different ways.
This is exactly same as Hiragana, and many letters look similar (such as か and カ), in fact one them has exactly same shape (へ)…!
This letter was actually created in the same era as Hiragana, but mainly used by men while Hiragana was the so-called, “female alphabet”, perhaps for it’s more cursive beauty.
In today’s Japanese language, there are no masculine and feminine words neither, like in some languages like Italian.
So why is Katakana a thing then?
The most typical use for Katakana are for words outside of the Japanese language, loanwords essentially.
For example, some words are pronounced the same as English such as:
- Table (テーブル tē-bu-ru)
- Door (ドア do-a)
- Shower (シャワー sha-wā)
Other uses for Katakana are foreign names such as “Oliver” (オリバー o-ri-bā). These are directly translated and in these instances Katakana is used.
Again, you’ll see country names also written in Katakana instead of Hiragana.
An example – America which is アメリカ (spoken as a-me-ri-ka. Easy, right?!
A final example would be other “newer words” like Twitter which reads as ツイッター (tsu-i-tta-a). Again, this is essentially transliterated so it will sound very similar in Japanese as it does in English.
In addition, Katakana is often used to emphasize a particular part of the sentence, like how “quotation marks” work.
EXAMPLE – Take the sentence “それはあなたです” (which translates to “that is you”). Here “それ”(that) and “あなた” (you) are totally equal, neither is stronger or emphasised more than the other.
Now this next sentence has exactly the same meaning, but swaps the word “you” for Katakana…
“それはアナタです” see the Katakana (in bold) and the rest being Hiragana. The part of the sentence in Katakana bares more weight and emphasis, making it the focal point of the sentence.
As Hiragana is seen as “soft expression” and Katakana is a little bit more “stiff expression”, describing something in Katakana helps the part to stand out.
How do Hiragana and Katakana differ on paper?
Hiragana is more cursive whereas the Katakana letters are more angular in shape.
This makes it really easy to differentiate between which alphabet is being used on paper or on screen.
Here are some Hiragana – おはよう (this means today)
Here are some Katakana – カメラ (this means camera)
See the differences?
Japanese Alphabet – Kanji
OK now things get even more interesting!
SPOILER – if you know some Mandarin Chinese at this point it will make your life immeasurably easier, but don’t worry if not. We’ve still got this!
(Video) WHY we need 3 types of alphabets in Japanese: EXPLAINED! [#8]
So, are you ready to learn about the 3rd Japanese alphabet?
Kanji (漢字) actually originated from the Chinese alphabet. In fact some of the letters/characters are common in the Chinese language also, and even boast the same meaning.
The number of Kanji is COUNTLESS. Like with Chinese characters there are thousands upon thousands but don’t worry, you will never need to learn them all!
As a rough guide, over 2,000 Kanji are taught in Japanese compulsory education.
Nevertheless, Japanese people often face many unknown Kanji, or forget what they learned in school!
The difficulty of Kanji is not only the number of letters, but also the way to pronounce it. Every Kanji has several different pronunciations, again very much like Chinese!
How to distinguish them then?
Basically, they are distinguished only by the context.
However, once you learn Kanji, you will understand how convenient it is.
EXAMPLE – 誠/诚 (these are the traditional and simplified equivalents in Mandarin Chinese) is pronounced as chéng in Chinese but in Japanese the exact same character can be pronounced as makoto or sei.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE – Useful word alert. 日本 means Japan in both Chinese and Japanese… great that we can comprehend this, but beware, they are read differently!
Chinese – 日本 is read as Rì běn
Japanese – 日本 is read as Ni hon
So where Kanji differs from Hiragana and Katakana is that one character/pictogram can represent a number of syllables whereas in the aforementioned two, each letter of the alphabet always has one sound.
Kanji plays a hugely important role in the Japanese writing system.
First of all, it shortens the sentences. While Hiragana and Katakana have only one sound for each letter, many letters of Kanji contain more than 2 sounds, so that it helps to describe something shortly and briefly, without losing the point.
EXAMPLE – This sentence is written fully in Hiragana “わたしはべんきょうをします” (watashi wa be n kyō o shimasu) which simply translates to “I study”.
Now if we re-write this slightly to Kanji “私は勉強をします” we save 5 letters.
Hiragana – わたしはべんきょうをします
Kanji – 私は勉強をしますThey are read exactly the same.
Now imagine when writing long extracts how much space you can save by writing in Kanji!?
Another big feature of Kanji is that it makes the meaning of the words clear.
Hiragana and Katakana are “phonograms” that only represent a sound, but on the other hand, Kanji is a “ideograph” that shows an idea by itself.
Sentences that include Kanji allow the meaning and context to be portrayed in a more precise way than using Hiragana or Katakana.
In addition, Kanji identifies “homonyms” that are words with the same pronunciation, but different meanings.
With Hiragana and Katakana, those words have exactly the same spelling, but usually different letters of Kanji are applied for them.
For example, “いし” (pronounced i-shi) means doctor (医師), stone (石), will (意志), and last wishes (遺志).
When people tell a story in written Japanese, Kanji helps to avoid the confusion and misunderstanding for readers.
Japan’s 3 alphabets consist of quite a lot of letters, but by using them differently depending on the situation and the context, sentences become easier to read and understand.
It is not so simple to learn everything completely, but learning Hiragana is enough as a first step.
After this move onto learning Katakana and Kanji as supporting alphabets. At least, having knowledge about the different features of those alphabets helps you to learn Japanese faster.
OK, we know it seems confusing, but don’t worry the concept of the Japanese Alphabet actually being three-fold isn’t so difficult when you start taking your Japanese lessons!
Remember how they differ and why they are used.
First and foremost you want to learn the Hiragana and Katakana which actually doesn’t take all that long.
Once you’ve done this you can focus on learning the most commonly used Kanji and then in no time you’ll be reading Japanese!
Utilise the videos we’ve posted in this article to help your studies.
Intrigued by the alphabets of Asia?
We’re sure you’ll also love our guides on the Chinese Alphabet, Russian Alphabet, Vietnamese Alphabet and the Korean Alphabet as well then!
Japanese vs Korean vs Chinese – which is really the hardest? Find out what the experts said in our article!
Japanese Alphabet – FAQ’s
How many Alphabets in the Japanese language?
There are actually 3 Japanese Alphabets.
Japan’s 3 Alphabets are:
Hiragana
Katakana
Kanji
How many letters in the Hiragana Alphabet?
Hiragana consists of 46 letters and some combined letters/additional sounds (such as ちゃ,しょ,きゃ…etc).
When was Hiragana invented?
Hiragana was created during the 9th century in a noble society, mainly for describing something informal, or telling stories.
How do Hiragana and Katakana differ on paper?
Hiragana is more cursive whereas the Katakana letters are more angular in shape.
This makes it really easy to differentiate between which alphabet is being used on paper or on screen.
Here are some Hiragana – おはよう (this means today)
Here are some Katakana – カメラ (this means camera)
See the differences?
How many letters in Katakana?
The number of letters in Katakana is 46.
This is the same as the Hiragana alphabet with some letters looking very similar such as か and カ
When is Katakana used instead of Hiragana?
Typically Katakana is used for loanwords in Japanese like:
Table (テーブル tē-bu-ru)
Door (ドア do-a)
Shower (シャワー sha-wā)
You will also see Katakana to translate country names and foreign names like “Oliver” (オリバー o-ri-bā).
Katakana is also used in a sentence in Japanese to add emphasis to that part of the sentence.
How many Kanji would you learn at a Japanese school when growing up?
As a rough guide, over 2,000 Kanji are taught in Japanese compulsory education.
How does Kanji differ from Hiragana and Katakana?
Kanji differs from Hiragana and Katakana in the sense that one character/pictogram can represent a number of syllables whereas in the aforementioned two, each letter of the alphabet always has one sound.
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Read More
Japanese Loanwords 🤩 41 You Should Learn Straight Away
12 comments
Leave a Reply
I love Katakana and the way it works but Hiragana is the undoubted beautiful one
Popular opinion Summer!
Japanese and also Korean have two of the most beautiful alphabets!
Never a truer word spoken!
I really like this guide. Very interesting having 3 alphabets
It’s unique, yet beautiful in it’s our way!
Love the post and the graphics to match
Thanks Filip!
This is the most beautiful language to learn. Hiragana is 🤩
Never a truer word spoken!
It’s hard at first but once you get it they all make a lot of sense
Not wrong there Brittany.
FAQs
Why are there 3 types of Japanese writing? ›
Why does the Japanese language have to use three different types of script; Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana? A. This is because each of the three types of script, Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana, has its own specific role. Let's examine a sentence like “I'm Anna,” WATASHI WA ANNA DESU.
What are the 3 scripts of the Japanese writing system? ›The Japanese alphabet is really three writing systems that work together. These three systems are called hiragana, katakana and kanji.
Why do kanji have multiple readings? ›In Japanese, most kanji have at least two readings. One is derived from its original Chinese pronunciation and called on-yomi (音読み). The other is the native reading that most characters ended up with some time after their import from the continent.
Do you need to know all three Japanese alphabets? ›The Japanese language relies on not one but three different alphabets — hiragana, katakana and kanji — which are differentiated both by their distinct appearances and by their use. No wonder Japanese is such a difficult language for English-speakers to learn!
Why doesn't Japan just use hiragana? ›Because kanji were developed before hiragana, writing with kanji generally imparts a more educated and mature feeling. Sure, you could write kuruma as くるま and be understood, but it'll look childish to Japanese readers, so adults are expected to go with 車.
Can you write Japanese without kanji? ›All words in modern Japanese can be written using hiragana, katakana, and rōmaji, while only some have Kanji.
Which Japanese script is the hardest? ›Because kanji characters are the hardest to master, children's books only use hiragana and katakana characters.
Why does Japan still use kanji? ›In Japanese, there are no spaces between words, so kanji helps break words apart, making it easy to read. As I'm sure you can imagine, long sentences would get even more difficult to read, and when you don't know where one word begins and another one ends, reading errors can occur.
Can you write everything in hiragana? ›Hiragana is the basic Japanese phonetic script. It represents every sound in the Japanese language. Therefore, you can theoretically write everything in Hiragana. However, because Japanese is written with no spaces, this will create nearly indecipherable text.
How many kanji do you need to know to be fluent? ›There are approximately 2,000 kanji you have to learn no matter what, so you might as well put them in an order that makes a lot more sense.
What is longest kanji reading? ›
承る uketamawaru, 志 kokorozashi, and 詔 mikotonori have five syllables represented by a single kanji, the longest readings in the jōyō character set.
Is there a trick to reading kanji? ›Mnemonics
Mnemonics are another common way to learn kanji. This is also the method used by numerous kanji textbooks to help students memorize kanji. As a beginner, I was taught kanji with this very method and it helps with memorizing certain kanji. You can think of kanji as the pictures of the words they represent.
You should learn hiragana first, followed by katakana and kanji. Hiragana looks more cursive than katakana or kanji. It is used to write native Japanese words, conjugation endings, and grammar particles. Hiragana consists of 46 characters with each character representing a syllable.
What form of Japanese should I learn first? ›Hiragana – A Beginner's Best Friend
Hiragana is the most basic of the 3 sets of alphabet for it is the foundation of the written Japanese language. It is the first set of characters that new language learners and children learn when they start studying. Hiragana is easier to learn when compared to Katakana and Kanji.
So writing using only hiragana is both valid and understandable, with the caveat that in many cases doing so will make your writing very awkward reading, and can introduce ambiguity into your writing, for example in the case of homophones (words that share the same pronunciation but generally different kanji).
Is it OK to write kanji in hiragana? ›In other words, hiragana characters function like English letters, in that they don't have any intrinsic meaning. They just represent sounds. Because of this, any Japanese word that can be written in kanji can also be written in hiragana.
Does Tokyo use hiragana or katakana? ›| Tokyo | |
|---|---|
| Kanji | 東京 |
| Hiragana | とうきょう |
| Katakana | トウキョウ |
| Kyūjitai | 東亰 |
Hiragana is the most commonly used, standard form of Japanese writing. It's used on its own or in conjunction with kanji to form words, and it's the first form of Japanese writing that children learn. What is this?
What is the hardest language to learn? ›Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
Why is writing kanji so hard? ›Kanji characters are based on Chinese characters and are often almost identical to their partner words in Chinese. This writing system is one of the most difficult parts of Japanese to learn, as there are over 2,000 different characters to learn and many kanji have several different readings.
Do Japanese read right to left? ›
Japanese also uses the traditional tategaki ("vertical writing") style which, similarly to Traditional Chinese, is read right to left and down the columns.
What is the hardest Japanese word to say? ›- 侵略。 – invasion.
- 便利。 – Convenient.
- 出力。 – Output power.
- 店員。 – Clerk.
- 旅行。 – Traveling.
- 暖かくなかった。 – Was not warm.
- 駐車場。 – Parking lot.
- おっちょこちょい。 – Clumsy.
Learning to read and write Japanese is probably harder than Chinese because most Japanese characters (kanji) have two or more pronunciations, whereas the vast majority of Chinese characters (hanzi) only have one. In Japanese you also have to contend with two syllabic scripts (hiragana and katakana).
What letters do Japanese have trouble pronouncing? ›Many Japanese speakers have difficulty pronouncing the English consonant sounds /l/,/r/, /f/,/v/ & 'th'. Japanese has only 5 vowel sounds.
Will Japan get rid of kanji? ›Some reformers wished to eliminate kanji altogether, and have a phonetic written language only using kana, but this was decided against, and further reforms were halted. Modern kana usage still has one or two incongruities, as reform was halted at an intermediate stage.
What is the hardest kanji to write in the world? ›The Most Difficult Japanese Kanji on Record: たいと(Taito)
たいと(taito) is the most difficult Japanese Kanji on the record with a total of 84 strokes. It is formed by combining 3 雲 (くもkumo) with 3 龍 (りゅうRyuu). 雲means cloud and 龍 means dragon in English.
A Writing System Shared by Japan and China. The Japanese and Chinese languages both use an extremely sophisticated writing system that uses kanji ideograms.
How long does it take to fully memorize hiragana? ›If you want to use Japanese textbooks and workbooks, you'll need to be able to read hiragana to get started. But, fortunately, it's really very easy to learn. You can learn hiragana in just a week (or even a day or two, if you're ready to buckle down!).
How do you say zero in Japanese? ›For zero in Japanese, the kanji is 零 (rei). However, it is more common to use and say “zero” the same way we say it in English: ゼロ (zero). Or マル (maru) which translates to “circle” and it's used the same way we say “oh” instead of “zero” in English when reading individual digits of a number.
How many years does it take to be fluent in Japanese? ›Learning Japanese isn't easy and it will take time. It's probably fair to say that you can expect a commitment of at least three years in order to achieve something resembling fluency. The average learner gets to the advanced level in three or four years.
How long does it take to learn 2000 kanji? ›
Realistic: Learning 2,000 kanji in one week is stretching it, but 3 months is a very doable timeframe if you are consistent.
How fast can you become fluent in Japanese? ›Japanese is one of the most difficult languages for English natives to master. This is because it does not have a lot of likeness in structure to English. Approximately it will take 88 weeks, or 2200 hours of studying, to become fluent.
What is the easiest kanji to write? ›- 森 – the kanji for forest is three trees (木) put together.
- 父 – imagine a man holding two sticks over his head.
- 雨 – looks like rain hitting a window.
- 川 – three lines show the flow of a river.
- 東 – is made out of two kanji 日 (the sun) and 木 (trees).
Kanji (Odia: କାଞ୍ଜି) is a rice water based dish traditionally prepared in Odisha. Depending on how it is prepared, it is eaten as a porridge, soup or curry.
Do Japanese read faster? ›...
Average reading speed in various languages.
| Language Code | Japanese |
|---|---|
| Texts/Min | 1.21 (0.19) |
| Words/Min | 193 (30) |
| Syllables/Min | 447 (69) |
| Min | 357 (56) |
Whilst you cannot get fluent in Japanese using Duolingo, you can master the two alphabets, Hiragana and Katakana.
How do Japanese memorize kanji? ›In Japanese elementary schools, students learn kanji by what may be called the 'repetition method'. Many school children have kanji practice as homework, and many students buy notebooks called 漢字練習帳 (かんじれんしゅうちょう, kanjirenshūcho) just for kanji practice!
Why is there both hiragana and katakana? ›So to answer your question, the reason that the two exist is because they were created separately out of need at the time and they were originally used for two different purposes ― hiragana for a common language separate from the official writings (which used Chinese characters) and katakana as a supplement to official ...
Is hiragana or katakana harder? ›Most importantly, katakana characters look more similar in shape to one another than hiragana, so memorizing katakana could be more difficult. However, some may argue that hiragana is too difficult to write. Katakana is easier to “draw” because the structure of the katakana character is usually more simple.
Should I learn hiragana or katakana first? ›You should learn hiragana first, followed by katakana and kanji. Hiragana looks more cursive than katakana or kanji. It is used to write native Japanese words, conjugation endings, and grammar particles. Hiragana consists of 46 characters with each character representing a syllable.
Is hiragana or katakana more common? ›
Hiragana is the most commonly used, standard form of Japanese writing. It's used on its own or in conjunction with kanji to form words, and it's the first form of Japanese writing that children learn.
Why do Japanese mix hiragana and katakana and kanji? ›So why do sentences have a mixture of kanji and hiragana? Because hiragana gets used for grammatical particles and modifiers. Remember, each kanji represents a concept. So when writing a verb, you use a kanji for the base concept, then hiragana to alter the pronunciation and add more meaning, such as the tense.
Which Japanese writing system should I learn first? ›Hiragana – A Beginner's Best Friend
Hiragana is the most basic of the 3 sets of alphabet for it is the foundation of the written Japanese language. It is the first set of characters that new language learners and children learn when they start studying. Hiragana is easier to learn when compared to Katakana and Kanji.
What is the Easiest Japanese Alphabet to Learn? There are several Japanese alphabets to learn, including Hiragana, Kanji, and Katakana. Of these, Hiragana is the best for beginners. It is the most basic of the three sets of the alphabet and it is the foundation of the written Japanese language.
How fast can you learn hiragana? ›If you want to use Japanese textbooks and workbooks, you'll need to be able to read hiragana to get started. But, fortunately, it's really very easy to learn. You can learn hiragana in just a week (or even a day or two, if you're ready to buckle down!).
What is hardest about learning Japanese? ›The Japanese language is considered one of the most difficult to learn by many English speakers. With three separate writing systems, an opposite sentence structure to English, and a complicated hierarchy of politeness, it's decidedly complex.