Japanese Language Basic Alphabets
The reason is because unlike english which uses a latin alphabet of 26 characters japanese uses pictographic characters called kanji.
Japanese language basic alphabets. Japanese 日本語 nihongo is definitely a very exotic unique and if i may fascinating language. There is a third form of japanese alphabet that borrows or modifies chinese characters called kanji. Because of that reading japanese is a great way to pick up proper pronunciation for spoken japanese. There are 46 basic characters in the japanese alphabet and additional characters sounds that can be made from the basic 46.
Japanese has two phonetic alphabets which were invented to better fit the japanese language instead of depending on the chinese characters kanji alone. Each of the alphabet symbols forms one syllable made of the 21 romaji which is phonetic and always read the same way. Each character of the phonetic alphabet represents a syllable or sound cluster. Kanji was borrowed from chinese writing at a time when there was no written japanese language and it is still around.
It contains 46 characters usually a consonant vowel combinations ka ki ku ke ko or just vowels a i u e o. Also don t forget to check the rest of our other lessons listed on learn japanese. Hiragana is the alphabet of japanese that makes up almost all of the words that exist inside the japanese language. The total number of kanji is well over 50 000 though few if any native speakers know anywhere near this number.
If you re brand new to learning japanese you might be feeling a little daunted by the japanese alphabet you ve probably heard from others that asian languages are some of the hardest to learn for english speakers. Japanese kanji has different meanings than chinese characters today. Pronunciation of the japanese alphabet hiragana ひらがな and katakana カタカナ. Because it s easier spoken than written the japanese writing system and naturally the japanese alphabet are guilty of making japanese the hardest language to learn by a native english speaker along with chinese korean and arabic.
Japanese primary and secondary school students are required to learn 2 136 jōyō kanji as of 2010. Why is that such a common idea.