What is Japanese Alphabet ? of Recent Article

The page for changing the alphabet into a Hiragana & Katakana easily.

Because I found the web page of Japan that can easily change the word into the Hiragana and Katakana, I introduce it to you.

But, the web page is written in Japanese.

http://europe.s9.xrea.com/convert/convert_tool.html

So, I made the explanatory on the page for the reader.

But, on this website, you have to use a "Roman alphabet."
It may be difficult.

Please refer to this Hiragana chart for Roman letters input.
And, refer to this Katakana chart for Roman letters input.

The image expands by the click.

-文頭用 bunto yo <For beginnings of sentences>-

No.	Japanese	English
1	こんにちわ。 konnnichiwa	Hello.
2	久しぶり！ hisashiburi	It is been a long time.
3	元気にしてる？ genki ni shiteru ?	How are you doing ?
4	こっちは元気だよ！ kocchi wa genki dayo !	I'm fine.
5	メールありがとう。 me-ru arigatou.	Thanks for the mail.

 

-本文用 honbun yo < For the main body >-

No.	Japanese	English
6	ここからの文章、ひらがなと カタカナが多くなるけど、 ごめんね。 kokokara no bunshou, hiragana to katakana ga ooku narukedo, gomennne	Though a sentence from here, a hiragana letter and katakana increase, I'm sorry.

 

-文末用 bubmatsu yo < For the end of sentence >-

No.	Japanese	English
7	じゃあ、またメールするね。 jaa, mata me-ru surune	I will e-mail you again soon.
8	よかったら、またメールちょうだい。 yokattara, mata me-ru choodai.	Could you send me e-mail again?
9	日本に帰ったら連絡するね。 nihon ni kaettara rennraku surune.	When I returned to Japan, will contact you.

 

-絵文字 emoji <Emoticons>-

No.	Japanese	English
10	(笑)	Laughing mark
11	(苦笑)	Wry smile mark
12	(泣)	Crying mark
13	(爆)	Suicide bombing mark Burst-of-laughter mark
14	☆	Star mark
15	♪	Note mark
16	(^-^;	Laughing emoticon
17	(T-T )	Crying emoticon
18	(>_<)	Desperate emoticons
19	m(_ _)m	Emoticon of apology
20	＼(´▽｀)／	Happy emoticons
21	???	I'm sorry. I was not able to understand this emoticon.

 

-日時 nichiji <The date and time>-

No.	Japanese	English
22	一昨日 ototoi ; issakujitsu	Day before yesterday
23	昨日 kinou; sakujitsu	Yesterday
24	今日 kyou	Today
25	明日 ashita	Tomorrow
26	明後日 asatte; myougonichi	Day after tomorrow
27	先々週 sennsennshu	Week before last
28	先週 sennshu	Last week
29	来週 raishuu	Next week
29	再来週 saraishuu	Week after next

 

-曜日 yobi <The Day of the week>-

No.	Japanese	English
31	月曜日 getsu youbi	Monday
32	火曜日 ka youbi	Tuesday
33	水曜日 sui youbi	Wednesday
34	木曜日 moku youbi	Thursday
35	金曜日 kin youbi	Friday
36	土曜日 do youbi	Saturday
37	日曜日 nichi youbi	Sunday

 

-旅行 ryoko <Travel>-

No.	Japanese	English
38	旅行 ryokou	Travel, Trip
39	出発 shuppatsu	Departure
40	到着 touchaku	Arrival
41	宿泊 shukuhaku	Lodging, a stay
42	帰国 kikoku	Homecoming, Return,
43	空港 kuukou	Airport
44	電車 densha	Train
45	飛行機 hikouki	Airplane
46	地下鉄 chikatetsu	Subway

 

-連絡 renraku <Communication>-

No.	Japanese	English
47	連絡 rennraku	Communication , Report , Contact
48	電話 dennwa	Telephone
49	手紙 tegami	Letters
50	住所 juusho	Address
51	日本語 nihonngo	Japanese
52	英語 eigo	English
53	日本 nihonn; nipponn	Japan
54	欧州、ヨーロッパ oushuu, yo-roppa	Europe

 

Japanese kanji's pronunciation isn't often one, and further it has onyomi and kunyomi.

 

There are 音読み[onyomi ] and 訓読み[kunyomi] in a Japanese kanji.

Two kinds of pronunciations "音読み(onyomi) and 訓読み(kunyomi) of a Japanese kanji" are very important for you who is learning Japanese.

 

Reason why Japan kanji has ONYOMI and KUNYOMI.

A kanji is a character introduced into Japan from ancient China, and onyomi is the pronunciation of the China form.
But, those kanji are used with Japan style pronunciation.

Therefore, please don't forget "The pronunciation of Chinese and Japanese is quite different."

Well, often the one kanji has many pronunciations.
The onyomi, the Sino-Japanese reading, is the modern descendent of the Japanese approximation of the Chinese pronunciation of the character at the time it was introduced. Some kanji were introduced from different parts of China at different times, and so have multiple on'yomi, and often multiple meanings.

In a word, most of a Japanese kanji is to have two or more onyomi and two or more kunyomi.

Look at the kanji as a example, please.
This kanji is "納[nou]".

<Kanji of Japan with the most a lot of onyomi >

This is the Japanese kanji that has most a lot of onyomi.

• 音読み(Onyomi) : nou, tou, na, nat, nan,
• 訓読み(Kunyomi) : osa(meru), osa(maru),

Please see the example of the word for which this kanji is used as onyomi kanji.

Kanji	Pronunciation	Meaning
納税	nou zei	Payment of taxes
納豆	nattou	Natto
結納	yui nou	a ceremonial exchange of engagement gifts
納得	nattoku	understanding, consent, satisfaction, conviction
納期	nou ki	Delivery date
納品	nou hin	Delivery of goods

These are a part of only idioms as the example.
Kanji with a lot of Onyomi; It shows that there are a lot of words for which that kanji is used.

 

When is ONYOMI used?

Onyomi is mainly used on a kanji idiom.

Japanese is a language of mixed writing of kanji and kana.
Kunyomi makes sense by accompanying the hiragana though Onyomi hardly needs the hiragana.

The meaning of the word is understood by reading the compounded kanji symbols aloud by Onyomi.
But , the Onyomi idiom kanji has the troublesome problem.

It means that there is many "idioms of the same pronunciation."
"The troublesome problem" is that quite a lot of kanji idioms with "Same pronunciation by Onyomi" exists in Japanese.

Look at the following examples, please.
The meaning is quite different though these have the same pronunciation.

Kanji	Pronunciation	Meaning
移動	idou	movement, transfer.
異同	idou	difference
異動	idou	a change
監視	kanshi	watch, keep, guard,
看視	kanshi	on the lookout
冠詞	kanshi	article
漢詩	kanshi	Chinese poem
期間	kikan	a period
機関	kikan	an engine, a means, an agency
器官	kikan	an organ
帰還	kikan	return, repatriation
基幹	kikan	a foundation
奇観	kikan	a spectacular sight
季刊	kikan	quarterly

 

Next, this is a kanji idiom where it has a different meaning though it has the most a lot of same pronunciations, in Japan.

交渉、高尚、公証、考証、厚相、公称、公傷、公証、鉱床、口承、哄笑、工廠、工商、興商、公娼、好尚、康正、工匠、高唱、校章、口証
(I omit the explanation about the meaning of these kanji idioms because there are quite a lot of numbers.)

Pronunciations: こうしょう[koushou]

The pronunciations of these kanji idiom are all "koushou."
(But, the idiom not so used is included in these kanji.)

 

Well, did you understand Onyomi?

To tell the truth, I feel that Japanese is very difficult language for the Japanese, too.
It is natural that you feel Japanese difficult.

Keep up your effort, please!

 

By Hararie

 

 

The role of Hiragana in Japanese is very important.

ひらがな[Hiragana] is a script into which "Kanji that has been transmitted from ancient China" has transformed.

Ancient Japanese have evolved the language of Japan by using China kanji and Hiragana.
[Reference:Kanji transmission from ancient China.]

The hiragana symbol is a versatile script that can undertake "All parts of speech" of "Business card, adjective, verb, pronoun, and conjunction, etc.".

In a word, you may write sentences by using only the hiragana if it says extremely.

But, if all the conversations are written by the hiragana symbols, it becomes troublesome sentences.

As for sentences to which everything is written by the hiragana, the distinction of each part of speech and the boundary of sentences become uncertain sentences.

In the Japanese sentence, as for the noun, the pronoun, and the adjective, etc. the kanji is used.
And, the hiragana takes charge of other parts.

If sentences are compared to man's body, the hiragana does "Bone and muscular role" of the Japanese sentence.

The hiragana is an important element for the Japanese sentence.

 

The concrete example in which the hiragana is used

The images below are a concrete example in which the hiragana is used.

 

<Noun or verb that cannot be shown by kanji.>

Japanese has many "words in which the kanji notation doesn't exist."
In that case, the Hiragana is used.

By the way, it is said that 50,000 kanji exist in Japan and China.

Therefore, if we do not write the kanji for a long time, we forget it.
On a case like this, we write it by the hiragana.

But, if we use the kanji as much as possible, it becomes well-balanced sentences.

 

 

The katakana was used in the textbook of the national language of the elementary school in Japan instead of the hiragana until 1940 though this is a bytalk.

 

 

<Case the hiragana is used as OKURIGANA of the kanji>

Okurigana is required for "Kunyomi" of kanji.

Okurigana is necessary for most kunyomi kanji.
In that case, okurigna is usually shown by the hiragana.

[Okurigana of Katakana may be used for special media, such as an advertisement.]

And kunyomi kanji is often used for the verb.
Hiragana in that case is used so that the tense of the verb may change.

 

私は彼を見る。
[watashi wa kare wo miru.]
I see him.

私は彼を見た。
[watashi wa kare wo mita.]
I saw him.

私は彼を見てしまった。
[watashi wa kare wo miteshimatta.]
I have seen him.

This page might be useful for you.
笑う、笑わせる、泣く、泣かせる、怒る、怒らせる

 

< When hiragana is used as furigana [or yomigana] of kanji. >

The kind of kanji is numerous.

Though I have lived in Japan for 40 years or more, there are a lot of kanji that I cannot read.
In general, the Chinese character that the Japanese uses in daily life is called about 2000 characters.
I can read the kanji of about 4000 characters.

In fact, "A lot of kanji not used" exists in Japanese.

 

<Hiragana used for printed matter as furigana. >

Moreover, Furigana[or Yomigana] is often used for a name of a person and the name of a place of Japan.

In case of person's name, it is possible to read with guess.
But, in the case of the place name, there is the case that pronunciation of the kanji cannot guess at all.
For that case, Furigana[or Yomigana] is required for the kanji.

A lot of name of a places that we cannot read exist in Kyoto in Japan.

These are all "kanji which cannot be read by guess."

 

 

< Hiragana for children who can read only only a few kanji. >

Child doesn't have a lot of knowledge of kanji.

If Furigana[or Yomigana] is not attached, it is very difficult for a child to read kanji.

Naturally, children can write only only a few kanji.

In the textbook and the book, etc. for children in Japan there is little kanji.

Almost all children in Japan learn the kanjir at the school.

But, the time of the school training has been decreased by a strange policy of Japanese Government.

As a result, the knowledge of young people in Japan of the kanji is very little.
Japanese Government is very foolish.

 

< When we want to write the character quickly. >

When we write a complex kanji because the kanji is a set by many lines, it takes time.

The total of the line of the kanji is called "画数[Kakusuu]".
Time to write our kanji changes according to the number of these kakusuu.

If we write a lot of kanji, a lot of time is needed for it.

For instance, Kakusuu of this word "一人[hitori](One person)" is three.

 

On the other hand, kakusuu of this kanji "瞬間[shunkan](Moment)" is 31.

 

If we write many kanji by a lot of kakusuu, it takes the time considerably to do it.

Therefore, when we should write the memo and sentences fast, we write the sentence by hardly using kanji, and using a lot of hiraganas.

 

<When time when we have forgotten the shape of that kanji and we don't originally know the shape of that kanji, we use the hiragana. >

If we don't daily write the kanji, it's memory isn't kept.
We forget the shape at once.

It becomes impossible for us to recall the shape as time that we do not write the kanji becomes long.
The kanji that retraces a dopy memory and is written is wrong in many cases.

 

"I cannot recall that kanji !! "

Such a state is called "dowasure".

How was this theme?
Was it slightly difficult?

I must study English more.

 

By Hararie

 

Japanese has why "Katakana" must be used.

The katakana is used for the notation of the word of Loan word mainly.

 

1. Difficult loan word to translate into Japanese.
2. Loanword that has been established as Japanese.
3. Japanized English.
4. Emphasis of word in advertising media.

1. Difficult loan word to translate into Japanese.

Example	Katakana notation	Pronunciation
Design	デザイン	dezain
Image	イメージ	imeji
Gasoline	ガソリン	gasorin
Fastener	ファスナー	fasuna
Hard disk	ハードディスク	hado disuku
Antenna	アンテナ	antena

 

2. Loanword that has been established as Japanese. .

Example	Katakana notation	Pronunciation
Camera	カメラ	kamera
Taxi	タクシー	takushi
Apron	エプロン	epuron
Elevator	エレベーター	erebeta
U-turn	ユーターン	yu-ta-n
Volume	ボリューム	boryumu
Monitor	モニター	monita

 

3. Japanized English.

Example	Katakana notation	Pronunciation
PC	パソコン	pasokon
The keeping of one's own bottle of liquor in one's favorite bar.	ボトルキープ	botoru kipu
Air conditioner	エアコン	eakon
Custom-made	オーダーメード	oda meido
Last orders; Last call	オーダーストップ	oda sutoppu
One-room apartment	ワンルームマンション	wan rumu manshon
The state that does not become independent from mother mentally.	マザコン	mazakon

4. Katakana for emphasis by advertising media.

The katakana might be used to emphasize the word.
The consumer receives the strong impression to the advertisement by "Originally, word that should write by the kanji or the hiragana"'s being written by the katakana.
When the number of characters for the advertisement is little, the technique is very effective.

The man of this advertisement is a member of popular idol groups in Japan, and his name is "Junichi Okada".
He is very popular in Japan.
He announced the schedule of his marriage to media though the most recently.

The katakana word used for this advertisement is very impressive.

 

By Hararie

 

 

Kind of hiragana script that becomes cause of the mess.

 

The script in each language might have perhaps various fonts.

And, they might have a slight difference of shape by the font.

There is no problem if it is your mother tongue.

But, if it is a foreign language, you and I might be a little puzzled.

A Japanese hiragana has a lot of fonts.
Because the difference of those shape is a little, it might cause confusion.

Well, let's see "Each hiragana with a little difference" with me.

 

Connection of line

I displayed "All Hiragana with the difference in the form by a font" here.

The most is the difference in "existence of the break of a line."

I showed "All hiraganas with the difference of shape by the font" here.
Most of the difference is "Presence of the connection of the line."

Compare the parts enclosed by red circle, please.
Can you understand those differences?

 

Japanese children go to school at the age of seven.
And, they learns the hiragana and the katakana first.

The shape of the hiragana used by the textbook of the elementary school in Japan is different according to the times.

It is because the standard of the shape of the hiragana is not being defined by the Ministry of Education that has jurisdiction over the school system of Japan.

Because politicians in Japan always think only about own rights and money, they do not notice such a thing at all.

Sorry, I return to the subject.

Then when I say how the Japanese thinks about a difference of the form of Hiragana,
most Japanese will not have thought about the shape of the hiragana.

In conclusion, "These are all correct Hiragana."
Use Hiragana of the shape that you like, please.

 

Then, see "Hiragana with the difference in a special shape" next, please.

 

 

Hiragana script with special difference of shape

This is "そ[so]" of Hiragana.

I write "そ" by using the shape of a left hiragana.

In the times when I learned Hiragana in an elementary school, Hiragana of the right side was used.
My younger brother is using Hiragana of the left.

My younger brother is 14 years old younger than I.
A young Japanese seems to use shape of the left.

Mmm......Then, see the last Hiragana, please.

This is "ふ[fu]" of Hiragana.

Most of the font used in Japan is a left letterform.

The right-hand "Hiragana of FU" seemed to have been used at prewar days.
The left-hand "Hiragana of FU" is shape of the brush script type.
This is a letterform of "Japanese Kana calligraphy" written with a very thin brush.

But, if a left letterform is written in a hurry, it becomes the right-hand letterform after all.

 

Then, "Today's conclusion."---

"As for Hiragana, if the letterform that can be read is kept, all are okay." !!

 

 

To learn the hiragana

Hiragana Gambatte!: Hiragana Ganbatte (The Gambatte! series)

HIRAGANA GANBATTE !

Product Description:

Instead of an alphabet, Japanese use katakana and hiragana to show the pronunciation of words. It is the purpose of this book to teach you how to read and write hiragana. In all, there are forty-six hiragana characters for forty-six different sounds. This is not as difficult as it seems. With this original picture book, you can learn to read and write hiragana in no time at all, and have fun doing it.

Key English words and pictures are linked to all the hiragana characters to help you fix their shapes in your mind. Manga-style illustrations and nearly 100 mini-articles about Japanese society and culture not only help you remember the characters but also add to your knowledge of Japan. Altogether, this makes Hiragana Gambatte! quite an unusual workbook.

Hiragana Gambatte! teaches you to: * Understand the differences between hiragana and the alphabet * Understand the systematic nature of hiragana * Use the correct stroke order when writing hiragana * Write hiragana so that each character is consistent in size and shape