Question
13 Dec 2018
- English (US)
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French (France)
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Japanese
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Korean
Question about Japanese
Could someone possibly explain to me the Japanese alphabets and how letters/words work in Japanese? I have been trying to learn on my own and am just a bit confused. Any little bit of information helps. Thanks!
Could someone possibly explain to me the Japanese alphabets and how letters/words work in Japanese? I have been trying to learn on my own and am just a bit confused. Any little bit of information helps. Thanks!
Answers
13 Dec 2018
Featured answer
- English (US)
- Urdu Near fluent
Well. There are 3 alphabets in Japanese. Hiragana (ひらがな), Katakana (カタカナ), and Kanji (漢字). The alphabet Hiragana is used for phonetically spelling out Japanese words, conjunction words, and suffixes. The alphabet Katakana is used for foreign words, names, or sounds. All these letters come in syllables. However, Kanji is not a phonetic syllabary. Kanji are Chinese characters that can have two pronunciations: On'yomi pronunciation and Kun'yomi pronunciation. Kanji are used for base words, native Japanese names, etc.
Read more comments
- English (US)
- Urdu Near fluent
Well. There are 3 alphabets in Japanese. Hiragana (ひらがな), Katakana (カタカナ), and Kanji (漢字). The alphabet Hiragana is used for phonetically spelling out Japanese words, conjunction words, and suffixes. The alphabet Katakana is used for foreign words, names, or sounds. All these letters come in syllables. However, Kanji is not a phonetic syllabary. Kanji are Chinese characters that can have two pronunciations: On'yomi pronunciation and Kun'yomi pronunciation. Kanji are used for base words, native Japanese names, etc.
- Japanese
hiragana katakana
あいうえお アイウエオ
(sound) a i u e o
かきくけこ カキクケコ
ka ki ku ke ko
さしすせそ サシスセソ
sa shi su se so
たちつてと タチツテト
ta chi tsu te to
なにぬねの ナニヌネノ
na ni nu ne no
はひふへほ ハヒフヘホ
ha hi hu he ho
まみむめも マミムメモ
ma mi mu me mo
や ゆ よ ヤ ユ ヨ
ya yu yo
らりるれろ ラリルレロ
ra ri ru re ro
わ を ワ ヲ
wa wo
ん ン
n
ばびぶべぼ バビブベボ
ba bi bu be bo
ぱぴぷぺぽ パピプペポ
pa pi pu pe po
If you want to say, 'dog,' dog is いぬ in Japanese, so you pronounce 'i nu.'
0:00
Highly-rated answerer
- Japanese
We have only 10 seconds to, record, so I recorded many times. I forgot ばびぶべぼ・ぱぴぷぺぽ
0:00
Highly-rated answerer
- Japanese
Sorry. We have more,
がぎぐげご ガギグゲゴ
ga gui gu gue go
ざじずぜぞ ザジズゼゾ
za ji zx ze zo
だぢづでど ダヂヅデド
da ji zu de do
Show romaji/hiragana
Highly-rated answerer
- English (US)
@NamjoonsDimples @smileyks2525 thank you guys so much, that helped a lot!
- Japanese
Highly-rated answerer
- English (US)
- Urdu Near fluent

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