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Lesson 1: The Japanese Writing System

Intended learning outcome/s:

• Understand the Japanese Writing System.
• Deliver Hiragana and Katakana Characters with correct pronunciation.
• Transcribe Hiragana and Katakana Characters with correct shape and stroke.

Now get started

Introduction

There are three types of scripts in Japanese: kanji, hiragana, and katakana (which we’ll
further discuss at the beginning of this lesson). Japanese does not use an alphabet, and all three
systems are commonly used. Kanji has blocks of meaning and thousands of characters while
Hiragana expresses the grammatical relationship between kanji symbols and katakana is used for
foreign names. The good news is that hiragana and katakana have only 46 characters each, and
words are written as they are pronounced. In the entire course, we’ll be focusing on hiragana and
katakana (often called kana).

Let’s Learn

The Japanese Writing System

There are three kinds of characters in Japanese: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.

ひらがな カタカナ 愛
Hiragana Katakana Kanji

Hiragana and Katakana, like the alphabet, represent sounds. As you can see in the above
example, hiragana has a roundish shape and is used for conjugation endings, function words, and
native Japanese words not covered by kanji. Katakana, which has rather straight lines, is normally
used for writing loanwords and foreign names. For example, the Japanese word for “television” is
written in katakana as テレビ (Terebi). Kanji, or Chinese characters, represent not just sounds but
also meanings. Mostly, Kanji are used for nouns and stems of verbs and adjectives.

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A. Hiragana Characters

I. Basic Hiragana Syllables

ご じゅう おん (50 sounds)
There are forty – six basic hiragana syllables, which are listed below. Once you
memorize this chart, you will have the skill to transcribe all of the Japanese sounds.

わ ら や ま は な た さ か あ
wa ra ya ma ha na ta sa ka a
り み ひ に ち し き い
ri mi hi ni chi shi ki i
ん る ゆ む ふ ぬ つ す く う The syllables し ち
n/m ru yu mu fu nu tsu su ku u つ and ふ are Romanized
as shi, chi, tsu and fu,
れ め へ ね て せ け え respectively, to closely
re me he ne te se ke e resemble English
pronunciation.
を ろ よ も ほ の と そ こ お
wo ro yo mo ho no to so ko o
Note: There is another writing system called romanji (Roman letters) a 26 western letter alphabet
which is used for station names, signs and so on.

II. Hiragana with Voiced consonant Marks

Voiced Sound (だくおん)

You can transcribe 23 additional sounds the voiced sound (Dakuten) by adding diacritic
marks. With a pair of short diagonal strokes or c olloquially called as ten-ten “dots” (“) on
the upper right of the hiragana character of かrow, さrow, たrow, and はrow. The
unvoiced consonants k, s, t, and h become voiced consonants of g, z, d, and b, respectively.

が ga ぎ gi ぐ gu げ ge ご go
ぢ(ji) and づ are
ざ za じ ji ず zu ぜ ze ぞ zo pronounced as
t h e s a m e a s じ (ji )
だ da ぢ ji づ zu で de ど do and ず (zu),
respectively, have
ば ba び bi ぶ bu べ be ぼ bo limited use.

P – Sound (はんだくおん)

The P-sound is indicated through a little circle “。” on the upper right side of the characters
on the は row. This sound can only be created with the は row.
ぱ pa ぴ pi ぷ pu ぺ pe ぽ po

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III. Contracted Sound (ようおん)

Small “ゃ”, “ゅ”, “ょ” are called contracted sound. It consists of two letters, but
its sound is only one mora long. The sounds from the i-vowel hiragana, except い are used
to transcribe contracted sounds.

ゃ ゅ ょ
き ki きゃ kya きゅ kyu きょ kyo
し si しゃ sha しゅ shu しょ sho
ち chi ちゃ cha ちゅ chu ちょ chu
に ni にゃ nya にゅ nyu にょ nyo
ひ hi ひゃ hya ひゅ hyu ひょ hyo
み mi みゃ mya みゅ myu みょ myo
り ri りゃ rya りゅ ryu りょ ryo
ぎ gi ぎゃ gya ぎゅ gyu ぎょ gyo
じ ji じゃ ja じゅ ju じょ jo
ぢ chi ぢゃ cha ぢゅ chu ぢょ cho
び bi びゃ bya びゅ byu びょ byo
ぴ pi ぴゃ pya ぴゅ pyu ぴょ pyo

IV. Transcribing Double Consonants

There is another small letter, っ, which is used when transcribing double consonants such
as tt and pp.

Examples: かった katta (won) cf. かた kata (shoulder)

さっか sakka (writer)
はっぱ happa (leaf)
ざっし zasshi (Magazine)

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B. Katakana

ワ ラ ヤ マ ハ ナ タ サ カ ア
wa ra ya ma ha na ta sa ka a
リ ミ ヒ ニ チ シ キ イ
ri mi hi ni chi shi ki i
ン ル ユ ム フ ヌ ツ ス ク ウ
n ru yu mu fu nu tsu su ku u
レ メ ヘ ネ テ セ ケ エ
re me he ne te se ke e
ヲ ロ ヨ モ ホ ノ ト ソ コ オ
wo ro yo mo ho no to so ko o

ガ ギ グ ゲ ゴ キャ kya キュ kyu キョ kyo

ga gi gu ge go シャ sha シュ shu ショ sho
ザ ジ ズ ゼ ゾ チャ cha チュ chu チョ chu
za ji zu ze zo
ニャ nya ニュ nyu ニョ nyo
ダ ヂ ヅ デ ド
ヒャ hya ヒュ hyu ヒョ hyo
da ji zu de do
バ ビ ブ ベ ボ ミャ mya ミュ myu ミョ myo
ba bi bu be bo リャ rya リュ ryu リョ ryo

パ ピ プ ペ ポ ギャ gya ギュ gyu ギョ gyo

pa pi pu pe po
ジャ ja ジュ ju ジョ jo
ヂャ cha ヂュ chu ヂョ cho
ビャ bya ビュ byu ビョ byo
ピャ ピュ ピョ
pya pyu pyo

The pronunciation of katakana and its combinations are the same as those of hiragana, except for
the following points.

a. The long vowels are written with – .

Examples: カ– kaa (car) ケ–キ keeki (cake)

スキ– sukii (ski) ボ–ル booru (ball)
ス–ツ suutsu (suit)

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When you write vertically, the – mark needs to be written vertically also.

Example:
ボ
ボ–ル |
ル
b. Additional combinations with small vowel letters are used to transcribe foreign sounds
which originally did not exist in Japanese.

Examples: ウィ wi ハロウィ-ン harowiin halloween

ウェ we ハイウェイ haiwee highway
ウォ wo ミネラルウォ-タ- mineraruwootaa mineral water
シェ she シェフ shefu chef
ジェ je ジェムス jeemusu James
チェ che チェック chekku check
ファ fa ファッション fasshon fashion
フィ fi フィリピン firipin Philippine
フェ fe カフェ kafe cafe
フォ fo フォ-ク fooku fork
ティ ti パ-ティ paatii party
ディ di ディズニ-イランド Dizuniirando Disneyland
デユ du デユエット dyuetto duet

c. The sound “v” is sometimes written with ヴ . For example, the word “Venus” is
sometimes written as ビ-ナス or ヴィ-ナズ.

C. Kanji

Kanji are Chinese characters which were introduced to Japan more than 1,500 years ago
when the Japanese language did not have a writing system. Hiragana and Katakana evolved
later in Japan based on the simplified Chinese Characters.

Kanji represents both meaning and sounds. Most kanji possess multiple readings, which
are divided into two types: on – yomi (Chinese readings) and kun – yomi (Japanese readings).
On – yomi is derived from the pronunciations used in China. Some kanji have more than one on
– yomi due to temporal and regional variances in the Chinese pronunciation. Kun – yomi are
Japanese readings. When people started to use kanji to write native Japanese words, Japanese
readings (kun – yomi) were added to kanji.

By the time of high school graduation, Japanese are expected to know 2,136 kanji (called
Joyo kanji), which are designated by the Ministry of Education as commonly used kanji. A total

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of 1,006 kanji are taught at the elementary school level, and most of the remainder are taught
in junior high school.

There are roughly four types of kanji based on their formation.

a. Pictograms
Kanji made from pictures

b. Simple Ideograms
Kanji made of dots and lines to represent numbers or abstract concepts.

c. Compound ideograms
Kanji made from the combination of two or more kanji.

d. Phonetic – Ideographic Characters

Kanji that are made up of a meaning element and a sound element.

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D. Peculiarities of Japanese Pronunciation

A. Long Vowels
When the same vowel is placed one right after the other, the pronunciation of the vowel
becomes about twice as long as the single vowel. Be sure to hold the sound long enough,
because the length of the vowel can change one word to another.

aa おばあさん obaasan cf. おばさん aunt

ii おじいさん ojiisan cf. おじさん uncle

uu すうじ suuji

ee The long ee sound is usually transcribed by adding い to an e-vowel hiragana.

There are few words, however, in which え is used instead of い.

えいが eiga (movie)

おねえさん oneesan (big sister)

oo The long oo sound is in most cases transcribed by adding う to an o-vowel

hiragana. There are, however, words in which the long vowel is transcribed with an
お, for historical reasons.
ほうりつ hooritsu (law)
とお too (ten)

B. Pronunciation of ん

ん “n” is treated like a full syllable, in terms of length. Its pronunciation varies, however,
depending on the sound that follows it. Japanese are normally not aware of the different sound
values of ん.

The pronunciation changes of the ん sound

1. When used before the たRow, だRow, らRow and なRow, it sounds like “n”.

どんどん dondon rapidly

きんりん kinrin neighborhood

みんな minna everyone

2. When used before the ばRow, ぱRow, and まRow, it sounds like “m”. “しんば
し”, “しんび”.

しんばし Shimbashi Shimbashi Station

しんぴ shimpi mystery

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3. Before the かRow and がRow, it sounds like "ng”. “たんき”, “かんがえ”.

たんき tanki Short – term

かんがえ kangae thought

C. Vowels to be dropped

The vowel I and u are sometimes dropped when placed between voiceless consonants (k,s,t,p
and h), or at the end of an utterance preceded by voiceless consonants.

Example: すきです s(u)ki des(u) I like it.

D. Accent in the Japanese Language

Japanese has pitch accent; all syllables are pronounced basically either in high or low pitch.
Unlike English stress accent in which stressed syllables tend to be pronounced longer and
louder, in Japanese each syllable is pronounced approximately in equal length and stress. The
pitch pattern in Japanese vary greatly, depending on the region of the country.

4 different types of accents

1. The first syllable is high and then gradually turns into a low accent.

2. First is low, next part being high, and then by the end of the word, it becomes a
low accent.

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3. The beginning is low, and then continues to become high.

4. The sound remains the same high tone.

The Japanese writing system consist of Hiragana,

Katakana and Kanji.

Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary which are used

to write words that are of pure Japanese origin.

Katakana is a Japanese syllabary which are used

to write words that are of foreign origin.

Kanji is the logographic Chinese characters that

are used in the Japanese writing

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References

1 Sparknotes (2020) Japanese Vocabulary.

2 Timothy Stout (2019) Japanese Hiragana and Katakana for Beginners.

3 Tsujimura Natsuko. (2017) An Introduction to Japanese Linguistics. 3rd Edition.

4 Banno, Ikeda, Ohno, Shinagawa, Takashiki (2016) Genki 1 (An integrated Course in Elementary
Japanese)

5 JapanesePod101.com (2016) Learn All Hiragana in 1 hour – how to read and write Japanese.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p9Il_j0zjc

6 JapanesePod101.com (2016) Learn All Katakana in 1 hour – how to read and write Japanese.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6DKRgtVLGA

7 Udemy,Inc (2020) Introduction to the Japanese Language. Retrieved from

https://www.udemy.com/course/online-japanese-beginner-
course/learn/lecture/3730078#overview

8 Udemy, Inc (2020) Hiragana and Katakana stroke order. Retrieved from
https://www.udemy.com/course/hiragana-and-katakana-stroke-
order/learn/lecture/5974892#overview

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