When the Japanese write they mix three writing systems which is why its a BIG hurdle to get started on reading real japanese – but also much more fun

First of all Japanese got kana which is 2 almost similar syllabic  alphabets called hiragana and katakana.  Each sign in theese alphabets is a sound and they each have 46 basic signs and some extra combinations. Hiragana is recognised as the signs with the round  and soft shapes used for regular japanes words. Katakana is more edgy and straight and is used for foreign words, emphasis and special words.  So you will see icecream written in katakana and sushi written in hiragana or kanji. Most teaching books start out using romanization (in japanese calles rōmaji ). This is a translation af the japanese kana to the latin alphabet,  so you can read the words without anny knowledge of the japanese alphabet – f.ex. sushi, Tōkyō etc.

Kanji is the chineese symbols used in japanese writing. Kanji represent ideas or words rather than syllables. Kanji can be put together to form new words. The japanese ministry has choosen approx. 2000 kanji used to read Japanese – but in reality there are many more to learn.  Sometimes kanji are spelled out with small hiragana symbols above them called furigana (so you can read it aloud without knowing the kanji). So how does they look.

English word:

Train

(this word would not be written in katakana – but this is just for showing the difference)

Romanization:

densha         (de – n – sha)

Hiragana:

でん しゃ

Katakana

デンシャ

Kanji:

電車

(this is a 2 compund kanji which means electric – vechicle)

Where to start.  You can follow along my mission from thenethernet – and we will go through some good online tools for learning to read Japanese.

If youre allready on it.. then what are you waiting for, click next