Mrs. Tamayo, our Speech Therapist, gave me a brief introduction to Japanese writing the other day. I want to share what I learned. I have to admit she needed to explain it to me several times. Japanese writing makes me a little dizzy.
I recommend that if you have the radio or TV on to turn it off. Go ahead. I’ll wait. You are going to need all of your brain power to concentrate on today’s lesson.
The Japanese use characters to write. The characters they use are made up of three separate systems. Yes. Three. (It makes me thankful for our 26 letters!)
• Kanji - Originally from China, these symbols on their own represent a thing or idea. Click here to learn more about Kanji.
• Hiragana – syllables that are the alphabet (like we have letters). They are put together to form Japanese words. Click here to see and hear Hiragana.
• Katakana – a different (and recently invented) system of alphabet-like syllables used for foreign words the Japanese have adopted. Click here to see and hear Katakana.
As you can see on this newspaper, Japanese writing can be done vertically or horizontally. I bet Mrs. Eversole would love this taiko drum! The Japanese admit that it takes a lot of time and effort to learn their way of writing. Children learn Kanji in school and by the time they reach middle school they can read and write over 1,000 characters. On the right, the link Name Translator will allow you to see what your name looks like in Katakana. Copy it down to get KenYen.
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