Why does japan have 3 alphabets

With visual aids like this, courses on each writing system, and a complete course for beginners, Busuu makes it easy to learn Japanese in just 10 minutes a day. Conveniently, the katakana character set covers the same sounds as hiragana. After all, how do you get gyoza and Pikachu without gyo, za, pi, or chu?

And with that, you have all of the primary sounds made in Japanese! A single kanji can be one word. Kanji are symbols that mean a whole word or idea. Worth noting: Hiragana and katakana are frequently used to tell you what a kanji says, or how to pronounce it. For example, you might see these characters on menus, or even in episode titles for TV shows.

This serves a double purpose: it can help foreigners and Japanese people alike, because there are many more kanji than most people — even Japanese people — ever learn. Good to know: There are usually two or more ways of reading any one kanji — these are categorised as onyomi Chinese origin and kunyomi Japanese origin readings.

Learning kanji is definitely the hardest part of learning Japanese. The more kanji you learn, the easier it becomes. And look — you already know your first three! Some Chinese characters began to be used not for their meaning, but purely for their phonetic value. So by the 9th century, Hiragana and Katakana scripts were derived from simplified Chinese characters that were used to write Japanese phonetically. The identical piece of text set vertically right and horizontally left.

When a main text is set horizontally, the binding is on the left-hand side, and pages progress to the right, like books in Latin scripts. Traditional books in vertical setting are the other way around, with the binding at the right hand side, and pages progressing to the left. A typical page layout of a Japanese paperback novel using a vertical setting. Needless to say, traditional calligraphy is always done vertically. Calligraphy by Keiko Shimoda, tsukushidesign. Horizontal setting is preferred for scientific texts, mathematical texts and language related books, where words and phrases in foreign scripts and signs are often included, as they are more easily incorporated horizontally.

The example above is a Japanese-English dictionary. Although it may appear a bit chaotic, or even random to foreign eyes, these two directions are usually used in a systematic way as a means to indicate different text elements on a page.

For instance, a main text is often set in a vertical setting, but headings and captions may be set in a horizontal setting. The same newspaper as above, but highlighting the vertical text orange and the horizontal text blue.

But if you use kanji for the roots of words and hiragana to indicate the parts of Japanese grammar that kanji aren't really suitable for it actually becomes a lot easier! That's it. They have three "alphabets" because different places, different cultures.

For example, an English speaker can complain that Spanish has many different verbs. Learning languages like Japanese, Chinese or Russian is an extra challenge, but should be very rewarding. Keep up! Are you really asking why Japanese has three alphabets?

I'm not sure why but I always find this question to be insulting somehow. And, after all, you have to admit, it does look quite beautiful. Be sure to follow us on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , and Pinterest for more fun stuff! Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In order to prevent the spread of COVID, some facilities and events throughout Japan may change their operating days or hours. In addition, some events may be canceled or postponed.

Please check official facility or event websites for the latest updates and information. Hit enter to search or ESC to close. Read also: 6 great free apps to study Japanese Hiragana and Katakana The two other writing systems, however, are much more accessible. Read also: 7 Tips for surviving Japan without Japanese So why keep all three? Your Japan Staff. May 9, May 10,