Learning the Japanese Alphabets

Learning the Japanese alphabets means learning two distinctly different systems for the sounds, and yet a third set of characters that represent complete words. The Japanese language is comprised of 46 sounds. Each of these sounds is represented by two characters from the furigana alphabets, hiragana and katakana. Combinations of sounds are joined to form words, so these and single-sound words are represented in picture symbols called Kanji. While this may seem very confusing and complicated at first, there is clear logic and reason as to which words are written in which alphabet.

Many people think that the Japanese and Chinese languages are linguistically related. Originally, they are not; it is only after centuries of Chinese influence on Japanese literacy that there is evidence of a common connection.

When the Chinese first came to Japan, they brought with them their system of writing, along with new foods and new thoughts in religion and education. The Chinese system is made up of pictographs that represent words. Because of its sophistication, only Japanese men from the highest realms of society were taught this new system. They took the meanings of the picture symbols and applied them to their own language. In some cases, they took the Chinese sound, dismissing the meaning, and used that character to represent isolated sounds in Japanese such as grammatical aspects of the language. In other cases, they adopted some of the Chinese words into their lexicon, a common phenomenon in the evolution of living languages.

The women from these higher ranks of society were exposed to the writing system, but excluded from any learning. Determined and resourceful, however, the women observed the scribes and eavesdropped on their academic and literary discussions, eventually developing their own "secretive" alphabet. The women took the Chinese characters of single-sound words that were closest to the Japanese phonetics, simplified and ordered them, thereby creating the first Japanese alphabet, hiragana.

Hiragana came to be known as "women's words". Eventually, literacy seeped into the lower classes as the hiragana alphabet spread across the country. The third and newest alphabet, katakana, came about in the 17^th Century when foreign missionaries came into Japan with new things, new meanings, and new sounds that required expression. Katakana, also a phonetic alphabet, is an even simpler version of each of the hiragana characters and is used primarily to spell, or sound out, the words from other languages, including proper nouns.

Today, learners of Japanese as a second or foreign language should first learn the 46 sounds that comprise the linguistic phonetics. These sounds can all be written in roman letters. In fact, when written in the Western ABCs, it is referred to as "Romaji". It is not recommended, however, to increase your Japanese vocabulary by writing new words in romaji because this will hinder authentic pronunciation and create a psychological block to ever learning the Japanese alphabets.

It is best to memorize the hiragana characters first because they are reserved for purely Japanese vocabulary. Also, each of the hiragana characters is different enough from all the others, so learners are not so likely to get them confused. Several of the katakana characters on the other hand, look similar to each other, making it easy to memorize mistakes - a problem that is not so easy to rectify later.

In learning the Japanese alphabet, there is no way to get around the act of memorization. You simply have to memorize each character and its corresponding sound. Making flash cards with the character on one side and the romaji representation of its sound on the other side is probably the best method. Although you can buy pre-made flash cards, you will actually memorize them faster if you make your own.

Make the first five one day and study them throughout the day. Make the next five on the next day, and five more the day after that. On the fourth day, review the first 15 characters and sounds and practice them throughout the day. Repeat this process until all 46 are memorized. Practice quizzing yourself with your hiragana set for several days before you start to learn the katakana.

When you are ready to learn katakana, follow the same routine you did for learning hiragana, except make your flash cards with the katakana on one side and the representation of its sound on the other side by writing it in hiragana. This way, you are establishing in your mind the transition from your own language to Japanese. This is crucial because if you learn Japanese from within the language itself, your comprehension and linguistic development will be more accurate as well as more speedy and efficient.

Once you have mastered the two furigana alphabets, you are ready to dive into the study of Kanji. Kanji is often thought to be more interesting, and therefore, more fun, because of its etymological elements and whole-word meanings. Be prepared for years of study, however, because you will need to master approximately 2,000 kanji to be considered literate in the Japanese language!

Learning the Japanese alphabets requires learning three different sets of characters - two that are phonetic alphabets and a third that is a semantic collection of the bulk of common vocabulary. Memorizing the two furigana alphabets, hiragana and katakana is the first step to achieving Japanese literacy. When you start to learn kanji, then, you can read graded books that have the pronunciation of the kanji written alongside the character in hiragana. Placing the word in context will help you learn the meaning. Keep a steady pace and you will enjoy the process of learning the Japanese alphabets.