How to Read Japanese

Quick Links:Katakana, Hiragana & Kanji

Japanese Alphabets

Japanese has three different alphabets. Let's look at the differences between them. I'm sure you have heard of Sumo wrestling, that "Sumo" is Japanese as you may know. Using that lets look at the Alphabets Japanese uses.

alphabet nameexampleNotes
romanjisumouRomanji Japanese is Japanese written in the english characters.
HiraganaすもうMain phonetic alphabet
Katakanaスモウphonetic alphabet used for forign things such as names and words origninating from other languages or spelling out sounds of things.
Kanji相撲symbols that carry meanings, and can have multiple ways to be read.
All of the above examples are read as sumou. Modern Japanese written properly is 90% kanji, the rest being hiragana and the odd katakana

Japanese Vowels

If you want to be sure your reading the Romanji Japanese correctly, this is part you need to keep in mind. Japanese vowels only have one pronounciation unlike English an many other languages. The main point in reading Romaji Japanese is to use the right vowel pronounciation. See the below tables

VowelHiraganaKatakanaRead As ExampleNOT read as
a like 'a' in "father" never like 'a' in "ape" "able"
i like 'i' in "machine"never like 'i' in "internet" or "insect"
u a short oo like in "boom" or "broom"never like 'u' in "up" or "under"
e like 'e' in "set" or "elephant" never like 'e' in "japanese" or "cheese"
o like 'o' in "obey" or when you say "this is the letter o"never like 'o' in "boom" or "broom"
Long Vowelsany vowel with a dash above it eg. "ō", is a lengthend vowel and should be held with a double length. Also an "u" followed by an "o" like "kou" is also lengthened, essentially the same as "kō"

Japanese Hiragana (ひらがな)

Most Japanese Hiragana characters are usually a combination of an English Consonant plus a Vowel. for example k(constinant) and a(vowel) together "ka" is one character "か" (don't forget to use the right a pronounciation from above)

here is a table with all the Japanese hiragana


a

i

u

e

o

ka

ki

ku

ke

ko

sa

shi

su

se

so

ta
(ち)
chi
(つ)
tsu

te

to

na

ni

nu

ne

no

ha

hi
(ふ)
fu

he

ho

ma

mi

mu

me

mo

ya
 
yu
 
yo

ra

ri

ru

re

ro

wa
     
wo

n

ga

gi

gu

ge

go

za

ji

zu

ze

zo

da
(ぢ)
di
(づ)
du

de

do

ba

bi

bu

be

bo

pa

pi

pu

pe

po
きゃ
kya
  きゅ
kyu
  きょ
kyo
しゃ
sha
  しゅ
shu
  しょ
sho
(ちゃ)
cha
  (ちゅ)
chu
  (ちょ)
cho
ひゃ
hya
  ひゅ
hyu
  ひょ
hyo
ぎゃ
gya
  ぎゅ
gyu
  ぎょ
gyo
じゃ
ja
  じゅ
ju
  じょ
jo
びゃ
bya
  びゅ
byu
  びょ
byo

Japanese katakana (カタカナ)

Like Hiragana, most Japanese Katakana characters are usually a combination of an English Consonant plus a Vowel. for example k(constinant) and a(vowel) together "ka" is one character "か" (don't forget to use the right a pronounciation from above)

here is a table with all the Japanese katakana


a

i

u

e

o

ka

ki

ku

ke

ko

sa

shi

su

se

so

ta
(チ)
chi
(ツ)
tsu

te

to

na

ni

nu

ne

no

ha

hi
(フ)
fu

he

ho

ma

mi

mu

me

mo

ya
 
yu
 
yo

ra

ri

ru

re

ro

wa
     
wo

n

ga

gi

gu

ge

go

za

ji

zu

ze

zo

da
(ヂ)
di
(ヅ)
du

de

do

ba

bi

bu

be

bo

pa

pi

pu

pe

po
キャ
kya
  キュ
kyu
  キョ
kyo
シャ
sha
  シュ
shu
  ショ
sho
(チャ)
cha
  (チュ)
chu
  (チョ)
cho
ヒャ
hya
  ヒュ
hyu
  ヒョ
hyo
ギャ
gya
  ギュ
gyu
  ギョ
gyo
ジャ
ja
  ジュ
ju
  ジョ
jo
ビャ
bya
  ビュ
byu
  ビョ
byo

Japanese Kanji

Originating from China, Kanji are characters with meaning and usually have multiple readings. A single Kanji can be, but is not always a whole word by itself. Modern Japanese is about 90% Kanji. There are over 2000 commonly used Kanji in Japanese. Full list of the commonly used Kanji can be found here.
Below we'll just look at a few examples:

KanjiMeaning(s)Reading(s)Notes
doginu, kenmost of the time read as inu
catneko, byoumost of the time read as neko
bigoo, dai, taiunlike the above two kanji, one single kanji may not always be a whole japanese word in itself. The above cat and dog are yes, but the word "big" in japanese is actually "ookii". so if we write that in japanese, we would use this kanji for the "oo" of ookii and the rest would be hiragana . Like this 大きい.

In conclusion we should say, Kanji is not like Hiragana or Katakana in that you can't just go out and memorize it in a few days. Learn it as you learn Japanese. It should not be the focus of a begginer in Japanese. When you learn a new Japanese word, try looking up the Kanji it is written with. Review the meanings and readings of each Kanji the word uses, and you will start to remember the Kanji as they reapear.


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