Introduction step1

Japanese writing system

                                                                                                                                   
   

Japanese is normally written in a combination of Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana.
For example,

#1   私はインドへ行きます。   ”I am going to India.”

Can you recognize the difference in tree types of characters?

Kanji…私、行

Hiragana…は、へ、き、ま、す

Katakana…イ、ン、ド

You might say, “Mmm...maybe...the line of Hiragana is curvilinear and the line of Katakana is straight. The line of Kanji is more complicated and it seems to be made by a few parts.”

That’s right!

But before you start these characters, you have to learn the Japanese sound system represented in Romaji. [the Roman alphabet]
The following sentence is written in Romaji, and the meaning is the same as the sentence #1

#2   Watashi wa Indo e ikimasu..
               （私　は　インド へ　行きます）

* You'll study the significanace of each color later.

Even if you can't read Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana, you will be able to pronounce this sentence in Japanese! Then, someone will ask you,saying
“Itsu ikun desu ka” (When will you go there?)
If you know the word, "itsu" (when) and "ashita" (tomorrow), you can easily answer it.
This is an advanteage of Romaji.

Let's master the Japanese sound system in the next step!