Lesson 4
Culture Notes Download pdf
The Japanese Language
Why do the Japanese use three writing systems?
The Japanese use three different systems to represent different words and
meanings and to make the language clearer for the reader. Let’s look at the
different types of writing:
Kanji - 漢字
Kanji are symbols which represent a whole word. They can be quite
complicated to write and often involve many strokes. Kanji came to Japan
from China and are now used with the hiragana and katakana alphabets to
form whole sentences. Children are expected to know around 2000 kanji
characters by the time they leave school and indeed need to know this many
in order to be able to read a newspaper! Children have to sit frequent kanji
tests at school.
It is sometimes quite easy to see how kanji characters developed. Look at the following kanji and try to guess their meaning (answers on next page).
山 川 月
Because some kanji characters can be so difficult to write and remember, the Japanese simplified some of the symbols to form the katakana and hiragana alphabets：
Katakana - カタカナ
Katakana consists of 48 symbols, each one representing a sound. They are
put together to form words, much in the same way we use the letters in our
alphabet together to make words. Katakana is used for all words of foreign
origin, so your name (unless it’s Japanese) will be written using katakana,
many place names outside of Japan and loan words used in Japanese etc will
also all be written using katakana.
Katakana is also used for onomatopoeia – such as animal sounds etc.
Hiragana - ひらがな
Hiragana consists of 48 symbols, each one representing a sound (the same
sounds as the katakana alphabet). Hiragana is the traditional Japanese script
and is used to write words of Japanese origin. Hiragana may also be used as
a verb ending after a kanji character. All primary school students are expected
to learn the hiragana alphabet soon after they start school.
Answers to kanji quiz:
山 = mountain
川 = river
月 = moon
Did you get the answers right? Why not try to come up with your own kanji for a word? Choose an animal and make a rough sketch of it. Now simplify it and simplify it again. Can other children guess its meaning? Why not investigate the real kanji character for the animal you have chosen. Is your design similar to the real thing?
