The Japanese Alphabet is an elegant system of writing that consists of two main scripts known as the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets.It's these two writing scripts that comprise the some 100 kana characters that are used to write and pronounce every sound in the Japanese language. Learning the alphabet has always been a difficult task for new students, as the characters often bare little if any resemblance to one another.
First, what you need to know about writing in Japanese is that there are three forms in which you can write and these are Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji (you might have heard of this one, since it is one of the most popular ones). The first two - Katakana and Hiragana - are writing styles that present profound similarities to other symbol alphabets (Even our Latin alphabet). This means that each character has a sound assigned to it. When it comes to Kanji, things stay a bit more different however. Kanji was borrowed from the Chinese symbol system and each symbol does not mean a character anymore, but an actual meaning (not necessarily a word, sometimes even a whole sentence). If you want to learn fast then the solution to the problem is to study one the first two writing styles Katakana or Hiragana because it will make it easier with your pronunciation. Through the help of those two, you will be able to understand Japanese meanings better, and later, if your interest is kept alive in the language then you may start studying Kanji. There are a number of changes that can take place with the Japanese alphabet characters, such as the dakuten and handakuten. These modifications typically result in different sounds and meanings of characters. One thing is for certain is that learning the kana becomes easier the more you associate mnemonics with each character. In time, learning both the alphabets will become an easy task that you can easily fulfill.
If you're interested in learning to speak Japanese or simply in learning about Japan and the Japanese language, you've come to the right place. Learn more on Rocket Japanese Review
