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#Japanese Lesson: Introduction of Pronunciation

Japanese Writing:

The Japanese writing system consists of three different systems:

Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji

Hiragana:

Hiragana originates from the cursive script of Chinese calligraphy. The form of Hiragana is round and smooth without any sharp angles. Hiragana is a phonetic lettering system. It can be used to represent the pronunciation of a Kanji as well as used alone as a character in writing.

When Hiragana is used as a character on it's own, it can be a segment of a word or a grammatical element in a sentence such as a particle.

As segments of a word: わたし(I)、かばん(Bag)

As particles: を、は

Katakana:

Katakana comes from the regular script of Chinese calligraphy. It's form is more angular in comparison with Hiragana. Both Hiragana and Katakana can be used to represent Japanese pronunciation. And each Katakana has a correspondent Hiragana.

Katakana is usually used to spell foreign words. For example:

Television ➡テレビ(terebi)
Coffee ➡コーヒー(ko—hi—)
Camera➡カメラ(kamera)

Kanji:

There are massive amount of Kanji in Japanese language that are almost identical in appearance with Chinese characters yet with completely different pronunciations and denotations.

I➡私 (read as "watashi")
Umbrella ➡傘 (read as "kasa")
Desk➡机 (read as "tsukue")

Tips:

Hiragana placed above a Kanji is called Furigana, which indincates the pronunciation of the Kanji.

Fifty Sounds (Gojūon):

Gojūon (Fifty Sounds) is the foundation of Japanese learning. It is the Japanese "alphabetical order" and it's name refers to the 5×10 grid in which the characters are displayed. By using a Gojūon chart, Hiragana and Katakana can be learned and memorized pretty fast.