Japanese Writing System

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Japanese Writing System

• ???? ???? ??

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3 Types of Writing

• Hiragana (sound system based on Japanese words)
• Katakana (sound system based on foreign loan
  words)
• Kanji (meaning system based on Chinese Words)
• (The English alphabet used for souding out words
  is called roomaji)

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Hiragana ????

• Originally based from Chinese characters taken
  for their sounds
• ex. ??? ??? ???
• Used for Japanese words like
• ichiban ????
• arigatou ?????

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Hiragana Origin (from Wikipedia)
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Katakana ????

• Originally based from Chinese characters taken
  for their sounds
• ex. ??? ??? ???
• Used for foreign loan words like
• television terebi ???
• pizza piza ??

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Katakana Origins (from Wikipedia)
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Kanji ??

• Meaning system based on Chinese words
• ex. School gakkou ?? (????)
• I watashi ? (???)
• Many kanji characters have multiple readings
• ex. ? ?? ???
• tsuki ichigatsu getsuyoubi

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Hiragana Katakana - Kanji

• Japanese people use a combination of the three
  writing systems hiragana, katakana, and kanji
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• In newspapers today, kanji takes up about 40 of
  the text, and hiragana and katakana the other
  60.

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