Kana

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In Japanese there are multiple writing systems which are used in almost all sentences. There is Kanji (characters taken over from chinese), Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and Katakana are both phonetic writing systems. This means that the characters itself just stands for how something is pronounched (Just like these letters). Kanji is an exception, all characters have their own meaning and multiple ways of pronouncing them. View Kanji list.

Hiragana

Hiragana is mostly used for grammar elements and japanese vocab.


a

ka

sa

ta

na

ha

ma

ya

ra

wa

n

ga

za

da

ba

pa

i

ki

shi

chi

ni

hi

mi

ri

gi

ji

ji (di)

bi

pi

u

ku

su

tsu

nu

fu

mu

yu

ru

gu

zu

du

bu

pu

e

ke

se

te

ne

he

me

re

ge

ze

de

be

pe

o

ko

so

to

no

ho

mo

yo

ro

wo

go

zo

do

bo

po

Some characters can be combined to make sounds otherwise not possible (Note that the second character is a bit smaller):

きゃ
kya
ぎゃ
gya
しゃ
sha
じゃ
ja
ちゃ
cha
ぢゃ
ja (dya)
にゃ
nya
ひゃ
hya
びゃ
bya
ぴゃ
pya
みゃ
mya
りゃ
rya
きゅ
kyu
ぎゅ
gyu
しゅ
shu
じゅ
ju
ちゅ
chu
ぢゅ
ju (dyu)
にゅ
nyu
ひゅ
hyu
びゅ
byu
びょ
pyu
みゅ
myu
りゅ
ryu
きょ
kyo
ぎょ
gyo
しょ
sho
じょ
jo
ちょ
cho
ぢょ
jo (dyo)
にょ
nyo
ひょ
hyo
びょ
byo
ぴょ
pyo
みょ
myo
りょ
ryo

Note that some characters have the same pronunciation. To type them in on the computer, you have to use the characters between the ( ).

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Katakana

This is used for vocab taken from other languages (Like english). It has some extra pronounce rules to allow foreign vocab to fit in the language. Although the vocab doesn't exactly sound the same, with a bit practice it is still possible to recognize some vocab.


a

ka

sa

ta

na

ha

ma

ya

ra

wa

n

ga

ga

da

ba

pa

i

ki

shi

chi

ni

hi

mi

ri

gi

ji

ji (di)

bi

pi

u

ku

su

tsu

nu

fu

mu

yu

ru

gu

zu

du

bu

pu

e

ke

se

te

ne

he

me

re

ge

ze

de

be

pe

o

ko

so

to

no

ho

mo

yo

ro

wo

go

zo

do

bo

po

Some characters can be combined to make sounds otherwise not possible (Note that the second character is a bit smaller):

キャ
kya
ギャ
gya
シャ
sha
ジャ
ja
チャ
cha
ヂャ
ja (dya)
ニャ
nya
ヒャ
hya
ビャ
bya
ピャ
pya
ミャ
mya
リャ
rya
キュ
kyu
ギュ
gyu
シュ
shu
ジュ
ju
チュ
chu
ヂュ
ju (dyu)
ニュ
nyu
ヒュ
hyu
ビュ
byu
ピュ
pyu
ミュ
myu
リュ
ryu
キョ
kyo
ギョ
gyo
ショ
sho
ジョ
jo
チョ
cho
ヂョ
jo (dyo)
ニョ
nyo
ヒョ
hyo
ビョ
byo
ピョ
pyo
ミョ
myo
リョ
ryo

Since an increasing number of foreign words, some new methods have been used in order to make the sound as close as possible to the original sound of foreign words.

ファ
fa
フィ
fi
フェ
fe
フォ
fo
フュ
fyu
ウィ
wi
ウェ
we
ウォ
wo (who)
ヴァ
va
ヴィ
vi
ヴェ
ve
ヴォ
vo
チェ
che
シェ
she
ジェ
je
ティ
ti (thi)
ディ
di (dhi)
トゥ
tu (twu)
ドゥ
du (dwu)

Note that some characters have the same pronunciation. To type them in on the computer, you have to use the characters between the ( ).

Romaji

This is not really a Japanese writing system, but gets used more often in the modern times. Romaji are just characters like this.

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