SECTION 3

Introduction to
the Japanese
Reading and
Writing System
 INTRODUCTION TO THE JAPANESE READING AND WRITING SYSTEM

There are 4 different letters or characters in Japanese: KANJI, HIRAGANA, KATAKANA and ROMAJI.

KANJI
Kanji (Chinese characters) are letters introduce from China which is used for writing nouns and stem of a
verb and adjectives. It expresses not only sound but also meaning through pictures.

HIRAGANA
Hiragana are Japanese characters which created from curve of Kanji and modify the reading of particular
Kanji. Hiragana is a soft letter made of lines.

KATAKANA
Katakana are other Japanese letters created by extracting a part of a Kanji character which is used for
foreign languages or words like name of persons, cities, and countries to become Japanized. It is also
used for telegraph text. Katakana is a hard letter made of straight lines.

ROMAJI
Romaji (Roman charaters) have recently been used for name of stations and on advertising words. It is
intended for foreign visitors of Japan. It is rarely used in regular sentence of Japanese except as symbol
or marks.

Each Kanji has a meaning but Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic symbols and they themselves have no
meaning. They are only symbol of sounds.

木 き ki tree 火 ひ hi fire

Hiragana and Katakana were made up from certain Kanji in order to represent Japanese syllabary.
Hiragana and Katakana were formed by simplifying the whole shape of certain Kanji and Katakana were
formed from a single part of Kanji.

Kanji 加 (ka) [kuwa-eru] “to add”

Hiragana (ka) Katakana (ka)

Here is an example with combined letters of Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana and Romaji.

Example: I listen to Japanese CD at Training Center.

Watashi wa Kenshu Senta de Nihongo no CD o kikimasu.
わたし は 研修センター で 日本語の CD を 聞きます。

Japanese for Beginner 1

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 RULES IN WRITING HIRAGANA

1. Long Vowels

A long vowel is pronounced twice as long as the ordinary vowels あ、い、う、え、お. If you count
the length of the vowel あ as one, the length of the long vowel ああ is counted as 2 syllabes.

A vowel whether long or not can change the meaning of a word.

Example:

obasan おばさん aunt : obasan おばあさん grandmother

ojisan おじさん uncle : ojisan おじいさん grandfather

yuki ゆき snow : yuki ゆうき courage

e え picture , painting : e ええ yes
toru とる take : toru とおる pass

koko ここ here : koko こうこう high school

heya へや room : heiya へいや open field

2. Double Consonants

Certain consonant are doubled when preceded by small っ (tsu) and form as one syllable.

Example:

buka ぶか subordinate : bukka ぶっか commodity price

kasai かさい fire : kassai かっさい applause
oto おと sound : otto おっと one’s husband
ichi いち one : icchi いっち accordance

zasshi ざっし magazine

kekkon けっこん marriage
kitte きって stamp

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3. Pronunciation of ん

ん never appears at the beginning of a word. It pronounced differently depending on the sound
that comes after it.

a. It is pronounced “n” before the sounds of T, D, R, N.

Example:

hantai はんたいopposite
undo うんどう sports / exercise

minna みんな exercise

b. It is pronounced “m” before the sounds of B,P, M.

Example:

shimbun しんぶん magazine

empitsu えんぴつ pencil
ummei うんめい destiny

c. It is pronounced “ng” before the sounds of K, G.

Example:

dengki でんき electricity / light

kenggaku けんがく visit / observing
gingko ぎんこう bank

4. Combined Letters – consonant い-Sound + small や、ゆ、よ

Consonant い-sound like 気、ぎ、し、じ、ち、ぢ、ひ、び、ぴ、み or り can combined with small や、

ゆ、よ. This two combined letters become one syllable.

Example:

hiyaku ひやく jump : hyaku ひゃく hundred

jiyu じゆう freedom : ju じゅう ten

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 biyoin びよういん parlor : byoin びょういん hospital
ocha おちゃ tea
gyunyu ぎゅうにゅう cow’s milk
bucho ぶちょう Department Head
ryoko りょこう travel

5. じ (ji) , ぢ(di) , ず(zu) , づ (du)

The difference between じ and ぢ、す and づ is not a matter of pronunciation but the usage. じ

and ず are commonly used.

Example:

kaji かじ fire
suzushi すずしい cool
tsuduku つづく to continue

6. The following particles in a sentence are read in special way.

は(ha) is pronounced as WA, when used as a particle.

へ(he) is pronounced as E, when used as a particle.

を(wo) is pronounced as O, when used as a particle.

Example:

わたし は がくせい です。 I am a student.

Watashi wa gakusei desu.

そう では ありません。 It is not so.

So dewa arimasen

にほん へ いきます。 I will go to Japan.

Nihon e ikimasu.

てがみ を かきます。 I will write a letter.

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 Tegami o kakimasu.

Japanese for Beginner 1

初級日本語１

RULES IN WRITING KATAKANA

1. Words having a CVCV pattern. (CVCV – Consonant Vowel Consonant Vowel)

mania マニア
camera カメラ
coin コイン

2. Words containing 2 or more consonant sounds in successions (-cc) are pronounced after each
consonant sound.

a. “t” and “d” are followed by “o”

hint ヒント hinto

emerald エメラルド emerarudo

** except for “salad” which becomes サラダ sarada

b. “c, b, f, g, k, l, m, n, p, and s” are followed by “u”.

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 mask マスク masuku
post ポスト posuto
milk ミルク miruku

c. “final –te” and “final –de” are handled in the same way as “-t” and “-d”, becoming “to”
and “do”

note ノート no-to

shade シェード she-do

d. When the original word ends in “c, b, f, k, l, m, p or s” followed by silent “e”, the
consonant sound is followed by “u” in Japanese.

simple シンプル shinpuru

knife ナイフ naifu
single シンゲル shingeru
game ゲーム ge-mu

** However, “-ge” becomes “ji” ジ.

orange オレンジ orenji

page ページ pe-ji

3. All long vowels are indicated by using dash (-) in writing horizontally. This dash indicates that
the preceding vowel is given a duration of 2 moras. When writing vertically, they are indicated
with a vertical line ｜.

seesaw シーソー shi-so-

queen クイーン kui-n
elevator エレベーター erebe-ta-

a. “-ar, -er, -ir, -ur, -or”

car カー ka-
curtain カーテン ka-ten
lover ラバー raba-
form フォーム fo-mu
girl ガール ga-ru

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 record レコード reko-do
report レポート repo-to

b. Final ‘-or” is expressed with a long –a- sound, not a long –o- sound.

sailor セーラ se-ra

doctor ドクター dokuta-
error エラー era-

c. “-ee-, -ea-, -ai-, -oa-, -ou-, -au-, -oo-

speed スピード supi-do

seal シール shi-ru
coat コート ko-to
sauce ソース so-su
cheese チーズ chi-zu
chain チェーン che-n
group グループ guru-pu
room ルーム ru-mu
beer ビール bi-ru
coffee コーヒー ko-hi

d. “-all, -al, -ol”

call コール ko-ru

old オールド o-rudo
balk ボーク bo-ku
ball ボール bo-ru

In vertical, it is written as:

record レ supermarket ス
コ ｜
｜ パ
ド ｜

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4. The same procedure with that of Hiragana, double consonant is indicated by small ッ (tsu). Small
ッ (tsu) is used by the consonant if it is pronounced as the emphasis in a word.

bed ベッド beddo

knock ノック nokku
switch スイッチ suicchi
ship シップ shippu
magic マジック majikku
drop ドロップ doroppu
pilot パイロット pairotto
smog スモッグ sumoggu

a. Words which are spelled with 2 vowels in a row but are rendered in Japanese with a double
consonant sound rather than with a lengthened vowel sound.

“-oo-, -ea-, -ou-, -ui-“

book ブック bukku

circuit サーキット sa-kitto
head ヘッド heddo
touch タッチ tacchi

5. If the name or word starts at letter “c”, it is pronounced as キャ (kya).

Canon キャノン kyanon

Cameron キャメロン kyameron

6. Some new method (additional syllables for Katakana characters)

Because of the increasing numbers of foreign words (like English words), new method has been
adopted in order to make the sound as close as possible to the original sound of foreign words
such as [fi], [ti], [we] etc.

Philippine フィリピン
party パーテイー
weight ウェイト

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** Additional syllables for foreign words

FA ファ TI テイ WI ウイ
FI フィ TU トウ WE ウエ
FE フェ WO ウオ
FO フォ DI デイ
DU トウ KWA クア
VA ヴァ GWA グア
VI ヴィ SHE シェ KWO クオ
VU ヴ JE ジェ
VE ヴェ DYU デユ CHE チェ
VO ヴォ YE イエ

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