The easiest explanation to learn the basics!
First of all: The characters used in Japanese were originally adopted from China. This is why they are also called “Kanji” (漢字) in Japanese. The first character is pronounced “Kan” and stands for China. The second character therefore stands for “Ji” and means “character”. So far so simple: now you already know your first “Japanese” character!
Kanji represent the most important information in texts. Just as we can skim a text by using nouns as a guide, a Japanese person can grasp the most important information by jumping from Kanji to Kanji.
Unlike in Chinese, where only characters are used, the Kanji in Japanese are “glued” together by two other writing systems or alphabets.
These two alphabets were created as a simplification of Kanji and are used for different purposes.
The good news is that both alphabets stand for the same sounds. In theory, you can therefore write anything in Japanese using one of the two writing systems and be understood. However, all three types of Japanese characters have their very own purpose and, when combined, serve to provide clarity in long sentences and continuous text.
As already mentioned, Kanji mark the most important information such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and place names. To put it simply, the Hiragana are used to stick this information together grammatically, while the Katakana are nowadays used for words that have become established in the language from other languages or to represent foreign names.
For example:
昨日はピザしか食べなかった
Marked in black, the Kanji provide the most important information (yesterday/eat), Katakana in blue immediately indicate that the dish is originally a foreign dish (pizza) and the Hiragana in red link this information to the corresponding grammar, e.g. the conjugation of the verb “eat”. Once you get used to the different functions of Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana, Japanese texts become much clearer!
The same sentence in Hiragana only:
きのうはぴざしかたべなかった
The sentence is readable, but you hardly know where a word begins or ends and have to read with much more concentration. As you can see, you can’t avoid learning Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji in the long run.
Now that we know the basic differences of Japanese characters and the usage of them, let’s take a look at two other key points on our way to understand Japanese and start learning it!
Maybe you’ve already read manga and wondered why you have to open the book from the “wrong” side. At least that’s how I felt when I bought the first volume of Dragonball with my pocket money. The classic direction of writing in Japanese is from right to left and from top to bottom. So the sentence starts at the top right and continues downwards. At the end of the page, it continues to the left.
Due to Western influence, however, the writing direction we are used to has established itself as a second option and is now widespread.
Perhaps the most confusing point at the beginning is the sentence structure. Instead of the S-V-O order we are used to, i.e. subject-verb-object, the verb is placed at the end of the sentence in Japanese. The order S-O-V sounds a lot like Master Yoda when translated directly, but once you get used to it, it’s not that difficult to jump back and forth between the languages.
Phew! That’s a lot for the beginning! Unfortunately, it is the bare minimum to get started learning Japanese. So, where is the best place to start and how should you ever memorize all the different Japanese characters?
マ
Brand emblem of the car manufacturer “Ma ”serati (even if it actually looks slightly different)
ラ
A halved bowl of ramen with steam rising above it
ム
A particularly musically talented triangle
It is also important to internalize the correct stroke order. There are certain principles according to which the characters are written. You can read more about the stroke order of Japanese characters here and get started on becoming a master of calligraphy with our free tables for hiragana, katakana and kanji.
Although there are some good free apps such as “Obenkyo” or “Kanji Tree”, which show the stroke order of hiragana and co. and in which the characters can also be traced, in the long term I have switched to paper and always carry a small notebook with me on the train or plane so that I can use waiting times for learning and revision even without electricity or internet.
Immersion in the context of foreign languages means that you “dive into” a language. The quickest way to learn a language is actually to be surrounded by the language as much as possible in everyday life. One way is to consume media in Japanese. My medium of choice here is Netflix, as the availability of Japanese shows or Japanese voice-over and subtitles is very high and of good quality and, above all, the playback speed can be varied, which is extremely important, especially for beginners. By linking what you hear with the translation and visual cues, certain words or sentence patterns are quickly consolidated.
Of course, this effect is greatest when you learn at a language school in Japan! Not only do the lessons take place exclusively in Japanese, but you are also surrounded by Japanese characters and the language in everyday life. On the way to the language school, I didn’t understand the announcements on the platform and in the train at all. But because you hear the announcement and see what is happening at the same time, you quickly make connections in your head. As a result, I was able to identify a new part of the announcement or read another kanji almost every day and now train stations and airports are no longer a problem. The same progress would have taken much longer in Germany. If you want to start your language adventure full of motivation now, take a look at the different courses and language schools here:
So that you can start learning the two alphabets straight away, you can download the two tables and a blank template as a ready-to-print PDF here. You can also distribute these non-commercially while retaining the logo and lettering.
What do you think of this topic? Do you have completely different experiences? What are your best tips for learning? Let us know!