Brief intro to Japanese

It is believed that Japanese emerged around 300 BC. Just like English, there were many phases of the Japanese language before it became what it is today.

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The Beginning

Hiragana is the first written Japanese that students learn. It is a syllabic writing like English. It is used when the words aren't present in Kanji. It's made up of 46 characters. In Hiragana, Japan is written as にほん.

Hiragana

Katakana is another syllabic writing system used but it's typically used for "borrowed words" or scientific words. It also contains 46 characters. In Katana, America is アメリカ.

Katakana

Kanji is made up of ideograms meaning each symbol may represent a word or phrase. It's the oldest written language and takes inspiration from Chinese. The Kanji for Japan is 日本.

Kanji