by Achae

How is Japanese written?

Traditionally Japanese is written vertically, starting from the right side of the page. The use of English has also made it common for it to be written just like English, horizontal and starting from the left.

There are two methods for writing Japanese - with Chinese symbols (called kanji), and with the syllabic form from the chart above (what katakana and hirigana use). Kanji is the more difficult system because of the larger quantity of characters and the complexity of each symbol. Each character has its own meaning, and reading and writing each one can be a challenge. In 1981, the number of characters was identified by the Japanese government as reaching 1,945. This is for daily use! Children must learn these characters in school in addition to the syllabic form of reading and writing.

Hirigana and katakana use the same set of sounds but use different characters. Both characters are adapted from kanji. Hirigana is used in combination with kanji. Kanji is generally used as the root of the word and hirigana takes place of the inflection. Katagana is used when writing words from Western languages, such as English. As such, a single sentence can use all three writing systems! In addition to this, the English alphabet is employed by large companies for brand recognition (think Sony and Honda) in advertising. Does the Japanese language still seem simple to you?

Another aspect of the Japanese language is the use of honorific speech. This shows politeness and respect. A speaker must always be aware of the person they are addressing - whether it be their social standing to their gender. For example, the informal way of saying "to go" is "iku." The polite way is to add on an identifier - "iki-masu." The honorary way is "irassyaru." To be polite AND honorary one would use "irassyai-masu." Gender also uses different terms. For example, a male would informally use "boku" for "I" but a female would use "watashi." Yet in formal situations, both males and females adopt the "watashi." Words also change dependent on familial ties. For example, one's own mother would be "haha," but someone else's mother would be "okaasan."

At least the pronunciation remains the same!