Here's the breakdown:
1. Hiragana (ひらがな)
* Used for:
* Words that don't have kanji (like grammatical particles, verb endings, and some native Japanese words)
* Words that are difficult to write in kanji (like onomatopoeia)
* Pronunciation guides for kanji
* Characteristics:
* Flowing, cursive script
* Each character represents a syllable (e.g., あ = "a", い = "i", う = "u")
* There are 46 basic hiragana characters
2. Katakana (カタカナ)
* Used for:
* Foreign words and names (e.g., "computer" becomes コンピュータ)
* Emphasis (similar to italics in English)
* Technical terms
* Characteristics:
* Angular, blocky script
* Each character represents a syllable
* There are 46 basic katakana characters
3. Kanji (漢字)
* Used for:
* Most nouns, verbs, and adjectives
* Often have multiple readings depending on context
* Characteristics:
* Based on Chinese characters
* There are thousands of kanji, but only a few hundred are commonly used
Here's how to write in "every Japanese":
1. Choose the appropriate script:
* Hiragana for words without kanji, for pronunciation guides, and for emphasis.
* Katakana for foreign words, names, and technical terms.
* Kanji for nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
2. Learn the basic characters:
* Start with the hiragana and katakana characters. There are resources online and in textbooks.
3. Practice writing:
* The best way to learn is to practice writing the characters over and over.
4. Use a dictionary and online resources:
* When you encounter an unfamiliar kanji, look it up in a dictionary or online.
5. Be patient:
* Learning Japanese takes time and effort. Don't get discouraged if you don't get it right away.
Remember:
* It's important to learn how to read and write in all three scripts to be proficient in Japanese.
* Japanese is a challenging but rewarding language to learn.
* Enjoy the process and have fun learning!