How do i red/write japanese

[SandWitch]

I know that it sounds a bit weird. But Japanese is it written left to right like english, or right to left?

Also they use/d to write vertical. Do you write up to down or down to up cuz i am all confused

 

[jspecdan]

If it's horizontal, it's right->left. If it's vertical, up->down move to the column to the left.

 

[Elizabeth]

Do you mean newspaper columns and some manga strips are right to left ?
I've never read actual Japanese text that way.

 

[jspecdan]

old japanese was read right to left

 

[orochi]

Traditionally, Japanese was written top to bottom, right to left. You can still see this in newspapers and some magazines, as well as on plaques, certificates, or other official documents.
Recently, though, for reasons I am not positive of (can anybody fill this in), Japanese is often written left to right, top to bottom now. This is apparent in many books and magazines, menus, and other documents. Some of these are still written in the old style, though. It is up to the author. I have a bunch of Japanese books and some are written in the old style while some are in the new. I work at a Japanese middle school, and looking at how teachers write on the blackboard reveals that both styles are used here as well.
So there's not really an easy answer. Seems to be fair game for one of two styles.

 

[playaa]

I have only seen in my short studies it being the traditional way.

 

[SandWitch]

I have started practising with words and scentences and i want to know if i am reading the scentence the right way or not. So basicly it is written in the same direction as english.

 

[orochi]

If it is written horizontal, then yes, read it the same as English. Good luck with your studies!

 

[Glenn]

I hope that this doesn't confuse the issue, but on older signs and such (before the westernization really took effect), they wrote what appears to be horizontally from left to right. In actuality, they were writing vertically from left to right, but each column had only one row. If you have seen "Rurouni Kenshin," then you will know what I am talking about. The sign outside of the "Akabeko" is written "こべ赤." However, note that this is only in old signs and such, and that anything written within the last 60 or so years will be from right to left if written horizontally. I hope that I didn't confuse you at all.