Katakana and hiragana

[Joe17]

Hello, I have found a very good site helping people learn katakana and hiragana : members.aol.com/writejapan/katakana/writutor.htm .. but.. I was wondering.. why are there two ways of writing the same thing? I don't understand why japanese people have katakana, hiragana and kanji..if they all mean the same thing, is it just so people who want to look smart write kanji? Sorry, I didn't do any research on why there are different writing styles.. I just want to get back to learning how to write japanese real quick please post a reply to this asap (i hope I made sense.. I wrote this very fast )

 

[Joe17]

ffff

i deleted this part of the post because i found out this answer. but please, i still need to know the answer to the above post. thanks

 

[tasuki]

Look up this thread.

Origin/purpose of katakana | Japan Forum

Basically, they keep both because of tradition and habit, I would think, but the reasons for why they use both to this day are there.

 

[TJRanma]

I AM HOPING TO FIND A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS ME TO TYPE IN JAPANESE..............even on an English keyboard.
Where can I find such a program??

 

[tasuki]

Microsoft Japanese IME. You can download it from the Microsoft Web site, according to your OS. Run a search for IME on the site and the download page opens automatically.

 

[Keiichi]

Originally posted by TJRanma
I AM HOPING TO FIND A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS ME TO TYPE IN JAPANESE..............even on an English keyboard.
Where can I find such a program??

Japanese pretty much uses an English (QWERTY) keyboard for their programs. If you type ki, it'll convert into hiragana ki. If you hold shift (or whatever) and type ki, it'll convert into katakana ki. Basically like that.

 

[tasuki]

Yes, but you still need an input editor... Even Japanese OSs use them...

 

[Erik]

If your looking for a simple word processor,

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