Katakana, kanji, romaji

nikki_the_insane

Ramen Lover :3

31 Oct 2003

405

2

• 1 Nov 2003

• #1

Please tell me what all these diffrent types of japanese mean. I know katakana is primarily used for names. and I think Kanji is used for verbs and english to japanese names. Please could you explain these to me or give me a webiste that explains them pretty well. Doumo arigatou gozaimasu in advance.

 

Keiichi

Hi

9 Mar 2003

1,023

19

• 1 Nov 2003

• #2

I don't know much links but I remember browsing a link from Japan Information Resource - Japan's History - Japan's Culture - Japan's Geography someone posted recently. Check there near the bottom left under "Language of Japan." I might sound complicated though. ^^;

 

nikki_the_insane

Ramen Lover :3

31 Oct 2003

405

2

• 1 Nov 2003

• Thread starter
• #3

Oooo, too confusing. anyone have something my simple mind can understand?

 

C

Carolgirl00

~~

2 Aug 2003

196

1

• 1 Nov 2003

• #4

Check this out! They explain all those weird japanese writings quite simply.

http://www.kanjisite.com/html/wak/wak1.html

 

Keiichi

Hi

9 Mar 2003

1,023

19

• 1 Nov 2003

• #5

That's a good one. *nods*

 

C

candypop

後輩

1 Nov 2003

29

0

• 1 Nov 2003

• #6

Lets put it this way, hiragana is used purely for japanese words, katakana is used for words of foreign origin (eg. hando baggu came from english, and is hand bag). Kanji are chinese characters and romaji are the latin alphabet, like 'a' 'i' 'ki'....

Okies ^^

 

nikki_the_insane

Ramen Lover :3

31 Oct 2003

405

2

• 2 Nov 2003

• Thread starter
• #7

Okay, I kinda get it now thank you all!

 

D

dogcountry

後輩

14 Dec 2002

49

0

• 3 Nov 2003

• #8

Well, here's my 2 cents worth. Most of my Japanese was learned during my three years in Japan and my 500 hours at Berlitz. I've forgotten now more than I've learned. But I hit the books from time to time even now. I always thought Katagana was more like the printing style where the hiragana is more like the writing style. Kanji, of course, is taken from the Chinese characters. For example, you might see a store sign and most letters are in katagana. That's the best I can come up with.

 

nikki_the_insane

Ramen Lover :3

31 Oct 2003

405

2

• 3 Nov 2003

• Thread starter
• #9

doumo arigatou, I really appreciate your 2 cents worth! *pockets 2 cents worth*

 

samuraitora

先輩

29 May 2002

903

3

• 3 Nov 2003

• #10

That is a good Cliff-Notes version, and an excellent link. Read them both a few times and you should get a good feel for them. Plus, the more you learn, the easier everything becomes.