Lesson #1: Introduction to Japanese

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This page was created on 5 June, 2007.

An Introduction to Japanese Characters

Japanese consists of three different kinds of characters: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. These three kinds of characters are used together to form Japanese sentences.

Hiragana

Hiragana, like the English alphabet, represents sounds. The function of hiragana is to write out characters that do not have kanji, conjugation endings, and function words. There are 46 hiragana syllables, which will be introduced in the next lesson.

Katakana

Katakana, like hiragana, also represents sounds. The function of katakana is to write out foreign names and words taken from other languages. For example, the English word "television" is pronounced "terebi" in Japanese and is written in katakana.

Kanji

Kanji are Chinese characters that hold meanings. Kanji usually have multiple pronunciations. Kanji are mostly used for nouns and verb/adjective stems. Kanji are also usually the most complicated characters to write and memorize.

Assignment

There is no assignment for this first lesson. However, many of the following lessons will include an interactive assignment for you to complete and send to your Japanese instructor. The instructor will respond within a few days. This service is provided free of charge. If you have any questions about this process, please e-mail your instructor at: eunnah@stanford.edu.

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