See for example the many discussions on the Language Log, such as this one on Cantonese. Even to briefly describe the relationship between spoken Cantonese and written Chinese is complicated, because formal Chinese writing when read out loud is pronounced in Cantonese without actually being Cantonese. The question arises of whether the Cantonese language is simply vernacular or not, but logically, formal Cantonese must also exist.
When that or vernacular Cantonese is written, it can't be done with the standard Chinese character set, and there are hundreds of characters I have seen it suggested that there are more than which are needed to render Cantonese words that don't exist in Mandarin. No, it started way before any English was heard in Japan. Look at all the Chinese loan words, the Portuguese loan words Japanese is a sponge of a language, it likes to soak up whatever it comes into contact with. It does go both ways, but I rarely hear Japanese mock folk who cannot pronounce Japanese words correctly.
And I have never heard a Japanese demand that furriers learn kanji, hiragana and katakana to prevent them mispronouncing basic words. There's nowt wrong wi' katakana, nowt wrong wi' English spelling. Any foreigners that say, " I don't see the need for Language and writing systems evolve over millennia, and now you recently arrive on Japan's shores and all of a sudden you're an expert, a scholar on what Japan needs and ought to do?
Anyway, I find that most people who blab like this are just too lazy or frustrated or not talented enough when it comes to studying Japanese, especially reading and writing.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with Japan's writing system. Stop being one of those uppity, entitled, insensitive, arrogant westerners and just study already. Around the world, languages take in words from other languages. They've been doing it for hundreds of years, and they still do it. Some languages, or rather cultures, are more amenable than others to this process. English and Japanese are two very mongrelized languages, though there are plenty of others.
In the process of adopting loanwords into a language, any aspect of those words may change: the spelling if the two languages share a writing system , the pronunciation, or the meaning. In many cases, all three. The pronunciation invariably changes, because unless two languages are nearly identical, it sounds distinctly odd to try and retain accuracy when the easier alternative of corrupting the word to suit local tastes presents itself.
In English, words adopted from French can even end up with two distinctly different pronunciations, such as masseuse or lingerie, which in North America have been severely, er, Anglicized. The new pronunciation, spelling and meaning of adopted words are legitimate, because they are used within the context of the new language they have entered.
You will unthinkingly use words every day in English that have been lifted from another language, in some cases not even knowing which exact language they did come from tea, pajamas, tattoo, boondocks, amok, taboo or how close they remain to the "original" version of the word, which may itself have come from another language anyway.
Wipeout: Bit late to respond, but the years ago argument is also illogical as you put it. Today we have the internet and live stream, global scale communication. Sure, in the s it didn't matter if you butchered your Chinese in England because nobody'd be the wiser. Today, it takes seconds to check a new word, especially when it first enters the language.
Just because there is a historical precedent does not mean it is correct. In addition, mostly what I am talking about is not even old words that have established year usage. Japan was also male dominance in the past, so the Katakana which is the male character was used for an official document.
It seems to be because writing implements in the time were a board-like bamboo stick, and a curved line was difficult. Today I have learned hiragana yes even double and I already have my view on 3 writing systems :D. True, BUT hey, I must be genius or what, why not using spaces between sentence words?
You all even Japanese speakers say spaces. Why not writing it? Removing kanji characters does not mean that the meaning would be lost. Because if two speakers can understand each other by speaking and they speak by hiragana sounds then they could understand that written hiragana of kanji characters too. Don't worry, there are some media that already incorporate spaces into Japanese text, like in some videogames, so your genius is very much appreciated.
Yes, indeed, people can understand each other despite the homonyms because of the context, but writing gives you the opportunity to express what you actually mean. It is hard to explain, but in simple terms, it gives the writing a more precise meaning to indicate what the writer is actually trying to say. You know how English literature can have different interpretations, right?
Another reason is for brevity. Sometimes the word takes too much space when written in kana that they resort to using the less used kanji, especially in printed media like magazines or on TV when the kana would take up too much screen space. Once you learn Japanese more, you would realize that Kanji makes the text more readable. Pure kana just gives me a headache when reading long text like in Pokemon.
Like I said, it is hard to explain, but once you delve deeper into Japanese, you would learn to appreciate Kanji. If the Japanese themselves are not protesting about it including the smart people , I don't think you have the credibility to tell them what to do with it. Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday.
By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts. A mix of what's trending on our other sites. Actually, there are three pretty solid arguments against writing exclusively in hiragana. This sounds like it would have the potential to turn every sentence into a confusing mass of congealed language bits, but written Japanese tends to fall into patterns where kanji and hiragana alternate, with the kanji forming base vocabulary and the hiragana giving them grammatical context.
Adam Shrimpton. Not that it will ever happen, but Japan would do well to simplify a little Fox Sora Winters. Deborah Lansford. Mike L. Japanese has three completely separate sets of characters Fall at the first hurdle. I think instead of just using romanji Romaji no 'n'. These are the romaji roman script systems You're right, but this article is about characters used for writing, not writing systems. It is not Katakana's fault. Oh, and I completely forgot about on-yomi and kun-yomi When all is said and done, it is "watashi wa kuruma o mita" It is actually the "WA" sound written as "HA" because it's a human language, and it makes no sense Get over it!!
But some aren't different, just bigger. For any reason I want to because it's my language. Suzuki-san: That's nice china. Where did you get it?
Smith: Err, China!! More likely because I'm the poster than because of the content. Because just 'k' does not exist in the Japanese phonemic structure. Stranger: right, I would push to make it exist. Given It is not just Japan, I have travelled the Globe and your de-facto English exists very little outside the business and tourist Industry. Back home we learn English from the age of 7 but most people forgot most of it. For the sake of foreigners' convenience in learning Japanese?
I teach a lot of individuals who travel abroad for business My main point is that people all languages, if at all possible, should be taught to at least attempt correct pronunciation of words if they are applicable.
Many mistakenly believe it will be understood outside of Japan which is a problem. It has nothing to do with good habits or bad. They are learning Japanese, not English. H is the only row that uses handakuten, and it becomes P when the small circle is added. A friend once shared the mnemonics she learned in high school with me, and they immediately helped me memorize the kana.
Yeah, it may be silly. But it helps! Create your own, or try some of these. I learned this list nearly 12 years ago! The crazier and more vibrantly you can associate them in your mind, the easier it will be to memorize them. The same is true when you move on to kanji memorization. Honestly, the best tip is to write it out as much as you can.
Whenever I was bored usually in college classes… , I would make a box and mark it vertically with the consonants, and horizontally with the vowels. And then I would fill in all the spots with the right hiragana and katakana. You could also practice Japanese writing, and write right to left, and vertically. There are also tons of easy reading resources to learn Japanese and get practice reading hiragana and katakana.
In the 9 th century hiragana and katakana developed as simplifications of the original Chinese characters. Hiragana developed as a more casual alternative to kanji, and was used mostly by women to write informal materials such as letters, diaries, poems, and stories.
Katakana was developed by Buddhist monks as a simplified phonetic script which they used to annotate religious texts written in Chinese.
To study the Japanese writing system you should first learn hiragana and katakana. This should not take too long. When you have mastered these you are ready to study kanji. This will take longer. There are said to be over 50, kanji in total. To learn to read kanji properly requires patience, dedication, and a steady study habit over the long term.
It will depend on your own study habits exactly how long it takes, but two years is not an unreasonable length of time to spend learning to read Japanese. The history and purpose of the Japanese writing system. Like hiragana, there are 5 singular vowels, 40 consonant-vowels and 1 singular consonant in katakana.
Foreign names are similarly also written in katakana. If you have a non-Japanese name, you will probably learn how to write your name in katakana first. There are several thousand kanji characters in regular use. All have different meanings and most have more than one pronunciation, depending on context.
You must learn and memorise each character along with its readings. But what does make it easier is living and studying in Japan , where you are exposed to Japanese every day.
You will get accustomed to how words are read and used faster than you would learning Japanese in your home country. Learn more about the benefits of learning Japanese through full immersion here. In Japan you will also see the Roman alphabet used to spell out sounds. All of this can sound a bit overwhelming, especially for beginners.
No worries, there are plenty of great resources out there to put you on the right track, from phone applications to books, and even games! Use this time to learn some Japanese at home! Another great way to master the basics is to take our online beginner Japanese course. We partnered with Akamonkai Japanese Language School to offer a comprehensive week course designed to give you the best foundation to develop your language skills from. Learn more about the course here.
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