Writing

Hiragana: -- syllabic script used for native Japanese words, particles; -- derived from cursive script forms of Chinese characters used in calligraphy; -- used in the inflected portions of verbs and adjectives, in this usage called "Okurigana"; -- also used to show the reading of Kanji, in this usage called "Furigana"
Katakana: -- angular, syllabic script used to render words borrowed from other languages except Chinese; -- derived from segments of Chinese characters; -- also used for emphasis, as in italics (often in comics, essays, etc.), and used in writing telegrams
Kanji: -- characters directly borrowed from Chinese; -- used in nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other such concrete words; -- many characters have forms quite different from their traditional Chinese counterparts
Roomaji: -- the Roman alphabet; -- used for abbreviations, and other special cases

What follows might seem like an endless list, but actually, only 46 distinct characters, namely, the basic sounds, per syllabic alphabet are to be learnt. Once remembered, the rest, being just variants or combinations, is easy. Basic & Special Characters and Compound Sounds represent all the sounds used in modern Japanese. Foreign sounds were added to better adapt to the pronunciation of foreign words.: Basic & Special Characters; Compound Sounds & Foreign Sounds
First attempts at reading Kana can end up in characters being interchanged...: Easily Mixed-Up Characters
...and the rules that were just tacked at the end of the two charts can be overlooked. Below are more examples dealing with long vowels and double consonants.: Long Vowels & Double Consonants
Now that you have learnt the Kana, let us get the hang of it by reading and Romanizing some more samples.: Kana Exercises (non-interactive)
Although Katakana usually tells you (especially in magazines, appliance manuals, food packaging, etc.) that a word is borrowed from another language, normally English, there may be times when the loan word is not obvious. Here are some tips and samples of how foreign sounds are rendered into Japanese.: Transliterating Into Japanese

KANJI
Like the durian fruit, it's either love it or hate it.
The sheer number of Kanji, even just the 1,006 elementary-level Kanji, and the apparent complexity of each character often turn one off. Others are simply fascinated by it.
There is a lot of logic in Kanji. Being able to learn how to use a character dictionary, whether Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, will help a lot in organizing Kanji in your mind. Remembering, learning, and communicating Kanji can be done faster with a basic knowledge of features as seen the indices found in standard character dictionaries:
Radical System
Simple characters aside, Chinese characters can be divided into sections, the radical component and the phonetic component.
The Chinese have chosen 214 radicals in which they classify the thousands of characters in their writing. These radicals are often Kanji with their own meanings and they can stand alone or form a part of a more complex character. As a part of a character, radicals determine, in varying degrees of accuracy, the field of meaning in which the character belongs.
The phonetic part, determines, again, in varying degrees of accuracy, how the character is pronounced. Chinese characters with the same phonetic component likely have similar, if not exactly the same, readings.
The entire system is carried over into Japanese. Several characters were modified and a limited number of Kanji were selected for everyday use in an effort to simplify the writing system. In the end, some characters wherein the radicals (and thus their field of meaning) were no longer obvious were classified under different ones. Recently, characters are being rearranged and new classifying systems are being developed. Despite these changes, the Radical system is still very much alive in them and is worth one's time to learn.
ON-KUN Readings
As Chinese character were adopted in Japan, they took on one or more readings. ON-YOMI is the Chinese reading, the approximation of the sound. KUN-YOMI on the other hand is the Japanese reading, native words of similar meaning to the Kanji they are associated with.
In the process of approximating the sounds of Chinese to those of Japanese, many sound values were lost, resulting in large numbers of Kanji having the same ON reading. Looking up Kanji by KUN Reading would be a much better idea.
Stroke Order
With calligraphy as a highly revered art in the ancient times, the importance of stroke order has been emphasized. The strokes of a character have a definite number and are written in a set order. As a side note, it would help in deciphering handwriting.
The 214 radicals themselves are arranged by stroke order. Character dictionaries usually make use of both the radical system and the number of strokes present to classify characters, with some dictionaries having a separate index where characters are arranged by stroke number only. When at a loss over which segment is the radical and when one does not know any of the readings, counting strokes is the last resort.

http://members.aol.com/Joyo96/index96.html: An online dictionary of the 1,945 Jouyou Kanji (Everyday Use Kanji); Includes etymology, rules on stroke order, Kanji writing styles, and grade level in which Kanji are taken up

Posted: 1999-10-17 (Sun)
Updated: 2000-01-15 (Sat)