Japanese Character Writing For Dummies

Hiroko M. Chiba, Vincent Grepinet

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781119475439
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781119475347
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Teaching Arts & Humanities
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Learn to write 100 Japanese characters

If you want to join the ranks of more than 128 million speakers of Japanese worldwide, this book should be your first stop! Whether studying for school, business, or travel, learning to write the Japanese Kanji characters is essential to gain a working knowledge of this language.

Japanese is considered to be the most complicated writing system in the world, with tens of thousands of characters. But with Japanese Character Writing For Dummies, you'll find easy step-by-step instructions for writing the first 100 Japanese Kanji characters with ease.

• Includes online bonus content featuring videos, downloadable flashcards, and printable writing pages
• Offers easy-to-follow instruction for writing 100 Japanese characters
• Helps you take your understanding of the language to a new level
• Shows you how to use the written word to communicate with native speakers

Learning to write Japanese Kanji characters is fun — and now it's fast and easy too!

Chapter 1

Wrapping Your Head around Japanese Writing and Pronunciation

IN THIS CHAPTER

Getting to know the history of the three writing scripts, kanji, hiragana, and katakana

Checking out the basic sounds of Japanese

Knowing when to use kanji

This chapter introduces basic information about Japanese sounds and the three writing scripts: kanji, hiragana, and katakana. It is essential for you to know how the Japanese sound system works to be able to learn how to pronounce kanji correctly. You will find that kanji plays an important role in the Japanese language. Foundational information in this chapter will provide context to begin to learn kanji.

Brief History of Three Writing Scripts: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana

Three writing scripts? It may seem very strange to have three different writing scripts in one language. Let me give a brief history illustrating why the Japanese language needed the three types of characters.

Taking a cue from Chinese writing — Kanji

For a long time, the Japanese language did not have a writing system. It was not until the 5th century that kanji (Chinese characters), the writing of “Han China” (pronounced “kan” in Japanese), was introduced into the Japanese archipelago via Korea.

This does not mean, however, that Japanese people did not communicate with one another until the 5th century. Japanese already existed in its oral form. When Chinese characters, kanji, were introduced, there was a difficulty. The grammatical structure of Japanese i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Wrapping Your Head around Japanese Writing and Pronunciation
• Chapter 2: Exploring the Nature of Japanese Kanji
• Chapter 3: 105 Characters
• Appendix: Blank Grids for Extra Practice
• About the Author
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement