page 1: kanachart.com and japanese alphabets
q. how does kanachart.com teach how to read and write japanese symbols?
a. kanachart.com arranges the 3 japanese alphabets into a 'kana (japanese symbols) charts' with each page or 'chart' containing only those symbols for the selected alphabet, and only those for the starting or associated letter chosen. The roman alphabet equivalent is shown, with it's pronunciation in brackets. There are special cases that differ from how other symbols are written or pronounced and these are explained with 'notes' and 'kc says' items at the bottom of each page.
q. what are these alphabets 'hiragana', 'katakana' and 'kanji'?
a. hiragana is the primary native japanese alphabet. Every native japanese word can be written in hiragana, but more advanced japanese uses 'kanji' symbols in place of some hiragana. The use of kanji symbols dramatically shortens the length of the text, but it is for advanced learners of the language only. the katakana alphabet is used for describing sound words (onomatopoeia), and foreign words (esp english) in japanese symbols. Any foreign words the japanese don't have a native word for are written, as they sound, in katakana. For example, many new words in the world, such as the word 'computer' are written in katakana equivalent symbols.
|
