JLPT N5 Lesson 1: The Japanese Writing System
Introduction to Japanese Scripts Japanese is unique among world languages for its use of three distinct writing systems: Hiragana (ひらがな) , Katakana (カタカナ) , and Kanji (漢字) . Hiragana: The foundational script. It is used for grammatical particles, verb endings, and native Japanese words. Katakana: The angular script. It is primarily used for foreign loanwords, names of people from outside Japan, and onomatopoeia. Kanji: Chinese characters used to represent concepts...