A Comprehensive Introduction to Rōmaji, Kana, and Kanji
Japanese writing includes 3 main forms:
- Rōmaji: This is Japanese written with the Roman Alphabet, similar to English letters. It’s mainly for people who can’t read Japanese characters, helping them read things like names on street signs and passports. There are different Rōmaji systems, but the Hepburn system is the most used in Japan today.
- Kana: These are symbols for sounds. There are two kinds: Hiragana and Katakana. Hiragana is for traditional Japanese words and particles, the small words that help connect and structure sentences. Katakana is for words from other languages, foreign names, and the scientific names of plants and animals.
- Kanji: These characters come from Chinese and are used in Japanese to represent words or ideas.
Japanese writing often mixes Kanji and Kana. Though nearly all Japanese people learn Rōmaji in school, it’s not commonly used for writing Japanese, except when typing on devices like computers and smartphones.
