In this lesson, you will see Japanese words written in hiragana and katakana before these writing systems are formally explained. This is intentional. You are not expected to read everything perfectly at first. Instead, listen to the audio pronunciation of each word, focus on the meanings, noticing shapes, patterns, and repeated forms. Romaji (romanized phonetic help) will not be provided, because relying on romaji can slow down your ability to read and write Japanese naturally. Trust the process—the charts and explanations that follow will soon make these symbols familiar.
よんで ください。
Please read it.
かいて ください。
Please write it.
しゅくだいをだしてください。
Please submit your homework.
ひらがな
hiragana
かたかな
katakana
かんじ
kanji
ローマじ
romanized Japanese
2:
Punctuation Marks
On the English keyboard, type:
、
[Japanese comma
pronounced as てん]
English comma (,)
。
[Japanese period
pronounced as まる]
English period (.)
「 」
[Japanese quotation marks
pronounced as かぎかっこ]
English square brackets ([ ])
ー
[double vowel symbol
for katakana:
e.g., アー /aa/]
English hyphen (-)
3:
Nouns
たなか
Tanaka [family name]
けいこ
Keiko [women's first name]
たなかさん
Mr. Tanaka or Ms. Tanaka
せんせい
teacher; title attached to names [Prof.]
4.
Others
さん
a title attached to names [Mr., Ms.]
です
to be [polite copula; Xです: (Someone/Something) is X]