JAPANESE - Hiragana and Katakana (reading)
Hiragana and Katakana are two sets of letters to write Japanese words. Hiragana and katakana letters are called kana.
Hiragana is the alphabet used for most words; katakana is used to write words that are not inherently Japanese (ex. 'kissu' from the English word kiss or 'anime' from the English word animation), onamonapia (ex. dokidoki, guruguru), as well as some Japanese names when not written in Kanji.
When hiragana is written in small letters beside kanji, it is called furigana. Furigana is a reading aid often used either for small children learning kanji, when a certain kanji letter or set of kanji letters is not often used and therefore may not be easily recognisable to the average Japanese person, or when the pronunciation of a certain kanji letter or set of kanji letters may not be obvious or it is not the usual pronunciation.
When Japanese words are written with the Roman alphabet, it is called rÅmaji.
The two alphabets are split into eight sections each. Master each small portion at a time, and then practice more sets together, until both alphabets are completely mastered. I recommend starting with hiragana, as it is used more often than katakana.
[ hiragana chart | katakana chart ]
For more on Japanese, go here.
