Introduction:
Japanese is considered to be a difficult language not just because it is a language isolate with almost no similarity with any other language, but also due to its writing system. If you are planning to learn the Japanese language, learning the alphabet is essential. Rather than an alphabet set as in English and many other languages, Japanese consists of characters and pictures and has three different sets of them. They are Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji.
Hiragana and Katakana may be closely considered as the Japanese alphabet. To remember, you can say that Hiragana is used to write the Japanese words, whereas Katakana is used for words that are borrowed from other languages. These two together are called Kana and there is a third system of writing Kanji which has thousands of characters and is derived from the Chinese writing system. When writing Japanese, there are no spaces as such, for which kanji is helpful and helps determine where a new word begins.
Things to keep in mind
To begin with, you can start learning Hiragana and Katakana i.e., Kana. As you make progress you can learn to use Kanji as well because using only Hiragana looks childish and is the first thing that children learn to write. To make things simple, let us understand that hiragana and katakana each consist of 46 characters and make phonetic sounds. Once you understand these characters and sounds, you can learn Kanji as well. To learn Japanese writing it is a good idea to learn both hiragana and katakana together. The best way to practice is to write them. This might sound too simple, but only by writing can we ensure that the characters are ingrained into our memory forever. Writing helps in better memorization. Creating flashcards can also be a great way of learning the alphabet. You can write the character on one side and its sound or pronunciation on the other. There are many apps available that can help you with flashcards but creating them helps you with the written practice as well. Rather than learning individual characters, learning them in groups can be more helpful. This is similar to learning upper- and lower-case letters together in English. Join a class to learn Japanese. If the Japanese writing system overwhelms you and you do not understand where to begin, you can learn from a teacher. It is not difficult to find a good teacher online these days. Find someone who can help you learn to write Japanese. This allows you to learn at your own pace from the comfort of your own space. You also get to understand how to learn in an organized and structured manner. Focus on reading as well. As you learn to write, make sure you focus on reading as well. You can start with some basics which children use when they start school. To be able to write in a new language requires practice and a lot of practice. So take time every day and practice. Even short intervals such as fifteen to twenty minutes of practice can also be very helpful if done every day.
When learning a new language, most learners focus on the conversational aspect which is definitely important, however, to be proficient in language writing is equally important. Thus, it is a good idea to start practicing reading, writing, and speaking together to make the learning process easy.