Japanese Syllabaries

The Japanese language is written using a combination of two syllabaries (hiragana and katakana) and Chinese characters (kanji). In English each letter represents a consonant or a vowel, but in Japanese each symbol represents a complete syllable.

Hiragana is used for inflected word endings, grammatical particles and other words. Katakana is used for foreign loan words, foreign names and for emphasis.

Classroom Exercises

1. Try writing some of the Japanese words you have known using hiragana:
   • sushi
   • teriyaki
   • karate
   • samurai
   • kamikaze
     
     
2. Foreign words are written in katakana. Complete the following chart by writing these words following the Japanese pronunciation. Try saying them as well.
   
   

   Foreign word	Japanese pronunciation	Word in Katakana
   America	amerika
   Christmas	kurisumasu
   McDonald's	makudonarudo

   
   
3. Japan has also borrowed many words from various languages. Sometimes these words are abbreviated. Complete the following chart.
   
   

   Foreign word	Japanese pronunciation	Word in Katakana
   milk	miruku
   personal computer	pasokon
   white shirt	waishatsu
   pao (Portuguese for bread)	pan
   Arbeit (German for part time job	arubaito

   
   
4. Try writing your name in katakana. As each letter needs to become a syllable, your name may become unrecognizable to you!