Learning Japanese is well worth it in many ways. It gives you access to movies, anime, and manga in their original language, as well as knowledge and content related to Japanese fashion, art, and culture, and, of course, lays the foundation for genuine conversations with people in Japan, whether you’re traveling or preparing to live there.
Many guides approach the Japanese language from an academic perspective, quickly bombarding readers with an overwhelming number of technical terms.
We keep the introduction as simple as possible, following the same path that children in Japan take when learning the various components of their own language.
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The Japanese language uses three writing systems: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Together, they form the basis for reading and writing in modern Japan. While Kanji originated in China, Hiragana and Katakana are unique Japanese developments.
Japanese characters have their roots in China. There, over the course of centuries, simple pictograms evolved into stylized characters. For example, the kanji for river, looks like a river 川.
In the 5th century, this complex writing system reached Japan, where there had previously been no written language, only the spoken form of Japanese.
Since the characters were adopted from China, they are called kanji.
かんじ
Kanji
The first character is pronounced “Kan” and stands for China. The second character, “Ji,” means “character.” So, literally, it means “Chinese characters.” So far, so simple: You’ve already learned your first kanji!
Kanji convey the most important information in a text. Just as we can skim a text by using nouns as a guide, a Japanese person can grasp the most important information by jumping from kanji to kanji.
Today, approximately 2,100 kanji are officially taught in Japan—they form the foundation for being able to read a newspaper in its entirety. Japanese students learn these characters step by step from elementary school through high school.
Initially, writing in Japan consisted exclusively of kanji. However, since the Japanese language could not be fully represented using Chinese characters, a phonetic writing system developed: the so-called man’yōgana.
In this system, kanji were no longer used for their meaning, but rather for their pronunciation.
The Man’yōgana consisted of hundreds of different characters, since several different kanji could be used for each phonetic syllable (e.g., “ka” or “ni”).
The Man’yōgana eventually gave rise to two further simplified sets of syllables:
Katakana evolved from elements of Man’yōgana—Buddhist monks and scholars initially used this angular, simplified script to annotate Chinese texts.
Today, it is primarily used to write loanwords, foreign names, and onomatopoeic expressions.
Hiragana originated from the cursive, fluid simplification of entire kanji characters—originally used primarily by court ladies of the Heian period and therefore also known as the “women’s script.”
Many classical literary works, such as the famous Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji), were written in Hiragana.
Today, Hiragana is the primary set of syllables used for grammatical endings, particles, and Japanese words without Kanji.
In modern Japanese, the three writing systems complement one another:
Kanji: For words with concrete meanings (e.g., nouns, verb and adjective stems).
Hiragana: For grammatical endings, particles, and words without kanji.
Katakana: For loanwords, brand names, or onomatopoeic expressions.
In addition, there is furigana—small characters, usually written in hiragana and placed above a kanji—that indicate how the kanji is pronounced.
They are a particularly helpful aid for beginners when reading.
That’s why you’ll find furigana mainly in texts aimed at children or language learners.
A rounded, flowing script that evolved from cursive characters. It was used primarily by court ladies during the Heian period and is therefore also known as “women’s script.”
Nowadays, hiragana is used for grammatical functions, particles, and words for which no kanji exists.
Verbs, for example, are composed of a kanji and several hiragana syllables—the hiragana syllables determine the verb’s conjugation:
Verbs:
Kanji Hiragana
食べる 食べた
eat eaten
Particles such as は (ha/wa) connect the individual parts of a sentence and are always written in hiragana:
Particles:
Kanji Hiragana Kanji Hiragana
昨日は楽しかった
Kinou ha tanoshikatta.
Yesterday was fun.
An angular, clear script that originally evolved from simplified Kanji components. Historically, Katakana was used primarily by Buddhist monks and male scholars—and is therefore considered the counterpart to the “women’s script” Hiragana.
Today, katakana serves a clearly defined purpose: it is used almost exclusively for foreign terms, loanwords, and foreign proper nouns.
So if you’re a foreigner living in Japan, you’ll find your own name written in katakana—this is often the first encounter many travelers to Japan have with this writing system.
Loanwords from Western languages are transcribed in katakana:
| Katakana | Romaji | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| コーヒー | kōhī | Coffee |
| テレビ | telebi | Television |
| パン | pan | Bread (Portugese: Pão) |
People’s names are also written in katakana:
| Katakana | Romaji |
|---|---|
| トーマス | Tōmasu (Thomas) |
| アンナ | Anna |
| スミス | Sumisu (Smith) |
Hiragana and Katakana evolved as simplified forms of Kanji and are used for different purposes.
The good news is that both sets of syllables represent the same sounds. So, in theory, you can write everything in Japanese using just one of the two writing systems and still be understood.
However, all three types of Japanese characters serve their own distinct purposes and, when used together in long sentences and continuous text, help maintain clarity.
As mentioned earlier, kanji highlight the most important elements of a sentence, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and place names.
Put simply, hiragana is used to grammatically link these elements together, while katakana is used today for words that have entered the language from other languages or to represent foreign words.
Here’s an example:
昨日はピザしか食べなかった
kinou wa piza shika tabenakatta
Yesterday I ate nothing but pizza.
The kanji in black provide the most essential information (yesterday / eat), the katakana in blue immediately indicate that the dish is of foreign origin (pizza), and the hiragana in red link this information to the relevant grammar – for example, the conjugation of the verb ‘eat’.
Once you get used to the different functions of the three writing systems, Japanese texts become much clearer!
The same sentence written just in hiragana:
きのうはぴざしかたべなかった
kinou wa piza shika tabenakatta
Although the sentence is legible, it’s hard to tell where one word begins or ends, so you have to concentrate much harder when reading. As you can see, in the long run, there’s no getting round learning all three writing systems.
Now that we know the differences between the Japanese characters and how they’re used, there are two more important points to cover before we can really get started with learning Japanese!
Perhaps you’ve read manga before and wondered why you have to open the book from the ‘wrong’ side.
That’s certainly how I felt when I bought the first volume of Dragon Ball with my pocket money back then.
The traditional direction of writing in Japanese is from right to left and from top to bottom. So the text starts at the top right and continues downwards. At the bottom of the page, it then continues to the left.
However, due to Western influence, the direction of writing we are accustomed to has become established as a second option and is now widely used.
Wow! That’s quite a lot to take in at the start! Unfortunately, this is the absolute minimum you need to know to learn Japanese. So – where’s the best place to start, and how on earth are you ever going to remember all those different characters?
So there it stands, that seemingly insurmountable wall of three writing systems. But after all, each of us learnt a language quite naturally as a child – and that’s the best way to approach Japanese too.
Children in Japan first learn Hiragana at pre-school age, then Katakana, and later at school, right up to sixth form, just over 2,000 Kanji, which are essential for everyday life. And that’s exactly how you can go about it too! At the end of the article, you’ll find various templates that will help you master the two syllabic scripts in a relatively short time.
At the start, it helps to come up with mnemonics for the different characters and to stay motivated. Focus exclusively on Hiragana to begin with – learn two or three new ones every day, create memory aids and revise the characters daily.
Many learning apps use the ‘Spaced Repetition System’ (SRS): you revise new characters after a few hours. Whenever you answer correctly, the interval until the next repetition is extended – if you get it wrong, you’re sent back to the previous level.
If you combine this method with writing out the Hiragana by hand, you’ll make rapid progress and soon have conquered the first hurdle – then you’re ready for Katakana.
As I found Katakana particularly difficult, I had to come up with lots of memory aids – known as ‘mnemonics’ in English. These might look something like this:
マ – The logo of the car manufacturer ‘Ma’serati (even if it actually looks slightly different)
ラ – A bowl of ramen cut in half, with steam rising from it
ム – A particularly musical triangle
Although there are plenty of resources online and entire books offering mnemonic devices for characters, it’s best to let your imagination run wild.
日本語の勉強って眠くなる
Nihongo no benkyou tte nemukunaru
Perhaps the most confusing aspect at the start is sentence structure. Instead of the S-V-O order we’re used to – subject-verb-object – the verb comes at the end of the sentence in Japanese. When translated literally, the S-O-V order sounds a lot like Master Yoda. But once you’ve got used to it, it’s not that hard to switch back and forth between the languages.
So don’t worry too much about sentence structure just yet; just keep this information loosely in mind. We need all our brainpower for the basics right now – so let’s get started!
It is also important to get the correct stroke order right from the start. There are certain principles that govern how the characters are written.
Here you can read more about the stroke order of Japanese characters and get started straight away with our free tables for Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji to become a master of calligraphy.
There are some good free apps to get you started, such as ‘Obenkyo’ or ‘Kanji Tree’ – both display the stroke order of the characters and allow you to trace them directly on the screen. Personally, however, I’ve switched to using paper in the long run: I always carry a small notebook with me on the train or plane so that I can use waiting times to learn and revise, even without electricity or an internet connection.
In the context of foreign languages, immersion means ‘immersing’ oneself in a language. The quickest way to learn a language is actually to surround yourself with it as much as possible in everyday life. A good place to start is by consuming media in Japanese. My method of choice here is Netflix, as the availability of Japanese programs – or Japanese audio with subtitles – is very high and of good quality.
Particularly handy: the playback speed can be adjusted, which is very helpful, especially for beginners. By linking what you hear with the written translation and visual cues, certain words and sentence patterns quickly become ingrained.
This effect is, of course, greatest when studying at a language school in Japan.
Not only are lessons conducted exclusively in Japanese there – you are also constantly surrounded by Japanese characters and the language in everyday life. On my way to language school back then, I didn’t understand the announcements on the platform or on the train at all at first. But by hearing the announcement and seeing what was happening at the same time, connections quickly form in your mind.
This meant that almost every day I could identify a new part of the announcement or read another kanji – and now stations and airports are no longer a problem. The same progress in learning would have taken much longer in Germany.
To help you get started straight away, both tables and a blank template are available to download here as print-ready PDFs. You may also distribute them for non-commercial use, provided the logo and text remain intact.
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