Kana

[threethumb8016]

Okay, I figured I'd nail the two kana alphabets to my brain before I continue with learning to speak and recognize more words. However, I am a bit confused. So I went over here to start with Hiragana: http://www.japanesepod101.com/learningc ... na_chart/6

This confused me a bit. The first 5 columns I know about from before, but I was under the impression that those were the whole alphabet. In other words the sounds with only 1 or 2 roman letters. Now the columns next to these, with 3 letters like this: kya, kyu, kyo

What are these? Are they necessary? If so what are their uses?
I'm kind of perplexed at this sudden realization that the two kana alphabets seems to be a lot bigger than I remembered because I can honestly say I have never encountered those three-letter syllables before when I've seen the kana alphabet.

Secondly, what is the reason for hiragana and katakana being separate when they basically cover the exact same sound?

Third and lastly, what does the different colorations on this chart mean? Why is some things highlighted in red, yellow and green?

[mmmason8967]

Okay, I figured I'd nail the two kana alphabets to my brain before I continue with learning to speak and recognize more words. However, I am a bit confused. So I went over here to start with Hiragana: http://www.japanesepod101.com/learningc ... na_chart/6

This confused me a bit. The first 5 columns I know about from before, but I was under the impression that those were the whole alphabet. In other words the sounds with only 1 or 2 roman letters. Now the columns next to these, with 3 letters like this: kya, kyu, kyo

What are these? Are they necessary? If so what are their uses?

These compound kana characters crop up a lot. For example, "kyo" occurs in "Tokyo". They all represent single syllables, so "kyo" is just one, smooth sound (not two). The basic characters cover 46 syllables but there are actually a lot more than 46 syllables in Japanese. But all these additional characters are written by either using a compound of two of the main characters, or otherwise by putting a little marker in the top right corner of the character. So you only need to know 46 characters and a couple of special markers, and you've got them all. It would have a been a lot tougher if there was a separate character for each syllable...

Secondly, what is the reason for hiragana and katakana being separate when they basically cover the exact same sound?

It's mostly the way they're used. Hiragana is used for Japanese words and for grammar points such as verb-endings, while katakana is used for words taken from other languages, foreign names and so on. Katakana is also kind of like italics, so it is also used for emphasis, especially in advertisements.

Third and lastly, what does the different colorations on this chart mean? Why is some things highlighted in red, yellow and green?

The red area has the "voiced" syllables. Notice that, for example, the "G" row is just the "K" row with a marker in the top right. When voiced, K becomes G, S becomes Z, and so on.

The red area is for syllables made using two characters. Notice that the second character is smaller than the first, and that it always comes from the Y row.

The green area is the voiced version of the yellow area.

[threethumb8016]

Thanks! I've already thrown myself at learning them though, so I already know all of the symbols by heart and thus I've already noticed these patterns by myself. Still thanks, though!