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I don't get, why al the alfabets?

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minodragon
New in Town
Posts: 14
Joined: October 24th, 2006 2:45 pm

I don't get, why al the alfabets?

Postby minodragon » December 12th, 2006 1:20 pm

I do not realy get it? Why are there all tose diverent alfabets? And what is normaly used? And for what are the other alfabets? :shock:

Joey
Expert on Something
Posts: 138
Joined: June 4th, 2006 1:20 am

Postby Joey » December 13th, 2006 4:45 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_l ... ing_system

sorry i'm lazy, but i hope this link helps :D

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minodragon
New in Town
Posts: 14
Joined: October 24th, 2006 2:45 pm

Postby minodragon » December 13th, 2006 6:52 am

I stilldo not realy get it... So what is mainly used now?

GoddessCarlie
New in Town
Posts: 11
Joined: December 12th, 2006 10:17 am

Postby GoddessCarlie » December 13th, 2006 7:07 am

Try this link:

http://www.learn-japanese-kanji-hiragan ... ymbols.htm

There is a lot of information there that is presented simply. The site also has some videos explaining everything. It was nothing I didn't already know, but it might be exactly what you are looking for

Derek
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 37
Joined: October 21st, 2006 7:08 pm

Postby Derek » December 13th, 2006 7:41 pm

minodragon wrote:I stilldo not realy get it... So what is mainly used now?


They use all three writing systems at the same time. Hiragana is used for native words that have no kanji or are only partly kanji. Katakana is used for foreign words. And Kanji is use for everything else. Once you get used to it, it really flows rather nicely. Remember, written Japanese doesn't use spaces, so this is very helpful in breaking up the sentences into easily identifiable parts.

For Example:
日本語はクールです。(Japanese is cool.)

That sentence breaks down like this:

日本語 (Japanese) - Kanji
は (Topic Marker) - Hiragana
クール (Cool) - Katakana
です。(Verb, to be) - Hiragana

"Japanese" is written in Kanji, "Cool" is written in Katakana because it was lifted from English. "Ha" and "Desu" are written in Hiragana because they are native words and have no Kanji (As far as I know, anyhow).

Now why did they decide to use 3 different systems in the first place? I don't know. I assume that it is this way merely to piss off foreigners like us. Don't try to deny it, Japan. We're on to you. :P

I hope that helps you out a little, minodragon. :wink:
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