Every word in the Japanese language can be written in katakana alone. Katakana is primarily used for foreign words, but it’s also used for emphasis, drawing distinctions, aesthetics, and other purposes. Katakana works pretty much the same way as hiragana, except it’s just a different set of characters. ![]() If you’re interested, my Passport to MOTHER 2 covers the full hiragana set, how to pronounce the characters, how to use them, what pitfalls to look out for, and so on. There are 46 basic hiragana characters, and they’re simple enough that you could learn them all in a few days. As an example, here’s the Japanese word neko (“cat”) written in hiragana: Notice how hiragana characters are kind of curvy - they feel kind of like really weird cursive English letters or doctor signatures ![]() In general, hiragana characters are simple in shape, are curvy-looking, and only take a few quick strokes to write. Some examples: kimono, karate, teriyaki, sumo, Miyamoto, Toyota, Suzuki. Incidentally, this syllable system is why Japanese words are usually strings of “consonant + vowel, consonant + vowel, consonant + vowel” with occasional lone vowels mixed in.
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