Chapter 3 of 17 · Explore the Japanese path
The script · Chapter 3 of 17
Three sets of characters, and why the mix helps you
A page has no spaces between words, so the three sets of characters do that job instead. Meet nine kanji, the three names in the closing stories, and the marks around speech.
≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- A page mixes hiragana, katakana and kanji, and the mix is what shows you where words begin.
- Kanji carry meaning rather than sound: read the meaning and let the reader print the sound.
- Spiky katakana marks borrowed words and names, including the three names in the closing stories.
- Japanese writes 、 for a comma, 。 for a full stop, and 「 」 around speech.
- Words you just decoded in hiragana are usually printed as kanji: いぬ
inu is normally 犬.
Real Japanese has no spaces between words. That works because the three sets of characters do the job spaces do in English: kanji — characters borrowed from Chinese, each carrying a whole meaning — mark the content words, and round hiragana marks the grammar around them, so the shapes themselves show where one word ends and the next begins.
Nine kanji, meaning first
Each of these carries a meaning rather than a sound, and several spell words you have already decoded in hiragana. Read the meaning and let the app print the sound.
| Kanji | Where you will meet it |
|---|---|
| 犬 | the word you decoded as いぬ |
| 猫 | your ねこ |
| 木 | a trunk with branches and roots — a picture |
| 水 | your みず |
| 日 | ある日 |
| 大 | in 大きい |
| 小 | in 小さい |
| 上 | in 木の上 |
| 中 | in もりの中 |
Do not learn a kanji’s readings — each character has several, they change from word to word, and chasing them is a common reason people quit. Learn the meaning, read the sound the app prints above the word, and keep going. More kanji are in the katakana and kanji reference.
Katakana: three names you will meet at the end of this path
These three names carry the closing stories. Meet them now so a spiky word does not stop you later.
| Katakana | Sound | Who |
|---|---|---|
| ミナ | mi-na | a mouse |
| ダラ | da-ra | an old fox |
| ティカ | ti-ka | a small yellow bird |
Katakana is the third set: the same sounds as hiragana in angular, spiky shapes, used for borrowed words and names. ティ is テ
The tag on the back of a name
Japanese usually adds a short tag after a name, and the tag says how close the speaker is. Read each pair and notice which tag fits whom.
Books tag most names with one of these; a bare name means the speakers are close.
The marks on a Japanese page
These are the marks you will see between sentences and around speech. Most do jobs you already know from English, even where the shape looks new.
| Mark | What it does |
|---|---|
| 。 | a full stop — a small hollow circle, sitting in its own square of space |
| 、 | a comma |
| 「 」 | corner brackets, where English uses quotation marks: somebody is speaking |
Read the writing, not just the word
- 犬
A kanji. You are after the meaning, not the sound.
Show answer +Hide answer −
犬inu “dog” — the word you decoded as いぬ. - Which of these two is a name or a borrowed word: ミナ or もり?
One of them is spiky.
Show answer +Hide answer −
ミナ, because it is katakana. もりmori “forest” is hiragana, an ordinary word. - What are 「 」 telling you?
Show answer +Hide answer −
Somebody is speaking. They do the job of English quotation marks.