Description
Learn to write 100 Japanese characters
If you want to join the ranks of more than 128 million speakers of Japanese worldwide, this book should be your first stop! Whether studying for school, business, or travel, learning to write the Japanese Kanji characters is essential to gain a working knowledge of this language.
Japanese is considered to be the most complicated writing system in the world, with tens of thousands of characters. But with Japanese Character Writing For Dummies, you’ll find easy step-by-step instructions for writing the first 100 Japanese Kanji characters with ease.
- Includes online bonus content featuring videos, downloadable flashcards, and printable writing pages
- Offers easy-to-follow instruction for writing 100 Japanese characters
- Helps you take your understanding of the language to a new level
- Shows you how to use the written word to communicate with native speakers
Learning to write Japanese Kanji characters is fun — and now it’s fast and easy too!
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 2
Where to Go from Here 3
Chapter 1: Wrapping Your Head around Japanese Writing and Pronunciation 5
Brief History of Three Writing Scripts: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana 5
Taking a cue from Chinese writing — Kanji 5
Creating writing scripts better suited to Japanese — hiragana and katakana 6
Pronouncing Japanese Sounds 7
Making Variations of Sounds 8
Two diacritical marks 8
Long vowels 9
Small ya, yu, yo 9
Small tsu 10
When to Use Kanji 10
Chapter 2: Exploring the Nature of Japanese Kanji 13
Getting to Know the Four Types of Kanji 13
Pictographs 13
Simple ideographs 14
Compound ideographs 14
Phonetic-ideographic characters 15
On’yomi versus Kun’yomi Readings 15
Okurigana 15
Kanji compounds 16
Sound shifts in kanji compounds 16
What Are Kanji Radicals? 17
Positions of Radicals 17
Writing Kanji 18
Stroke order 18
Types of strokes 19
Chapter 3: 105 Characters 21
Appendix: Blank Grids for Extra Practice 75
