Learn Japanese: Writing
Japanese… or Nihongo…consists of three different types of writing… of the three two are syllabaries. Syllabaries are like alphabets but they consist of symbols that represent sounds….
Pronunciation Key: A (o) I (ee) U (oo) E (e) O (oh) (follow these rules for all the combinations just adding the first sound to the vowel)
Hiragana:
this form of writing is used for all Japanese based words…
Note(applies to both): in the ra,ri,ru,re,ro section, the characters are not pronounced like in English; they are pronounced with a “hard” R sound or a L sound (la li lu le lo)(da di du de do)
Katakana: this form of writing is used for foreign words or names…
Note (applies to both): columns Ka, Sa, Ta, and Ha can be
changed to Ga, Za, Da, and Ba, if ``
are added to the character for example ta-
changed to da-
Note(applies to both): Shi is changed to Ji with ``
Note(applies to both): Chi and Tsu cannot be changed with ``
Note(applies to both): column Ha can be changed to Pa if
˚ is added to the character, for example ha-
changed to pa- 
Note(applies to both): Hu can be Fu
Kanji: this form of writing uses large symbols in place of
writing a bunch of smaller symbols… (note you don't need to know these yet they are just for an example of Kanji)
