The Reason Of That Japanese has 3 Types Of Character Called Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji

Hi, it’s Yoshio.

I have heard from foreign friends that “Japanese language is difficult because there are 3 types of character called Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji”.

I’m Japanese, so it’s normal thing for me, but come to think of it, they are right.

I wonder why there are 3 types…

Therefore, I studied that.

Contents

Each Character has Each History

Kanji

Originally there were no character in Japan.

Kanji came from China in the form of borrowing existing character.

Hiragana

Hiragana was formed from Kanji.

That’s because Kanji couldn’t express originally used Japanese enough by itself.

And that’s also for the purpose of simplifying Kanji.

Hiragana was formed by making a change to Kanji, it’s easy for you to understand that if you actually see change of its shape.

In the past, Hiragana was what women mainly used because it was not taken so well that women use Kanji.

I feel that reason is kind of long ago.

Katakana

Katakana was also formed from Kanji, it’s the same with Hiragana.

But the purpose of use is not obviously the same with Hiragana.

This is what I learned for the first time, Katakana is made as memo of when reading Chinese classics.

Katakana was made by cutting a part of Kanji by such a background.

Also, Chinese classics was used as public document, so it was mainly read by men.

And that means Katakana was what men mainly used.

My Personal Opinion

It’s interesting to organize and understand these things.

I use these 3 types as a matter of course, but I knew that historical background for the first time, there may be many Japanese who doesn’t know that.

Also, about the topic what I said before, which is studying Japanese for foreigners, it’s certainly difficult for them to use these 3 types correctly.

I am Chinese translator, I studied Chinese a lot, so I understand how language learner feel very well.

But Japanese people have advantages in studying Chinese because they know Kanji before the start.

So I can imagine that it’s much more difficult for the people whose country doesn’t have Kanji culture to study Japanese than I study Chinese.

Considering that, I really respect foreigner who can speak Japanese.

Afterword

Today I introduced the history of Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji.

I researched and got knowledge about that because there were things that I didn’t know.

It’s interesting to actually study such contents, so I want to continue offering information about them.