Japanese is a very intricate and difficult language. Im here to guide you through it! In this packet you will learn:

The two of the four Japanese writing systems- Hiragana- Katakana

What they are used for

Let’s Get to it! First of, we will learn what two of the four Japanese writing systems are, what they are used for, and how to distinguish them!

The four Japanese writing systems are...HiraganaKatakana

Kanji

JAPANESE PACKET 1

Romaji

Hiragana is...The basic Japanese writing system. Every one sound correlates to a character. It is mostly used for writing words from Japan which have no kanji. It is also used inchildren’s literature for those who do not know kanji yet.Youmay also see it as furigana, also used for children, which is

hiragana above a kanji character. Hiragana has thecharacteristic of being curvy

and rounded.

THE WRITING SYSTEMS

A hiragana chart

In this packet,we will only be learning about hiragana and katakana. The other two will be covered in the next packet.

Katakana is...the writing system used for foreign words, like your name! As you can tell, katakana differs in

appearance greatly from hiragana, as it is more blocky and has more straight lines. You also use katakana for:

Onomatopoeia, like ガ チャポン

(Gachapon) a Japanese game

named after the sound the machine makes

Animals, like ショウ (Elephant)

フ

Katakana Chart

Homework A: Kana Match!Using your kana charts, determine if the characters below are Hiragana (H) or Katakana (K)

Homework B: Kawaii ConversationUsing this kawaii katakana chart, find out what these playful creatures are saying! (Do column two, three is extra credit!)

HOMEWORK!

そ H ハ K ミ ___ズ ___ど ___

か ___め ___しょ ___ヅ ___ザ ___

ご ___ゴ ___ほ ___は ___ゼ ___

KATAKANA ROMAJI ENGLISHアイスクリム Aisukurīmu Ice Cream!コーヒー _________ _________

ミルク _________ _________

クッキー _________ _________

Websites to check out:http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/hiraganahttp://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/katakanahttps://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese/Kana_chart

Extra Credit!Write what you think your name is in Japanese (using the kana charts)

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