Try the Quiz : NATONALITIES (KOKUSEKI)

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Usage of Japanese Scripts

• There are 3 Japanese scripts : Hiragana, Katakana & Kanji. Mostof the Japanese sentences are written in Hiragana, Katakana & Kanji, all three.
• Hiragana is used for the endings of verbs and for grammatical particles.
• Katakanais used for transcription of words borrowed from foreign languages(except Chinese), mostly English in origin, like country names, personal names, etc.
• Both Hiragana and Katakana are syllabaries in which each symbol represents a spoken syllable, representing exactly the same set of sounds.
• Kanji, which is a set of Chinese characters called sinograms, is used for the nouns and the radicals of verbs.
• The Hiragana script has a Kanji equivalent (excepts the endings of verbs and the particles).
• The Katakana script does not have a Kanji equivalent.
• Whereas Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic representations of sound, Kanji conveys sounds as well as meanings.
• A sentence in Japanese can be written in Hiragana and Katakana only (without Kanji).
• Romaji (Roman letters) is simply the transliteration of Japanese in the Latin script. It is sometimes used for the convenience of foreigners, mostly on sign-boards and at stations.
• The Romaji vowelsā, ī, ū, ē signify emphasis, and hence are also written asaa, ii, uu et ee. ex. īe = iie
• The vowel ō becomes ou and not oo ex. gakkō = gakkou
• In Katakana, the emphasis on the vowel signifies a long sound written as ー. ex. nōto (notebook), will be written in katakana as : ノート

Example. The sentence 'Mr. Gupta is an Indian.' is written in :

Japanese Romaji : Guputa san wa Indojin desu.

Japanese traditional (Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji) :グプタさんはインド人です。; where
Kanji = 人 (jin = person) ; Katakana = グプタ(Guputa), インド (Indo = India) and the rest is Hiragana.

Japanese Hiragana and Katakana (without Kanji) : グプタさんはインドジンです。
Note - The Kanji in the sentence written in Japanese traditional, 人 is replaced by the hiragana equivalentジン(Indo).

Note :
The Katakana vocabulary consists of words which are only to be written in Katakana, with the exception of some Hiragana words written in Katakana for the sake of foreigners.
ex. Milk (gyūnyū) is a Hiragana word , also written in Katakana Romaji (miruku) in restaurant menus and supermarkets.

Some words are written as a combination of  Hiragana and Katakana.
South African = みなみアフリカ where, South (basically a Hiragana word) = みなみ and Africa = アフリカ (Katakana)
North America = きたアメリカ where, North (basically a Hiragana word) = きた and America = アメリカ (Katakana)

To denote nationality, 'jin', essentially a Hiragana / Kanji word (じん / 人) is suffixed to the name of the country.
Jin means person or people in Japanese.

ex.  American = America + jin = Amerikajin ( (アメリカじん / アメリカ人)

Most nationalities are written in Katakana with the exception of Japanese, Chinese and Korean which are written in Hiragana / Kanji.
Japanese - Nihonjin (にほんじん / 日本人)
Chinese - Chūgokujin (ちゅうごくじん / 中国人) 
Korean - Kankokujin (かんこくじん / 韓国人)

Romaji Vocabulary  Hiragana Vocabulary  Katakana Vocabulary  Kanji Vocabulary

Hiragana Alphabets  Katakana Alphabets  Kanji Characters Tables