TITLE
    Japanese Language Kit: Definition of Kanji, Kana, and Romaji
Article ID:
Created:
Modified:
3199
9/6/88
4/25/00

TOPIC

    Descriptions of the terms Kanji, Kana, and Romaji.


DISCUSSION

    Japanese writing is a blend of four written character sets: Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana and Romaji. Characters from all four sets can occur in a single sentence. Hiragana and Katakana are two elements of what is known as Kana.

    Kanji
    Written communication in Japan began with the direct importation of the Chinese picture characters the Japanese call Kanji. First, each Kanji symbol was used in Japanese to represent a single word.


    Kana (Hiragana & Katakana)
    Eventually, the Japanese devised two separate phonetic syllabaries called Hiragana and Katakana, or simply Kana. Hiragana and Katakana are two different styles of writing the same sounds. Unlike the Kanji, each Kana character represents a syllable instead of a word or concept. Both are used with Kanji to form the Japanese written system of today.


    Romaji
    Romaji are Roman alphabetic characters, typically used to phonetically represent the pronunciation of Japanese characters. The Japanese Input method used in the Japanese Mac OS and the Japanese Language Kit uses Romaji as the primary means of entering Japanese text. The Romaji (Roman characters) are converted to Kana as the user types. The resulting Kana can then be converted to Kanji, where applicable, by pressing the space bar.

    For information about the Japanese Language Kit, see:
    Tech Info Library article 17923: " Japanese Language Kit 1.2: Description and Specifications "

Document Information
Product Area: Apple Software
Category: Language Kits & International SW
Sub Category: Japanese Macintosh Software
Keywords:

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