Linking Writing and Culture: Why Japanese needs Three Scripts
Japanese Kanji were introduced to Japan in sometime from the 3rd to 5th century AD come from Chinese characters. They are an important part of the Japanese writing system and as many learners can attest a real challenge.
So, if they are such a hassle and Japanese has two other perfectly well functioning writing systems, then why use Kanji? Also, why does Japanese even need three writing systems? English and other languages get by with just. Well, I am going to answer all of that and more so we can see why Japanese has such a complicated writing system.
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Why does Japan Still use Kanji?
Kanji is used in Japanese to write accurately and formally, disambiguate homophones, represent Japanese culture and history, and aid in learning the language.
Everything Sounds Similar
Kanji helps distinguish meaning in Japanese which is brimming with words that sound the same. Without Kanji, understanding written Japanese would be greatly hindered.
This is mainly due to the large number of 漢語 (kango). These words pronunciation is based on the original Chinese sounds. Since Chinese phonology is very different from Japanese, the result is that many sounds that were differentiated in Chinese are not in Japanese. That leads to the current situation we have now with all the identical pronunciations.
Kanji is to Japanese what Greek is to English
Just like English uses loads of words, word-stems, prefixes, and suffixes from Greek and Latin, Japanese does the same with Kanji which all have a built-in meaning.
Just like many words in English have Greek and Latin roots, the Japanese language over time has coined new words using this feature of Kanji.
Preservation of Culture
In addition to the two practical reasons above, Kanji symbolizes the rich cultural and historical heritage of Japan. For over 1,000 years Japan has used Kanji to write many words and other documents. Not only that but Japan has made Kanji its own. There are many characters that were created in Japan and so do not exist in China. Also, Japanese and Chinese Kanji are similar in many ways but some have different ways or writing them in each country.
Development of Hiragana and Katakana
Kanji is great but it just is not enough for Japanese. To compensate for some of the difficulties with adopting Kanji to the Japanese, two new writing systems decided to join the party. That is where we meet Hiragana and katakana which developed from kanji. Both systems were created to better represent the spoken language of Japan and have evolved over time.
Difficulty Representing Japanese with only Kanji
Chinese is an analytic language, which means that words do not have different forms to convey different meanings. In contrast, Japanese has inflections for verbs and adjectives, which means that the same word can be modified to express things like tense and intention. Japanese also used particles, and other grammatical words that don’t have Chinese equivalents. So, it was inevitable that Kanji would need to be modified to fit the Japanese language.
Development of Hiragana for Native Words and Grammar
The 万葉集 (Manyoshu) is a famous collection of poems that is considered to be one of the earliest written works in Japanese. It is written entirely in kanji. In order to represent Japanese words that did not have a corresponding kanji character, like particles, the kanji were used solely for their pronunciation, rather than their meaning.
Over time different cursive style, or short hand writing styles developed in Japan. These styles became the precursors to modern day Hiragana.
Development of Katakana for Chinese Texts
Katakana also has an interesting history. Originally when Kanji first came into Japan, it was used to only write Chinese. So, in order to represent the sounds of the Kanji words, and to translate the writing into Japanese a system was needed. That system was Katakana.
The Difference between Hiragana and Katakana Simplified
Katakana was developed by simplifying certain kanji characters and using them to represent the sounds of Japanese words and inflections that could not be represented with kanji. It was also used to represent the pronunciation of characters based on Japanese phonology, and is still taught in schools as a way to read and write old Chinese texts in Japanese. This practice is called 漢文 (kanbun), and involves reading and writing ancient Chinese texts in Japanese, which can be challenging due to the different syntax of the two languages.
Role of Hiragana and Katakana in the Japanese writing system
Hiragana and katakana are the two alphabets of the Japanese language. Hiragana is used to write native elements of the language and katakana is mainly used to write foreign loanwords. Let’s take a closer look.
Hiragana for Native Japanese Words and Grammatical Elements
So today hiragana has a huge role in the Japanese language. It is used as you should know by now to write native elements of the Japanese language. That would include particles, inflections for verbs and adjectives and so on. Hiragana is also the preferred way to write certain full words. These words may not have Kanji, or the kanji is not standard, or the Kanji is too complex to bother to write it, people may have forgot how to write the kanji, or for other stylistic reasons.
In Japan, kids will learn hiragana before kanji and so kids books will often be written in hiragana partially, or fully depending on the grade the books are aiming for. Hiragana is also used as ふりがな (furigana) which are small hiragana characters above words to show the pronunciation.
Katakana for Loanwords, Sounds, Technical Terms, and to Emphasis
Like in the past where Katakana was used for foreign words, in those days old Chinese, today Katakana is still mainly used to write foreign loanwords. The difference though is the majority of loanwords today are from English, and a smaller set from other European languages.
Besides foreign words, Japanese uses Katakana for other purposes like onomatopoeia and scientific terminology. They also indicate non-standard accents in manga or other media, and for emphasis in certain situations, such as in advertisements.
Japanese Writing and the Broader Aspect of Japanese Culture
Kanji, hiragana, and katakana all have their own place in the languages writing system. Kanji for clarity and learning the language, hiragana for native words and simplicity, and Katakana for foreign words and emphasis. One element of Japanese culture is the ability to take something foreign and make it Japanese. You see this in a variety of areas in Japan from food, entertainment, fashion, or any other area you can think of.
The Japanese writing system tells us this has been a thing in Japan for a long time. Today, Japanese has integrated the Roman alphabet, and coins new Japanese-English words. Which you would need to learn Japanese in order to know.
Japanese is a complex but very rewarding language to learn. So, check out some more articles on a variety of topics, and good luck with your Japanese studies!
