Lesson 1ようこそ、むさしトレーディングへ！ Welcome to Musashi Trading

Written Japanese

Three types of written characters are used in the Japanese language.

The Japanese language has 46 syllabic sounds. There are two types of characters for each of the sounds, Hiragana and Katakana.

For example, the vowel (a) is written as “あ” in Hiragana and “ア” in Katakana.

Just as they have different written characteristics, they are used differently.

1)   Hiragana is used to write native Japanese words.

2)   Katakana is used for foreign language words or created words and sounds.

For example, in the video, the terms “あたたかい” (warm) and “つめたい” (cold) are native to Japan. Therefore, Hiragana is used.

On the other hand, “Joselyn” is the name of a foreigner, and the word “trading” in “Musashi Trading” is an English word. These words did not originally exist in Japan. Therefore, Katakana is used to write those words.

カタカナ katakana

To start learning Japanese, the first step is to master the sounds for each Hiragana and Katakana. These sounds are not difficult to master.

The third type of characters used in Japanese is ideograms adopted from the Chinese language called Kanji.  There is a huge number of Kanji, and it can be a source of stress for many who are learning Japanese. However, as explained, basically all Japanese sounds can be expressed in Hiragana and Katakana.

The first objective of this course is for you to learn the 113 Kanji that appear in the elementary level N5 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

It is convenient and necessary for you to know and use Kanji, but it is best for you to master Hiragana and Katakana first.

Do not rush to learn Kanji. Take your time. The first step as mentioned earlier is for you to master Hiragana and Katakana.