How do you say Alpha in Japanese?

Answer 1

There are three writing systems for the Japanese language, kanji which is Chinese character used in Japanese language, hiragana which is simplified text, and katakana which is typically used for borrowed Western words.

For more info check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana

Answer 2

There is no "alphabet" in Japanese. Instead, a few other systems are used:

Hiragana originated from man'yogana, Chinese, around 5th century, it is used in actual Japanese language, in verbs and Japanese nouns

Katakana originated circa 7th century, it is mainly used for foreign loanwords (borrowed from other languages) and also for foreign names. However, most of the time there is no direct phonetics translation. (Note: both scripts have completely different brush strokes, but there is a character for each sound of the Japanese language, there is a character for an "A" sound in Hiragana and one in Katakana too, and this is true for all Hiragana/Katakana text.

Kanji are Chinese-based symbols that stand for many things. This is what one would call, the "cool" part of Japanese.

A way to tell the scripts apart is the complexity of the writing, Japanese generally has a fewer brushstroke count.

Romaji is the Latin alphaphet used for Japanese. It's mainly used for street signs and other limited uses.

Answer 3

There are two alphabets Hiragana and Katakana and then there is Kanji, which is another 1500 or so different characters that a high school graduate is expected to recognize.

Charts of hiragana and katakana are available at many Web sites: searching for "hiragana katakana" will yield dozens.

Hiragana is used for several purposes. The primary use is to write grammatical markers (e.g., past tense markers, conjunctions, and so forth) that cannot be written using Chinese characters (or kanji), the symbols mainly borrowed from Chinese that carry the idea or content of words, in much the way that many English or Romance language words comprise a root from Latin or Greek and grammatic markers associated with particular languages and grammars.

Hiragana is also used in some cases when the Chinese characters are too much trouble or are too obscure to write (e.g., ごみ [English: trash, garbage, etc.], which can be written as 塵). In personal names, hiragana are often used when the connotations of particular kanji that could be used to write a name are not wanted.

Hiragana is historically (e.g., in the Heian era) with women's prose (e.g., "The Tale of Genji").

Katakana comprise a parallel set of sound symbols abstracted from hiragana symbols. Presently, katakana are used most often to designate words of foreign origin or, sometimes, for emphasis (as are italics in English and other alphabet-dominated languages). At least until the end of the Second World War, katakana were also used (at least in official documents) for grammatic markers, hiragana having taken over this role nearly completely in the last 60 or so years.

The Roman alphabet is frequently used as is in Japan, although not for prose or any extended writing. Hence, the Roman alphabet can be encountered on signage or similar forms of communication such as advertisements and product labels.

Answer 4

Arufa