使える表現

英語でニッポンをフカボリ! DID YOU KNOW…?『漢字・ひらがな・カタカナ』

ついつい誰かに話したくなってしまう日本のこと。
今回は日本語をフカボリ!
『漢字・ひらがな・カタカナ』を説明してみましょう。

まずはKey Words & Phrasesから。

テーマに関連する語句

Japanese / Japanese language(日本語)
character / letter(文字)
kanji / Chinese character(漢字)
hiragana (character)(ひらがな)
katakana (character)(カタカナ)
ideographic character(表意文字・意味を表す文字)
phonetic character(表意文字・音を表す文字)
root(《言語学》語幹)
loanword(借用語・外来語)
commonly used kanji(常用漢字)
grammatical structure(文法構造)

一般的な語句

in writing(書き言葉で・文書で)
also known as(~の名でも知られている)
simplified(簡略化された)
meanwhile(その一方で)
according to one estimate(一説によると)
designate(指定する)
in most cases(大抵の場合は)
usage(用法・使い方)
that is why(そのようなわけで~なのです)

続いて、今回のテーマに挑戦!

Did you know the Japanese language has three different sets of characters?
(日本語では3つの異なる文字を使うのを知ってましたか?)

・The Japanese language has three different types of characters in writing, kanji characters imported from ancient China and two phonetic letters, hiragana and katakana.
・Kanji is an ideographic character which represents an idea or concept. They are primarily used to describe nouns, the root of verbs and adjectives.
・Hiragana and katakana were created based on simplified kanji characters so that more people can read and write. Now, hiragana is used to complement kanji and to express words with no Kanji. Meanwhile, katakana is mainly used to describe loanwords.

3 Questions for Digging Deeper! 《 もっと掘り下げてみよう! 》

1. How many characters are there in total?
(合計で何文字あるの?)

As for hiragana and katakana, there are 46 characters of each. According to one estimate, there are more than 100,000 Kanji characters, and about 2000 kanji are designated as commonly used characters.

2. Which Japanese writing system should I learn first?
(どの文字を最初に学ぶのがいいの?)

Hiragana would be the simplest and easiest character that Japanese learners should learn first. In school, Japanese children learn hiragana first and then move on to katakana and kanji. It’s probably the most common way for non-Japanese people as well.

3. Can native Japanese understand written Chinese as well?
(中国語の文書も理解できるの?)

I would say no in most cases. We share the same characters but usage is different in many cases. For example, “手紙” which means “a letter” in Japanese, indicates “toilet paper” in Chinese. In addition to that, the Chinese language is based on very different grammatical structures, and that makes it difficult to understand.


英語を学びながら日本の魅力を伝えていきましょう!

まずはビジネス英会話力チェック(無料)をお試しください


BBTオンライン英会話はポイント制で、 受講ペースと4つのコースの組み合わせは自由自在です。

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