Reading Basic Japanese Signs

  1. Introduction
  2. Overview
  3. Hiragana and Katagana Character Sets
  4. Modifiers of Basic Character Sets
  5. Some Examples
  6. Confusing Pairs
  7. Kanji
  8. Resources

INTRODUCTION

In a recent (2009) trip to Japan, I decided it would be useful to pick up the basics of Japanese scripts. NOT to speak, but in order to read! NOT to read for understanding (which requires some grammar and vocabulary), but just to read signs (hotel names, street signs, etc), and to make connections to words that I already know in English. Most introductory Japanese websites or books aim to teach you basic speaking, or simple reading for understanding. But what I need is a rather specialized subset of that information. If you have a limited goal like mine, you might find the following notes useful.

If we just want to "recognize" signs, we just have to memorize the symbols. Why care about pronunciation? Here are some reasons: you may need to sound it out when asking directions. It would be nice to recognize it when you hear your tour guide say the word. Most importantly, we are often interested in recognizing those words that are non-Japanese (e.g., "terminal", "club") or Japanese words that has entered the English vocabulary (e.g., ramen). In this case, they sound like the English counter part, and you could recognize it by its pronounciation. Of course, our need for pronunciation is less critical than those who must speak the language (in order to be understood).

You might think that in major cities, there would be enough information or signs in English, so it is unnecessary to read Japanese signs. Unfortunately, most maps and signages in Japan are in Japanese with a smattering of English in some major hubs.

Here is an example. In my trip to Fukuoka to attend ASCM (Asian Symposium on Computer Mathematics, Dec 2009), I was looking for JAL SEAHAWK HOTEL which I had stayed in 2003. This is a landmark (35 storey) hotel, next to the huge Yahoo Stadium, home of Fukuoka's baseball team (Seahawk). But I could not find an online map with this English name on the map. (Someone put a marker in Google maps for this hotel, but it was located in the sea, and quite far from the actual location.) Here is the name in Japanese:

SEA-HAW-K:    ( し ほ く )    [Si Ho Ku]
Note that this is spelled out using Hiragana script (even though most foreign words are in Katagana script). Perhaps you might find this alternative rendition:
( し ー ほ ー く )    [Si--Ho--Ku]
This rendition simply has the ''prolongation'' symbol [--] following the first two syllables; it is an aid to pronouncing the name more accurately. The last syllable [Ku] remains short. It is, of course, superfluous in English. But in Japanese, each consonant is tied to a vowel, and [Ku] is thus the stand-in for the letter K in English.

The upshot is that SEAHAWK in Japanese is a 3 syllable word, unlike the 2 syllables of English. Fortunately, Japanese vowels are always short, so you probably hear the terminal syllable [Ku] as [K']. That is also the reason why we need to lengthen the sound of [Si] and [Ho] using the prolongation mark ''ー'' above. Remarkably, this prolongation mark ー can be rotated 90 degrees to become a vertical bar when the Japanese script is written vertically. Japanese, like Chinese and Korean scripts, are equally at home in vertical or horizontal modes. (Interestingly, Chinese and Korean scripts are even at home whether you write them from left-to-right or right-to-left; unfortunately, Japanese script is not so endowed.)

In general, terminal consonants in foreign words represent a standard problem in transcribing sounds into Japanese --- every terminal consonant will introduce a superfluous terminal syllable. E.g., FORK in English must be transcribed as [Fo Ku] or, with prolongation, [Fo--Ku]. But there is some indeterminacy here: if we want a terminal [K] sound, which of the characters in the K-row ([Ka], [Ki], [Ku], etc) should you use? In practice, it seems that [Ku] and [Ko] are preferred.

For the purposes of reading signs, the Katagana script is perhaps slightly more important than Hiragana script. But the two systems are parallel, so for good measure, we throw in Hiragana as well. Actually, you will need to recognize Hiragana characters, if only to ignore them! It is true the curvy script of Hiragana usually distinguishes it from Katagana. But until you master the scripts, it is sometimes hard to tell whether you are reading Katagana or Hiragana. In that case, you want a table of both alphabet (see below) for comparison.

OVERVIEW

Hiragana and Katagana Character Sets

These two character sets have a one-one correspondence, and hence it is useful to see them presented side-by-side. The third table below is a merger of the first two, and strictly speaking, redundant. Still, it is useful:
HIRAGANA: KATAGANA: HIRAGANA/KATAGANA :
A I U E O
-
K-
S-
T-
N-
H-
M-
Y- -- --
R-
W- --
-n -- -- -- --
A I U E O
-
K-
S-
T-
N-
H-
M-
Y- -- --
R-
W- --
-n -- -- -- --
A I U E O
- あ : ア い : イ う : ウ え : エ お : オ
K- か : カ き : キ く : ク け : ケ こ : コ
S- さ : サ し : シ す : ス せ : セ そ : ソ
T- た : タ ち : チ つ : ツ て : テ と : ト
N- な : ナ に : ニ ぬ : ヌ ね : ネ の : ノ
H- は : ハ ひ : ヒ ふ : フ へ : ヘ ほ : ホ
M- ま : マ み : ミ む : ム め : メ も : モ
Y- や : ヤ -- : -- ゆ : ユ -- : -- よ : ヨ
R- ら : ラ り : リ る : ル れ : レ ろ : ロ
W- わ : ワ ゐ : ヰ -- : -- ゑ : ヱ を : ヲ
-n ん : ン -- : -- -- : -- -- : -- -- : --

Modifiers of Basic Character Sets

Why Kanji?

Basic Kanji Words:

Resources