The Japanese writing system is unique because it uses three different scripts together: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Think of them as three tools for one job.

• Kanji (漢字) are characters borrowed from Chinese, representing whole words or ideas.
• Katakana (カタカナ) is used for foreign loanwords, names, and for emphasis, like italics.
• Hiragana (ひらがな) is a phonetic script used for native Japanese words, verb endings, and grammatical particles. It's the glue that holds sentences together.

To start reading and writing Japanese, you need to learn Hiragana first. It’s the foundation.

Hiragana consists of 46 basic characters, each representing a specific syllable. Let's begin with the first five, which are the pure vowel sounds that form the basis of all other sounds in Japanese.

These five characters are the building blocks. Every row of Hiragana that follows will be based on combining a consonant sound with one of these vowel sounds.

あ (a) This is pronounced like the "a" in "father."

Learning to write Hiragana involves two key things: stroke order and stroke direction. Following the correct order is crucial for writing characters that are both legible and balanced. It also helps with memorization. For あ, start with the horizontal line, then the vertical line, and finish with the loop.

い (i) Pronounce this like the "ee" in "see." It's a high, sharp vowel sound. The character is simple, with just two strokes. The left stroke is slightly longer and has a small hook at the top.

う (u) This is pronounced like the "oo" in "moon," but with your lips more relaxed and not rounded. The character has two parts: a small tick at the top, and a larger, C-shaped curve below.

え (e) Pronounced like the "eh" in "get." It starts with a short dash, similar to う, but the second stroke is more complex, like a squiggly number 7.

お (o) Pronounced like the "o" in "go." This character is similar to あ, but it only has one horizontal line and a small dash on the side. Pay close attention to the differences to avoid mixing them up.

Now that you know the five vowels, the next rows are formed by adding a consonant sound before each one. Let's look at the 'k' row: か (ka), き (ki), く (ku), け (ke), こ (ko).

か (ka) Pronounced "ka" as in "car." It's made of three strokes. The first is a curved line, the second a vertical line crossing it, and the third a small dash.

き (ki) Pronounced "ki" as in "key." It has four strokes in most handwritten forms (sometimes three in print). The top two are parallel horizontal lines, followed by a vertical line with a curve, and a final curved line at the bottom.

く (ku) Pronounced "ku" as in "cuckoo." This character is very simple, just one stroke resembling a less-than sign (<).

け (ke) Pronounced "ke" as in "keg." It consists of three strokes: a curved vertical line, a horizontal line, and another vertical line that crosses the horizontal one.

こ (ko) Pronounced "ko" as in "comb." It is made of two simple, parallel curved lines, like a simplified equals sign.

That's the first ten characters! Practice writing them out, saying the sound as you write. This combination of seeing, writing, and speaking will help solidify them in your memory.

Ready to test your knowledge of the first two rows of Hiragana? Let's see what you've learned.

Keep practicing these first ten characters. Once you're comfortable with them, you'll be ready to move on to the next rows of Hiragana. Every character you learn is another step toward reading and writing in Japanese.