What is the difference between romaji, hiragana,katakana, and kanji?

Question

I'm a chinese, I've been wanting to learn japanese language =D

Answer 1

Many people have already asked your question. Here are some answers you will find useful:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

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http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Here is what each alphabet looks like (using the word "I" or "me" in Japanese):

kanji: 私

hiragana: わたし

katakana: ワタシ

romaji: watashi

Answer 2

Kanji are characters.

Hiragana and katakana are two phonetic systems of writing; each has 46:

* Hiragana is used to write Japanese words that are, or are not longer, written with kanji;

* Katakana is used for words borrowed from non-Japanese languages.

Romaji is Japanese transliterated into the Roman (English) alphabet.

Answer 3

Alright well I'm pretty much just repeating the same answer, but I'll go ahead. I had the same question a while back and I used Yahoo!Answers to help me out.

Romaji is when you take a Japanese word and put it in Roman letters. I'll give you an example later. Hirigana is a syllabry that spells out words of Japanese origin. Katakana is used for foreign words that have been adapted into Japanese, such as names, or 'ice cream'. Kanji are the borrowed Chinese characters, although my Chinese friend tells me that they are stolen. A Kanji represents a word, or a part of a word.

Example: I

Romaji: Watashi

Hirigana: わたし　（わ＝wa, た＝ta, し＝s**+)

Kanji: 私

Camera-Kamera

Katakana for 'kamera'=カメラ

Answer 4

Kanji are characters borrowed from China.

Katakana is like square version of hiragana. It's made up by Japanese,used for foreign words, even Chinese names.

Hiragana is said to be made for women in the Tale of Genji. It's cursive like, and used for verb conjugations, particles, and some Japanese names.

Romaji is romanized Japanese.