Japanese

Japanese has three different written forms, each with slightly different purposes: Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. Kanji characters were originally borrowed from Chinese and like Chinese, each Kanji character relates to a single word. Hiragana and Katakana, known collectively as Kana, are phonetic writing systems. Kanji and Hiragana are often combined in writing, while Katakana is primarily used in headings, on signs and to spell new loan words. Romaji, which is the Japanese name for the Latin alphabet, is used for transcribing Japanese to Western languages.

Countries with Japanese as official language

Japan

Sample text

Prior to translation and interpretation

Before ordering a translation or interpreter, it is a good idea to know which country the translated material will be used in and which country the person to be interpreted comes from. This is particularly important for translations into languages which are spoken in many different countries, since the same language may be written differently and in some cases with different alphabets.

Language code

ja

Alphabet

Japanese

Language family

Language group