What is the Difference of these 3?
 

Hello. I am self-teaching myself some Japanese, but I am having trouble with some things. I first started teaching myself some easy introduction words, months, #s, etc., (but those are all in romaji). Things like that, but now I think I should start studying on the hiragana, katakana, and kanji (One at a time of course). I have concerns:

1) What is the difference between these three? Sush as its common use? Please explain and add examples? . . . I read some definitions of these three, but I am still puzzled. <-- This is my biggest issue. There is so much information I may have to read on these, but many of them use big words and/or explain too much, when I just need a simple explanation. I can't learn the grammar of Japanese unless I understand these, right?

2) Which one should I start on first do you recommend?

Someone please help me.

Thank you!

~GoodAnime

well the only difference that i know between them is that kanji are letters "borrowed" from the chinese alphabet. i have heard that you should learn hiragana, katakana, kanji, then romanji

Romaji isn't good for anybody. Begin learning Japanese with Hiragana, then Katakana. There's too many problems associated with romaji in learning Japanese, and furthermore, romaji isn't used that often in Japan, so it's rather useless.

Hatredcopter put it nicely. There are only two reasons to ever use romaji: You are using a computer that for some odd reason (ie you pirated the OS and don't have the install disc><) cannot install Japanese language support, or you are just starting out. And even if you are just starting, if you're seriously studying learn hiragana ASAP. Romaji is for tourists.

^_~
 

:ywave: Konnichiwa

So, the most common would be Kanji. >.< Kanji is a must and is very difficult to learn with so many out there. THat's why it's best to stuyd a Kanji a day. Also Hiragana is used with Kanji. Katakana is for foreign words. But Hiragana and Kanji are the most common. ^-^ But they are all common. I suggest you study Hiragana and Katakana first

:ywave:

Somewhat unrelated response to the intial post: The proper grammar is "What are the differences among these three options?" Apologies if I offend, but the grammar teacher in my head won't stop until I point that out.

@Hatredcopter & Nathan: Okay. Thank you for the info. I'll work on hiragana then katakana.

Thank you to Saruwatarikumiko, too!

@Koir: Ahahaha, it's no problem. I would change it, but unfortunately, I cannot now.

One more thing: If I tried to read a Japanese product, would it be in hiragana usually? Or what?

There are so many places I can start to learn. . . xDD

To be able to read normal things (newpapers, advertisements, etc.) you need to know all three. It is common to see sentences with both hiragana and kanji and katakana all being used.

Katakana is used for foriegn words like Cola {Ko-ra} コ(Ko)ーラ(ra)

Hirigana was devoloped for woman back in the day. Woman in Japan where not allowed to write in kanji. But now Hirigana is use for some adjetives like Oishii{Tasty} お(O)い(I)し(SHI)い(I) And is also used for particles like waは and gaが.

Kanji is used for all Nouns like Ginko{Bank}銀行

I would start with Katakana, it is the easiest. Then Hirigana, and then Kanji. Katakana and Hirigana are easy to learn. Kanji is very hard to learn. The average Japanese person knows about 40,000 charecters, that is how much you need to know to read the news paper in Japan. There are over 150,000 cheracters in the kanji alphebet.

My wife is Japanese and sometimes there are signs in Japan, that she can't even read.