Japanese is different from many other languages. It uses three different ways to write. This can seem difficult, but each way has a special purpose.

The first way is called kanji. Kanji came from China more than a thousand years ago. Each kanji is a picture that means something. Some kanji are simple, and some are very difficult. Japanese people learn about two thousand kanji in school. Each kanji can mean a word or part of a word. For example, one kanji means “person,” and another means “tree.” When you put some kanji together, you can make new words.

The second way is called hiragana. Japanese people made hiragana a long time ago. They needed a way to write their own language better. Kanji came from Chinese, but Japanese and Chinese are very different. Japanese people took some kanji and made them simpler. These became hiragana. There are only 46 hiragana. Each hiragana is a sound, not a whole word. Japanese children learn hiragana first because it is easy to learn.

The third way is called katakana. Japanese people made this at the same time as hiragana. There are also 46 katakana. Each katakana is the same sound as one hiragana. But people use katakana for different things. They use it mostly for words from other countries. For example, the word “computer” is not a Japanese word. So people write it in katakana.

Why does Japanese use three ways to write? Each way helps people read and understand better. Kanji helps people read fast because one picture can mean a whole word. Hiragana helps with parts of words that kanji cannot show. Katakana helps people see which words came from other countries.

Learning to write Japanese takes a long time. But when you know all three ways, you can read anything in Japanese.