️🇯🇵 Cracking the Code: The Three Pillars of Japanese Writing

Hint: Two of these systems are syllabaries, while the third, borrowed from Chinese, is used for complex characters representing meaning rather than just sound… →

Hangul is known for its scientific design and ease of learning, with 24 basic letters—14 consonants and 10 vowels—that can be combined into syllabic blocks. Hangul's logical structure makes it one of the most efficient writing systems in the world.

The Japanese language uses three distinct writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

Hiragana and katakana are syllabaries, where each character represents a specific sound. Hiragana is primarily used for native Japanese words and grammatical functions, while katakana is used for foreign loanwords, onomatopoeia, and emphasis. Kanji, borrowed from Chinese, consists of thousands of characters that represent meanings rather than sounds, often combining with hiragana in written sentences. Together, these systems create a versatile and complex script, allowing Japanese to convey meaning, nuance, and pronunciation with remarkable efficiency.