japanese writing (hiragana, katakana, etc)?

Question

how do you know which method to use when writing japanese. i have read that you can use various (hiragana, katakana, romaji, etc.) but my question is how do you go about deciding. is there a specific reason why you use both at the same time.

Answer 1

Katakana and Romaji are basically the same thing. Romaji is the word they use for like English-words. I assume it's like called Romaji because it sounds like "Roman" but I could be wrong. Hiragana is for the individual characters that they have.
Ex: A I U E O, ka ki ku, ke, ko, etc, etc...

As far as Kanji, I think that's usually used when there are words that have are available in Chinese characters. For example, the word for flower is usually written in Kanji, because flower is a word that there is a Chinese character for. However, "flower" in Japanese =can= also be written in Hiragana, because the individual syllables of the word have characters available in Hiragana.

Answer 2

The more you study, the easier that becomes (obviously), until it becomes simple.

Basically katakana is used for spelling out words/names recently from foreign languages. Words borrowed eons ago are written in hiragana and sometimes even kanji.

Katakana is also used for emphasis, such as in advertising, or on a big Pachinko or Karaoke sign.

Kanji is used for many nouns, but also as a root meaning for many other words.

Hiragana fills in the gaps.

So, you might have a sentence like this:

私の名前がジョンです。

Watashi no namae ga John desu.

My name is John.

Watashi is in kanji because it's a basic word.
no is in hiragana because it's just a gramattical marker
namae is back to kanji because it's a basic word
ga is in hiragana because again it's a basic gramattical marker
John is in katakana because it's a traditionally non-Japanese name that needs to be spelled out phonetically.
desu is back to hiragana, being a gramattical marker.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

in hiragana にほんご in katakana ニホンゴ in kanji 日本語