Japanese characters?

Question

Hi,
I am learning japanese characters, the characters are ordered in the sounds for example "n" and "ni"

Why would you have the character for "ni" instead of "n" and "i" after, or the other way round, what is the reason, or can you use it either way?
Thanks

Answer 1

Unlike English, Japanese has a syllabary, which means that its writing system organizes sounds by syllables. We can write individual letters "s" and "a" and "e," for example, but in the Japanese writing system single sounds are group into syllables like "sa" (さ) and "se" (せ).

"n" is a little odd because it has no vowel after it. This is because "n" can form a syllable by itself in Japanese. Usually "n" is used in very clear situations, when the "n" is not followed by a vowel or is at the end of a word so you have no choice but to use "n" ん by itself (newspaper しんぶん, denki でんき, zenzen ぜんぜん).

However, in some cases, "n" ん is used even if it's followed by a vowel. In these cases, "n" ん plus a vowel is NOT interchangeable with na, ni, nu, ne, no. Switching these around would change the pronunciation of the word.

Consider the word for "salesclerk": てんいん. According to the hiragana (there are 4 characters so there must be 4 syllables), this is pronounced something like teh-nn-ee-nn. If you wrote this differently, or if there was an imaginary word てにん, this would be pronounced with 3 syllables, teh-nee-nn. It's hard to notice this when someone is speaking quickly, but the difference is still there.

By the way, if the idea of an "n" or an "m" forming its own syllable is weird to you... we actually have this in (some dialects of) English, too. Consider the word "prism." Many people pronounce this without any vowel in the second syllable, just priz-mm.

Answer 2

Japanese is NOT English. It does not have an alphabet. It has a syllabary, meaning its language is arranged by syllables. In Japanese every sound must always be accompanied with a vowel with the exception of N. You can not have N and then I when you are supposed to have NI. It's like writing the word cat with a K. It's not correct.

Answer 3

Bunny,

"By the way, if the idea of an "n" or an "m" forming its own syllable is weird to you... we actually have this in (some dialects of) English, too. Consider the word "prism." Many people pronounce this without any vowel in the second syllable, just priz-mm."

Actually the word "prism" is from Greek "prīsma". It just got shortened in English. So using the original Greek word, your logic is invalid.

Answer 4

The characters you're referring to are the "kana," a system invented in the 11th century that represents the Japanese language by means of phonetic (as opposed to alphabetic) symbols. They're based on the way the language is spoken. Consonants do not occur by themselves in Japanese, except for the consonant "n." That's why you have a kana for "ni," and a separate kana for "n." So even though you do have a kana for "i," you wouldn't write "n" "i." You have a kana for that phoneme: "ni." You'd use that one.