Japanese today — three writing systems, and levels of politeness
Three scripts, used together in one sentence
This is the fact that startles beginners, and it is more logical than it sounds.
| SCRIPT | WHAT IT IS FOR | COUNT |
|---|---|---|
| ひらがな hiragana | Japanese grammar — particles, endings, native words | 46 basic |
| カタカナ katakana | Foreign loanwords, names, emphasis | 46 basic |
| 漢字 kanji | Chinese characters, carrying core meanings | ~2,100 in general use |
A normal sentence uses all three:
私はコーヒーを飲みます。 Watashi wa kōhī o nomimasu. — I drink coffee.
私 and 飲 are kanji. コーヒー is katakana, because coffee is a loanword. は, を, and みます are hiragana, carrying the grammar.
The division of labour is what makes it readable. Japanese does not put spaces between words, and the mix of scripts is what shows you where one word ends and the next begins.
Politeness is grammatical
Japanese changes the verb according to your relationship with the listener. This is not vocabulary politeness like English please — it is built into the conjugation.
| LEVEL | EXAMPLE | USED WITH |
|---|---|---|
| Plain 食べる taberu | to eat | close friends, family, writing |
| Polite 食べます tabemasu | to eat | strangers, colleagues, everyone else |
| Honorific / humble | 召し上がる, いただく | customers, superiors, formal service |
This course teaches the polite ます form throughout. It is correct with everyone you are likely to meet as a visitor or new colleague, and it is never rude. The plain form is what you add later, once you know people well enough for it to be appropriate.
Using plain forms too early is one of the few genuine social errors a learner can make in Japanese — it reads as over-familiar rather than friendly.
A NOTE ON DIALECTS Standard Japanese is based on Tokyo speech and is understood everywhere. Kansai — Osaka and Kyoto — has a distinct accent and vocabulary that you will hear in comedy and drama, but standard Japanese is always appropriate.