Katakana

 

I am glad I finally know why the Japanese language has three different alphabets. Hiragana is meant for native Japanese words while Katakana is for foreign words. If I remember correctly, Kanji is from Chinese characters that have been adapted into the Japanese language. Despite knowing all of this I still have difficulties telling Hiragana and Katakana apart ( I know I am so ashamed! I promise I will do better! ) Hopefully, as we continue on during the semester the difference between the two will become more apparent. A bit more practice and I am sure this will change! So far I am noticing that Hiragana is more rounded and much more natural to write down to me. (The curviness of the characters reminds me of Khmer in a way)I think I might prefer writing in Hiragana for now.  While katakana is more angular, sharp, and a bit rigid for me to write. But perhaps I’m just not used to writing these characters yet. ( I haven’t built muscle memory for the letters yet). I plan on doing more flashcards, and memorization games and perhaps I can study with some friends to help me understand this a bit better. I bet if I do some more digging I could find some websites and maybe even YouTube videos to help learn. I know one method people recommended was to watch my favorite TV show in the language I want to learn. A coworker of mine told me he would play video games in Japanese to help him study so maybe that could work for me too. I can also try incorporating Japanese text into my artwork! ( I am very excited about that. This gives me an excuse to make more name seals hehe)   Another coworker told me she would label everything in her studio in Japanese ( which low key I think could be kind of fun). She mentioned that this would encourage her to look up new words and also help her immerse herself in the language physically.