Konnichiwa!

This term in the Nihongo no kyoushitsu, we are learning kanji!
 

What are kanji?

Kanji are Japanese characters, and one of three writing systems in Japanese. The other two are hiragana and katakana (collectively called kana).

Kanji are Japanese symbols that represent whole words. Kanji symbols can stand alone, or combine with other kanji or kana to create more words, ideas, or turn a kanji into a verb. Their pronunciation and readings vary based on what other kanji or kana they’re connected with — that’s the difficult part. The easy part is that they make reading easier.

Kanji originate from China but were imported into Japanese sometime around the 5th century. Many of the kanji we are learning today are pictographs, meaning they look like the word they represent. This is not true of all kanji however.

The students have been learning kanji through drawing and repetition, using whiteboards and their notebooks.

These are the kanji we have learnt so far. Look at some of their kanji creations!