Japanese for Beginners. Learning Conversational Japanese

The Japanese Writing System (Script) In Japanese writing,
there are three types of symbols: kanji (which are Chinese characters, each
with a meaning), hiragana, and katakana (which are two kinds of phonetic
spelling alphabets similar to our alphabet). The same word can be written
different ways in Japanese; for example, the word Okinawa can be written 沖
縄 in kanji, おきなわ in hiragana, and オキナワ in katakana.
Japanese sentences are usually written in a mixture of these three
characters, according to standard conventions of usage.
Kanji Characters in Japanese Have Two Different “Readings”
Kanji characters, which are similar to the characters used to write Chinese, are ideograms which
convey meaning in the same way that pictures or drawings do—rather than conveying sounds the way
that alphabets do. And a kanji character in Japanese generally has two different “readings” or
pronunciations depending on the context: a Chinese and a Japanese reading.
The Chinese reading (called on yomi) is the way to say the character that is similar to the original
Chinese pronunciation of the Chinese word. It is usually written with two or more kanji.
The Japanese reading (called kun yomi) is the way to say the character that reflects the
pronunciation and meaning that the Japanese gave to that Chinese symbol when they used it to
represent an indigenous Japanese word. It is normally written with one kanji or a mixture of kanji and
hiragana.
As the purpose of this book is not to teach written Japanese, all Japanese words and sentences
you’ll work with here are written using the Roman alphabet (rōmaji)—the letters you’re already
familiar with, from English—to make your study of Japanese a little easier.
From Syllables... to Japanese Words Some Japanese words
consist of just one syllable such as ki (tree), e (picture), ha (tooth), te (hand)
or cha (Japanese green tea). Most words, however, are made up of two or
more syllables. In fact, there are many more multisyllabic words in Japanese
than there are in English. Here are a few:
mizu (water) → mi zu (2 syllables)
kuruma (car) → ku ru ma (3 syllables)
byōin (hospital) → byo o i n (4 syllables)