Especially for those who have started to learn Japanese, you should know the difference between three different Japanese symbols or writing form called:
- Kanji
- Hiragana
- Katakana
Japanese people use 3 different Japanese Symbols
About Kanji Symbols: Normally, many Westerners think that kanji symbol is the only writing form we use in Japanese. It is true that we use kanji symbols more than hiragana or katakana symbols when writing something in Japanese. However, unlike Chinese people who use only Kanji symbols, we mix up all Japanese scripts.
About Hiragana symbols: Hiragana symbols are normally used by supporting Kanji symbols' meaning. For example, if you write "I love You" in Japanese, you would use the kanji symbol for Love, but the rest of characters are written with Hiragana symbols. Of course, we just use only Hiragana symbols to write a word or phrase in Japanese as well.
About Katakana symbol: Finally, Katakana symbol is often used to represent foreign words, or names which have adopted into the Japanese writing system. Therefore, if you can read the Katakana symbols, you can normally work out what a word or phrase means in English. Nowadays, the majority of companies write their names both in English and Katakana symbols.