Japanese alphabets?

[CoyoteChris]

The Japanese have two alphabets?

 

[EyesOfLove]

Katakana is used mainly for loanwords/transliterating foreign languages and for putting emphasis on words. One uses Hiragana for other occasions that do not really necessitate either Kanji ('Japanized' Chinese characters) or Katakana (e.g., grammatical elements, expressions native to Japanese, etc.) But then mine is a very, very rough explanation of a much more nuanced linguistic system.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Katakana is used mainly for loanwords/transliterating foreign languages and for putting emphasis on words. One uses Hiragana for other occasions that do not really necessitate either Kanji ('Japanized' Chinese characters) or Katakana (e.g., grammatical elements, expressions native to Japanese, etc.) But then mine is a very, very rough explanation of a much more nuanced linguistic system.

Thanks, EyesOfLove. I have been told by a retired Airforce Col. friend who goes to Japan for anime conventions that sometimes, whole sentences or places can be represented by a charactor or two. Since I cant seem to master English with its 26 letters, I have no hope but might print out some of these charactors and try them. Lets see...."I before E except after C, and Neighbors weighing Ancient Glaciers"....naw...cant be right...back to Japanese.