Japanese and Mandarin writing systems for beginners

For many English-speaking families the hardest-looking part of Japanese or Mandarin is not the grammar. It is the writing. Rows of characters, and for Japanese three scripts in one sentence, can make parents wonder whether their child will ever read. This guide explains how the systems work and how to pace them, without promising a timetable.

How does Japanese writing work?

Japanese is written with a mix of scripts. The Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs publishes the government's list of everyday kanji (the characters of Chinese origin), set by a Cabinet notice that the page itself dates to 30 November 2010 (Heisei 22) (Agency for Cultural Affairs). That page also shows how each kanji can have more than one reading: on'yomi, readings derived from Chinese, and kun'yomi, native Japanese readings. The page's search notes use katakana for on'yomi and hiragana for kun'yomi, which points to the two kana scripts that sit beside kanji.

In practice that means a learner meets:

• Hiragana and katakana, the two kana scripts, which write sounds.
• Kanji, characters of Chinese origin, which a learner meets gradually.

Because kana represent sounds, learning them early gives a child a way to read and say simple words before they know many kanji. That is the order we plan to use: Japanese in our course begins with hiragana and katakana at A1, with kanji arriving from A2, where the first unit is called "Common kanji 1".

How does Mandarin writing work?

Mandarin is written with characters (hanzi), with pinyin as a spelling aid. The Australian Curriculum says its Chinese entry covers the modern standard language, with simplified characters and pinyin Romanisation, and notes that simplified and traditional characters are both used in media, education and print (Australian Curriculum).

Pinyin uses the Latin alphabet. In our course it appears with tone marks, and a unit on pinyin and the four tones comes first. A child can learn to say a word from its pinyin before they can write the character. Our planned Mandarin course shows pinyin beside characters, then moves to a first set of characters. We chose simplified characters for it, as in the Australian Curriculum's Chinese entry.

What do the two languages have in common?

Both languages ask a learner to link a character to a sound and a meaning. In both, the sound is easier to start with than the full writing system. And in both, characters stick better when they are revisited often. A large review of spacing research, covering 839 assessments from 317 experiments, found that the ideal interval between sessions lengthens when the required memory span lengthens (Cepeda and colleagues, 2006). That study was about verbal recall tasks in general, not characters specifically, so treat it as a sensible guide rather than a proof. Our piece on spaced repetition goes into it.

Where do real sentences come in?

A script is not the language. The grammar tips in our course show how short and regular the early sentences are. In Japanese, X wa Y desu says what something is: "I am a student" is watashi wa gakusei desu, and the wa in that sentence is a particle written with the hiragana normally read ha. In Mandarin, adding ma to the end of a sentence turns it into a yes-or-no question, so ni hao ma asks how someone is. Children can use these patterns while they are still learning to read.

According to the Australian Curriculum, Japanese has a history of over a century in Australian classrooms, mostly as an additional language, so there is a long history of learning it here. In NSW, Chinese and Japanese are among the languages offered for Stage 6 Beginners, along with Korean (NSW Government).

What if I can't read the script myself?

You do not need to. You can still be a useful partner by asking your child to read a card to you, listening for whether the sound matches the example they heard, and keeping the review schedule. Many parents find that learning alongside their child, even a few characters at a time, makes the routine feel shared rather than supervised. If a tutor or a community class is available, a few minutes of handwriting practice with someone who reads the script can also help, which some learners find helpful.

How should a parent pace the scripts?

Our wider home routine for parents applies here too. For scripts specifically:

A reasonable approach, not a research-proven recipe:

1. Start with sounds. Learn to say and recognise simple words first.
2. Add the reading aid. Hiragana for Japanese, pinyin for Mandarin.
3. Add characters slowly. A handful at a time, tied to words your child already knows.
4. Revisit often. Short, regular review of old characters beats cramming new ones.
5. Read something small. A short text with known words feels like progress.

Do not set a target such as "all the kanji by Year 9". We found no source that gives a reliable timeline, and families differ.

Where does XLingo fit?

XLingo teaches both Japanese and Mandarin. Learners can switch readings on or off (furigana over kanji in Japanese lessons that have kanji, romaji in kana-only lessons, and pinyin for Mandarin), with word cards, short grammar tips and spaced review alongside. See the price and free trial.