ive syllabic scripts, conceptually they will be a step ahead of those who rely essentially on Chinese characters. Fortunately, today's young children usually begin to learn Japanese writing and reading through hiragana, a cursive script. Katakana, a more angular script, is used principally for onomatopoeic native words and transcriptions of foreign words and names, including borrowings. Romanji (Roman letters) is used for English and other European words in their original forms, for initials in foreign names, for Japanese words and names that may be read by non-Japanese, as a classifying device in some libraries, and for seating in some theaters and transport systems. Often, the ESL teacher will use these Romanji forms as an introduction to the Roman alphabet, because the older child may already have read them. The introduction of Romanji, therefore, may coincide with the teaching of English for the child old enough to learn how to read and write as well as speak. Generally, however, in the endeavor of learning to r
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