Knowing how a Japanese word is usually written
Posted: Thu May 13, 2021 1:19 pm
Hi all, it's me back with another silly beginner question about Japanese. I'm really rather embarrassed about this one, but my Google-Fu is failing me.
My question is this: what's the most reliable way to know how a word/phrase is normally written – specifically whether it uses kanji, is normally written in hiragana alone, is written in katakana, etc.?
Let's take a simple example, the word that appears in my old-fashioned Cortina textbook as "arigatou". I'm wondering, does this word involve kanji or not?
My favorite online dictionary I've found so far is Jisho. (Alternative recommendations welcome.) But when I search for "arigatou" there, I see this rather confusing sight:
On the left, it clearly shows the term written using two kanji (plus two hiragana). However, in the dictionary entry itself, it says "usually written using kana alone". Then, under "Other forms", I see three more options, one of which is listed as "irregular". How do I know which of these is standard?
So far I've been double-checking myself by going to Google Translate EN>JP, typing e.g. "thanks" into the source, and checking what the Japanese output says. In this case, it uses nothing but hiragana:
So, can I assume that it's normally written with only hiragana?
It feels frustratingly awkward to have to go through this rather persnickety process involving two separate websites to figure out something that ought to be so simple.
Obviously this is just a single example, and my real question is a much more general one: what's the best online source for reliably telling me the standard way of writing any phrase or word or Japanese?
My question is this: what's the most reliable way to know how a word/phrase is normally written – specifically whether it uses kanji, is normally written in hiragana alone, is written in katakana, etc.?
Let's take a simple example, the word that appears in my old-fashioned Cortina textbook as "arigatou". I'm wondering, does this word involve kanji or not?
My favorite online dictionary I've found so far is Jisho. (Alternative recommendations welcome.) But when I search for "arigatou" there, I see this rather confusing sight:
On the left, it clearly shows the term written using two kanji (plus two hiragana). However, in the dictionary entry itself, it says "usually written using kana alone". Then, under "Other forms", I see three more options, one of which is listed as "irregular". How do I know which of these is standard?
So far I've been double-checking myself by going to Google Translate EN>JP, typing e.g. "thanks" into the source, and checking what the Japanese output says. In this case, it uses nothing but hiragana:
So, can I assume that it's normally written with only hiragana?
It feels frustratingly awkward to have to go through this rather persnickety process involving two separate websites to figure out something that ought to be so simple.
Obviously this is just a single example, and my real question is a much more general one: what's the best online source for reliably telling me the standard way of writing any phrase or word or Japanese?