Japanese children learn to read and write Japanese in their schools.  The language is not hard to speak, but it is very difficult to write.  The Japanese do not use alphabet letters like we do.  They use little symbols or characters, instead.  Each character stands for a syllable or a word. 

The Japanese children must learn two thousand characters called "kanji" and two different alphabets in order to read and write correctly.  The alphabets each contain 48 letters and are known as "katakana" and "hiragana" .  The children must study very hard and practice for long hours. 

The children practice calligraphy on a daily basis to improve their reading and writing skills.  At the end of each school year, students participate in a contest to determine who writes the best poem.   

Visit this web site to learn more:

www.jwindow.net/old/kids/school/lang/