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I'm a beginner in Japanese language. I'm confused as to where I should use kanji or hiragana. For example, "Company" is written as

  • 会社 in kanji
  • かいしゃ in hiragana

What is the difference between those two form writings? Which one should I use?

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2 Answers 2

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Usually, a common word like kaisha will only ever be written as かいしゃ instead of 会社 in these two cases:

  • When accomodating for young children or non-Japanese speakers who might not be able to read kanji (yet).

  • For stylistic/typographic purposes. For example, as part of an all-hiragana name of a company on a billboard. Just another way to stand out in an attempt to catch your attention, I suppose.

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According to my dictionary, かいしゃ (hiragana) can mean either a company/corporation/workplace or a household word/universal praise. I'd stick with writing the word 会社 in kanji to be more specific and avoid any confusion. It's also good practice to get as much exposure to kanji as you can early on. It'll help you out big time when reading more advanced material.

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