Kanji charactersare not sylables (unlikeHiraganaorKatakana). The characters actually represent a concept or an idea.
I will give you another quick example for starters:
As you notice from the picture, theHiraganacharacters alongside theKanjiare calledfuriganaand their role is to help us understand the prononciation of theKanji.
The word 日本 can also be written as にほん or にっぽん.
Kanji pronounciation
Kanjicharacters have multiple pronounciations, which makes it tricky to learn them, but getting started should not be that hard. I will give you a quick example.
The symbol: 人 is the kanjifor person. It is normally pronouncedひと. Yet, if we combine it with anotherkanjisuch as 日本人 we get the word にほんじん (this being the word for Japanese person).
Onyomi and Kunyomi
These are the 2 main ways in which Kanjiare read. Onyomi is the original Chinese pronounciation of the character (and it is used in compond words), while Kunyomi is the Japanese reading (and used in stand alone words).
Let's go back to the 人. The Kunyomi reading for this character is ひとwhile the Onyomi reading is ジン.
人 (person)
Readings:
onyomi: ジン、ニン、
kunyomi: ひと、 -り、-と、
日 (day/sun)
Readings:
onyomi: ニチ、ジツ、
kunyomi: ひ、-び、-か、
一 (one/first)
Readings:
onyomi: イチ、イツ、
kunyomi: ひと-、 ひと.つ、
大 (large/big)
Readings:
onyomi: ダイ、タイ、
kunyomi: おお-、 おお.きい、-おお.いに、
年 (year)
Readings:
onyomi: ネン、
kunyomi: とし、
本 (book/origin)
Readings:
onyomi: ホン、
kunyomi: もと、
子 (child)
Readings:
onyomi: シ、ス、ツ、
kunyomi: こ、 -こ、ね、
見 (to see)
Readings:
onyomi: ケン、
kunyomi: み.る、み.える、み.せる、
国 (country)
Readings:
onyomi: コク、
kunyomi: くに、
言 (say/word)
Readings:
onyomi: ゲン、ゴン、
kunyomi: い.う、こと、
水 (water)
Readings:
onyomi: スイ、
kunyomi: みず、みず-、
火 (fire)
Readings:
onyomi: カ、
kunyomi: ひ、-び、ほ-、
手 (hand)
Readings:
onyomi: シュ、ズ、
kunyomi: て、て-、た-、
自 (self/oneself)
Readings:
onyomi: ジ、シ、
kunyomi: みずか.ら、おの.ずから、おの.ずと、
事 (thing)
Readings:
onyomi: ジ、ズ、
kunyomi: こと、つか.う、つか.える、
目 (eye)
Readings:
onyomi: モク、ボク、
kunyomi: め、-め、ま-、
入 (eye)
Readings:
onyomi: ニュウ、ジュ、
kunyomi: い.る、-い.る、-い.り、い.れる、
山 (eye)
Readings:
onyomi: サン、セン、
kunyomi: やま、
金 (eye)
Readings:
onyomi: キン、コン、ゴン、
kunyomi: かね、かな-、-がね、
女 (eye)
Readings:
onyomi: ジョ、ニョ、ニョウ、
kunyomi: おんな、め、
Now that you know how to get started with
Kanji, you just need to practice a bit more and get used to them litle by little.