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Katakana Lesson

The document discusses the katakana writing system of Japan. It provides charts of the basic katakana characters and their romanizations, as well as additional katakana combinations used to transcribe foreign sounds. Some key differences between katakana and hiragana characters are highlighted, such as differences in stroke order and direction. Long vowels, digraphs, and other conventions used in katakana are illustrated with examples.

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56 views4 pages

Katakana Lesson

The document discusses the katakana writing system of Japan. It provides charts of the basic katakana characters and their romanizations, as well as additional katakana combinations used to transcribe foreign sounds. Some key differences between katakana and hiragana characters are highlighted, such as differences in stroke order and direction. Long vowels, digraphs, and other conventions used in katakana are illustrated with examples.

Uploaded by

arroyojean597
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Katakana

Similar to the hiragana chart, the katakana chart below shows the 46 basic
characters together with their romaji.

The pronunciation of each katakana character is exactly the same as the


equivalent hiragana character. However, katakana have more additional
readings because they are used to read foreign words.

Table 6: Katakana Chart

 The syllables シ, チ, and ッ are Romanized as shi, chi and tsu, respectively to give a
closer English pronunciation.

Table 7: Katakana Chart -2 (Dakuon and Handakuon)

 チ”(ji) and ツ” (zu) are pronounced the same as ジ (ji) and ズ (zu) , respectively
and have limited usage.

Disco - disuko ヂスコ


Zimbabwe - Zimubabue ジムバブエ
Zu(Zu)- ズ zu (du) - ヅ
Zumba – Zumuba ズムバ duet – duetto - ヅエット

Table 8: Katakana Chart-3 /Digraph/Compund Syllabary

Table 9: Katakana Chart- 4

Wi= ui we=ue

Tea cup = ti kappu - family - huafamiri -

 A few important things to remember about katakana are:

Similar to hiragana in katakana also "ji" of the "Da" series is not at all used while "Zu" of
this series used very hardly ever. On the other hand "Ji" and "Zu" of the "Za" series is
used while making words.
1. The single character "Wo/ O" is not at all used. Not even as a particle. Its existence is
only for completing the script.
2. The katakana character "he" is same as the hiragana character "he".
3. The difference between "shi" and "tsu" in katakana is that the big line in shi goes
from down to up. On the other hand in "tsu" the big line goes from up to down.
Please observe this minute difference.
4. In the same way the minute difference which you have to observe while writing "so"
and "n" is that the line goes from up to down in "so". On the other hand the line goes
from down to up in "n".
5. Write "ri" very clearly as people get confused between "ri" and "so" when not
written properly.
6. There is a difference of only one stroke in the katakana characters "ka", "ki" and "ya"
and those of hiragana.
7. Also observe the difference between hiragana "mo" and katakana "mo". In katakana
"mo" the vertical line should not go above the upper horizontal line. On the other
hand, in hiragana the vertical line does go above the upper horizontal line.

It is very important to follow all the rules and to keep in mind all the above
mentioned minute differences between characters while writing katakana. Always
write katakana very clearly so that the reader does not get confused between the
characters.

(a) The long vowels are written with – ー


Examples: カ- kaa (car)
スキー sukii (ski)
スーツ suutsu (suit)
ケーキ keeki (cake)
ボール booru (ball)

 When you write vertically; the – mark needs to be written vertically also,
Example:
ボール ボ

 Additional combinations with small vowel letters are used to transcribe foreign
sounds that originally did not exist in Japanese.

Examples:
ウィ ハロウィーン harowiin (Halloween)
ウエ ハイウエイ haiwee (highway)
ウォ ミネラルウォーター mineraru wootaa (mineral water)
シェ シェリー sherii (sherry)
ジェ ジェームス jeemusu (James)
チェ チェック chekku (check)
ファ ファッション fasshon (fashion)
フィ フィリピン firipin (Philippine)
フェ カフェ kafe (café)
フォ カリフォルニア kariforunia (California)
ティ パーティー paatii (party)
ディ ディスコ disuko (disco)
デュ デューク dyuuku (Duke)
Ar-er,0r-ur - long vowel a

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