# Katakana

**Katakana** (カタカナ) is a Japanese script for writing words borrowed from other languages. It is easier to read than kanji, the picture method that is based on Chinese characters. Once the 46 katakana symbols have been learned, a reader knows how to pronounce them.

Both katakana and hiragana are syllabaries. English uses the letters of the alphabet, and most words, each letter stands for a bit of sound (phoneme). In a syllabary, each symbol stands for a syllable. For example, English “Wagamama” has each of the eight letters stand for a sound: “W-a-g-a-m-a-m-a”. However, if the word “Wagamama” is divided into syllables, there are four syllables: Wa-ga-ma-ma. In katakana, it is written with four symbols: ワガママ.

Hiragana works in the same way, but most symbols. Katakana is perhaps a little easier to learn than hiragana because the symbols are simpler and more “squared off”. Together, Katakana and Hiragana are called “kana.”

## Table of katakana

This is a table of the basic katakana strokes. The first chart shows the basic katakana. Characters with red letters next to them are no longer used.

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| vowels | yōon |
| ア *a* | イ *i* | ウ *u* | エ *e* | オ *o* | ャ *ya* | ュ *yu* | ョ *yo* |
|  |
| カ *ka* | キ *ki* | ク *ku* | ケ *ke* | コ *ko* | キャ *kya* | キュ *kyu* | キョ *kyo* |
| サ *sa* | シ *shi* | ス *su* | セ *se* | ソ *so* | シャ *sha* | シュ *shu* | ショ *sho* |
| タ *ta* | チ *chi* | ツ *tsu* | テ *te* | ト *to* | チャ *cha* | チュ *chu* | チョ *cho* |
| ナ *na* | ニ *ni* | ヌ *nu* | ネ *ne* | ノ *no* | ニャ *nya* | ニュ *nyu* | ニョ *nyo* |
| ハ *ha* | ヒ *hi* | フ *hu*, *fu* | ヘ *he* | ホ *ho* | ヒャ *hya* | ヒュ *hyu* | ヒョ *hyo* |
| マ *ma* | ミ *mi* | ム *mu* | メ *me* | モ *mo* | ミャ *mya* | ミュ *myu* | ミョ *myo* |
| ヤ *ya* |  | ユ *yu* |  | ヨ *yo* |  |  |  |
| ラ *ra* | リ *ri* | ル *ru* | レ *re* | ロ *ro* | リャ *rya* | リュ *ryu* | リョ *ryo* |
| ワ *wa* | (ヰ) *wi* |  | (ヱ) *we* | ヲ *wo* |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  | ン *n* |  |  |  |
| ガ *ga* | ギ *gi* | グ *gu* | ゲ *ge* | ゴ *go* | ギャ *gya* | ギュ *gyu* | ギョ *gyo* |
| ザ *za* | ジ *ji* | ズ *zu* | ゼ *ze* | ゾ *zo* | ジャ *ja* | ジュ *ju* | ジョ *jo* |
| ダ *da* | ヂ (*dji*) | ヅ (*dzu*) | デ *de* | ド *do* | ヂャ (*ja*) | ヂュ (*ju*) | ヂョ (*jo*) |
| バ *ba* | ビ *bi* | ブ *bu* | ベ *be* | ボ *bo* | ビャ *bya* | ビュ *byu* | ビョ *byo* |
| パ *pa* | ピ *pi* | プ *pu* | ペ *pe* | ポ *po* | ピャ *pya* | ピュ *pyu* | ピョ *pyo* |
|
Because Japanese today borrows so many foreign words they have invented several extra katakana symbols to help to write sounds that the Japanese language does not have: |
|  |  |  | イェ *ye* |  |  |  |  |
|  | ウィ *wi* |  | ウェ *we* | ウォ *wo* |  |  |  |
| (ヷ) *va* | (ヸ) *vi* | ヴ *vu* | (ヹ) *ve* | (ヺ) *vo* |  |  |  |
| ヴァ *va* | ヴィ *vi* | ヴェ *ve* | ヴォ *vo* | ヴャ *vya* | ヴュ *vyu* | ヴョ *vyo* |
|  |  |  | シェ *she* |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  | ジェ *je* |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  | チェ *che* |  |  |  |  |
|  | ティ *ti* | トゥ *tu* |  |  |  | テュ *tyu* |  |
|  | ディ *di* | ドゥ *du* |  |  |  | デュ *dyu* |  |
| ツァ *tsa* | ツィ *tsi* |  | ツェ *tse* | ツォ *tso* |  |  |  |
| ファ *fa* | フィ *fi* |  | フェ *fe* | フォ *fo* |  | フュ *fyu* |  |

From the first table, it can be seen that there are 46 basic characters (top left, first five columns, from "a" to "wa"). Diphthongs (vowels that slide from one sound to the other) are written with an extra symbol in small print. For example, the sound “mu” in our word “music” sounds like “myu” so it is written ミュ (mi+yu). Therefore, the word “musical” (as in a stage musical) is written: ミュージカル.
A long vowel is shown in katakana by a kind of dash, called a “choon” (ー).

## Use

Katakana is used to write words that have been borrowed from other languages foreign names and names of countries. For example, America is written as アメリカ.

It is not always easy to recognize the words because Japanese does not have all of the English sounds. That makes Japanese use other ways to pronounce and write words. For example, the word “coffee” is written コーヒー (koo-hii). Words are sometimes shortened as well: “television” is written as テレビ (pronounced “te-re-bi”).

It is sometimes impossible to show the difference between two foreign words, e.g. ラーラー could spell either the name “Lara” or “Lala” (as in the Teletubbies). The Japanese have just one sound, which is somewhere between our “r” and “l”.

In Japanese, a consonant is always followed by a vowel. Since words or syllables cannot end in a consonant except “n” or “m,” Japanese adds an extra vowel. “Ski” (as in skiing) becomes “sukī” (スキー), and a “musical”, as noted earlier, becomes “myuujikaru” (ミュージカル).

Katakana can be also used for onomatopoeic words like “ding,” or to make words look important, or for scientific names of species. Sentences in books or cartoons may be written in katakana to show that someone is supposed to be speaking with a foreign accent. It is often used to write the names of Japanese companies:. Suzuki is written スズキ and Toyota トヨタ.

A small “tsu” ッ, called a “sokuon,” shows as a double consonant: the English word “bed” is used in Japanese for a western-style bed, pronounced “beddo” and written ベッド. The ッ makes the “e” vowel short.

Learning to read katakana is useful for reading Japanese signs or restaurant menus.

Japanese sentences are written usually with a mixture of katakana, hiragana and kanji:
私はアメリカ人です (Watashi wa amerikajin desu: I am American).has “amerika” written in katakana, "Watashi"(私) and the ending “-jin”(人) are written in kanji, and “desu” (I am) is in hiragana.

## Related pages

* Japanese language
* Hiragana
* Writing system
* Syllabary

## Footnotes

## Other websites

* Real Kana Practice katakana using different typefaces
* Katakana Lessons Archived 2007-02-11 at the Wayback Machine
* Test your Katakana knowledge Archived 2007-03-01 at the Wayback Machine