Composed of 46 basic yet very distinctive characters, katakana can be used to express any sound in the Japanese language. The first 5 characters correspond to 5 vowels common to many languages. A sounds like the a in the English word father. I sounds like the i in the English word machine. U sounds like the u in the English word truth.
E sounds like the e in the English word prey.
O sounds like the o in the English word most. Borrowed foreign words, like computer or beer. Company names, like Toyota or Yamaha. New words in Japanese, like pachinko or karaoke. Hiragana Hiragana is a much smoother script, full of loops and curves.