Katakana: Difference between revisions

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IMPORTANT: Katakana are not just geometric shapes, strokes need to be formed and arranged in a certain way; else your writing will look like that of a six-year-old. The following will show the katakana with their stroke order. Do not be overwhelmed by the size of the page; take your time memorizing the stroke order and the sound associated which each katakana. It is advised you use the resources below but please note that most of the resources do not teach you the stroke order.
Caution: Do not confuse シ shi and ツ tsu or ソ so and ン n

• Use this sheet at Tae Kim's Japanese Guide to Japanese grammar to practice writing the katakana.

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	a	a
	i	i
	u	u
	e	e
	o	o

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	ka	ka
	ki	ki
	ku	ku
	ke	ke
	ko	ko

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	sa	sa
	shi	si
	su	su
	se	se
	so	so

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	ta	ta
	chi	chi
	tsu	tsu
	te	te
	to	to

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	na	na
	ni	ni
	nu	nu
	ne	ne
	no	no

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	ha	ha
	hi	hi
	fu	fu
	he	he
	ho	ho

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	ma	ma
	mi	mi
	mu	mu
	me	me
	mo	mo

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	ya	ya
	yu	yu
	yo	yo

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	ra	ra
	ri	ri
	ru	ru
	re	re
	ro	ro

Note: ヰ wi and ヱ we are obsolete

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	wa	wa
	wi (archaic)	wi
	we (archaic)	we
	wo	wo

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	n	n

There are five more consonant sounds that occur by either adding two small lines called 濁(だく) 点(てん)   dakuten, but commonly known simply as 点々(てんてん)   tenten, meaning "two marks, or a small circle called 半(はん) 濁(だく) 点(てん)   handakuten, but commonly known simply as 丸(まる)   maru "circle".

The below table includes the voiced versions of the normal sounds, and the devoiced versions of the bilabials.

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	ga	ga
	gi	gi
	gu	gu
	ge	ge
	go	go

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	za	za
	zi	ji
	zu	zu
	ze	ze
	zo	zo

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	da	da
	(zi)	(ji)
	(zu)	(zu)
	de	de
	do	do

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	ba	ba
	bi	bi
	bu	bu
	be	be
	bo	bo

Kana	Romanization
	Hepburn	Variants
	pa	pa
	pi	pi
	pu	pu
	pe	pe
	po	po

Certain sounds ending with -i ( キ, シ, チ, ニ, ヒ, ミ, リ and their variations) can be followed by small versions (ャ, ュ, and ョ) of the katakana ヤ, ユ, and ヨ. In this case, the two katakana are not pronounced individually, but rather as one sound.

In most cases, the compound sound is the consonant of the base syllable followed by the modifier (fjord may be an example of a similar compound sound in English):

キャ kya

キュ kyu

キョ kyo

In other cases the y sound disapears entirely:

シャ sha

シュ shu

ショ sho

Consult the table and examples below.

This section is under development

Another case of using small characters is in doubling consonants. This is done by adding a small tsu ッ or in front of a syllable. This chart would seem redundant and is therefore omitted, but a couple examples are カッタ(katta) and シッケ (shikke).

It is the same concept as the hiragana rule but instead of adding a charcter, all long vowel sounds are denoted with this: ー.

Due to the limitations of the sound set in hiragana, some new combinations have been devised over the years.

• Go to katakana exercies at Tae Kim's Japanese Guide to Japanese grammar to see how well you learned the katakana.

• Review Pronunciation of Japanese

Note: Most of the resources do not teach you the stroke order.

• An excellent, freely-downloadable Japanese learning game
  • Teaches kana, kanji meanings (not readings)
  • Game contains a few oddities like っま and っら
  • Available for Windows, Linux, Mac
  • Does not teach stroke order
• Another great, free Japanese learning game: Knuckles in China Land
  • Teaches kana, kanji meanings, kanji readings, vocabulary
  • Only available for Windows
• Mnemonics for memorising the kana
• Kana quiz
• A Kana Quiz that tests you with one small group of kana at a time
• Online multiple choice kana and kanji game (many levels)
• Great site for learning Hiragana and Katakana
• [1]

Leave any question here.

• Tae Kim's Japanese Guide to Japanese grammar-Katakana
• Tae Kim's Japanese Guide to Japanese grammar-hiragana

• A Wikipedia article on Katakana