Lesson 2

Katakana: The Other Japanese Alphabet

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Katakana - ă‚«ă‚żă‚«ăƒŠ

As mentioned in lesson 1 on Hiragana, Katakana (as seen in the chart below) is mainly used for foreign words such as foreign names and words that have been borrowed from other languages such as ă‚łăƒłăƒ”ăƒ„ăƒŒă‚żăƒŒ (kompyu-ta- = computer).

Katakana is the least frequently used of the three character sets in Japanese. The Japanese language does not have as many sounds as the English language, so when creating a name in Katakana, the name must be sounded out to the closest Japanese equivalent.

Katakana, Hiragana, and Furigana (when Hiragana is written small next to a Kanji character to show how that character is read) are collectively known as Kana. You need not worry too much about Katakana (beyond maybe learning your name) for now.

There are some special Katakana characters that exist only for foreign names (such as シェ (she) or ティ (ti)). These special characters are not in the chart below (which contains only the standard set of Katakana characters) but can be seen in our Names in Japanese lesson. There are also the characters ヰ (wi) and ヱ (we) which were deemed obsolete in 1946.

ケ aă‚€ iォ uス eă‚Ș o
ă‚« kaキ kiク kuケ keコ ko
ガ gaゼ giグ guă‚Č geギ go
ă‚” saă‚· shiă‚č suă‚» seă‚œ so
ザ zaゾ jiă‚ș zuă‚Œ zeă‚Ÿ zo
タ taチ chiツ tsuテ teト to
ダ daヂ jiヅ zuデ deド do
ナ naニ niヌ nuネ neノ no
ハ haヒ hiフ fuヘ heホ ho
バ baビ biブ buベ beボ bo
パ paピ piプ puペ peポ po
マ maミ miム muメ meヱ mo
ダ yaナ yuペ yo
ラ raăƒȘ riル ruハ reロ ro
ワ waăƒČ woン n/m

Katakana combinations

キャ kyaă‚­ăƒ„ kyuキョ kyo
ゼャ gyaă‚źăƒ„ gyuゼョ gyo
ă‚·ăƒŁ shaă‚·ăƒ„ shuă‚·ăƒ§ sho
ゾャ jaă‚žăƒ„ juゾョ jo
チャ chaチツ chuチョ cho
ニャ nyaăƒ‹ăƒ„ nyuニョ nyo
ヒャ hyaăƒ’ăƒ„ hyuヒョ hyo
ビャ byaăƒ“ăƒ„ byuビョ byo
ピャ pyaăƒ”ăƒ„ pyuピョ pyo
ミャ myaăƒŸăƒ„ myuミョ myo
ăƒȘャ ryaăƒȘツ ryuăƒȘョ ryo

Here is a Printable Katakana Chart (PDF - get Adobe Acrobat Reader).

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