Katakana　カタカナ

Kana II: Katakana　　仮名②・片仮名

Katakana is the neglected big brother of Hiragana. Both Kana systems are used together to write out the same moraic sound combinations but in different semantic situations. First, this lesson will focus on learning the many symbols that exist in Katakana. 

Katakana　カタカナ

The first set of Katakana symbols that we will study are those found in the Gojūonzu (Table of 50 Sounds), which is arranged in the same way as it is for Hiragana. Pay attention to the stroke orders shown in the chart, and try to emulate them in your writing as best as possible to make your writing as legible as possible. 

■The Characters ヰ & ヱ
Due to the gradual disappearance of the consonant /w/, both the Katakana symbols for /wi/ ヰ and /we/ ヱ are rarely used and are currently only seen occasionally in personal names and place names; however, in older literature written prior to 1945, they will be seen with greater frequency. When you encounter these symbols, they are to be pronounced as [i] and [e] respectively.

■The Character ヲ

The symbol for /wo/ is usually pronounced as [o], but there are still many speakers who pronounce it as [wo], which is the traditional pronunciation. ヲ is not as frequently used as を, but it is not obsolete. 

■The Character ン

The moraic consonant /N/ is represented with ン regardless of how it is pronounced, further indicating how the consonant is deemed as one unit with several iterations rather than as several consonants. One thing that must be noted is that in Standard Japanese, ン is always either in word-medial or word-final position but never in word-initial position. 

General Handwriting Rules　　
書き順の基本的なルール

1. Write strokes from top to bottom and left to right.
2. Horizontal strokes come before vertical strokes.  
3. Take especial note to the stroke orders of シ and ツ.  For シ, its third stroke is irregularly written from the bottom upward, which is how you can distinguish it from ツ, which is written regularly.
4. Also take note of the stroke orders of ソ and ン. For ン, its second stroke is irregularly written from the bottom upward, which is how you can distinguish it from ソ, which is written regularly.
5. When there are horizontal strokes that span the length of the symbol, those strokes aren’t first from top to bottom regardless if other strokes may start higher up. Take キ as an example.

Examples of Katakana 　
「カタカナ」の例

The best way to learn how to read Katakana is by practicing with actual words written in it. Below is a list of 60 common words written without romanization. Utilize the chart above to look up any symbol that you don’t know how to read. 

アフリカ Africa	トマト Tomato	アメリカ America	モスクワ Moscow
アクセス access	レタス lettuce	カクテル cocktail	ホテル hotel
エアコン air conditioner	カラオケ  karaoke	ハンカチ handkerchief	タオル towel
オンライン online	アルミ aluminum	ミルク milk	センチ centimeter
オフライン offline	イタリア Italy	ナイフ knife	クラス class
カステラ sponge cake	フランス France	レモン lemon	システム system
ホチキス stapler	メキシコ Mexico	ロシア Russia	トヨタ Toyota
マラソン marathon	ノルマ quota	コロナ corona	レストラン restaurant
コメント comment	リンク link	リクエスト request	シナリオ scenario
サイレン siren	サンタ Santa	コアラ koala	トン ton
テニス tennis	イヤホン earbud	ストレス stress	マイナス minus
クリア clear	ケア care	コスト cost	コンテンツ content
センス sense	ノウハウ know-how	メンタル mental state	モラル morals
リアル real	レア rare	アイロン iron	アカウント account
アクセント accent	カラフル colorful	クリスマス Christmas	コンマ comma

The Diacritics ゛ & ゜　濁点・半濁点 

The same diacritics are used in Katakana as in Hiragana.  When 「゛」 is attached to an unvoiced consonant Kana, the Kana becomes pronounced as the voiced equivalent – ex. ガ＝ /ga/. As for 「゜」, it attaches to /h/ Kana to represent /p/ – ex. パ = /pa/.

※When writing these characters, you follow the same stroke orders as before but you add the diacritics at the very end. 
※ヂ and ヅ are, in fact, the Katakana for /dji/ and /dzu/ respectively, but they are rendered in this chart as [ji] and [zu], reflecting how they are typically pronounced.

※The Japanese name for 「゛」 is 濁点（だくてん）, but it also goes by the colloquial names てんてん and にごり.
※The Japanese name for 「゜」is 半濁点（はんだくてん）.  

Examples of Words with Diacritics　濁点・半濁点を使った単語の例

アドバイス advice	ラジオ radio	イギリス England	インド India
ポケモン Pokémon	イベント event	エプロン apron	オランダ Netherlands
エゴ ego	エジプト Egypt	カジノ casino	ガス gas
ギフト gift	クラゲ jellyfish	モンゴル Mongolia	ゴルフ golf
ピンク pink	サイズ size	サンダル sandal	ドル dollar
ゼロ zero	ゾンビ zombie	ダイヤモンド diamond	タイペイ Taipei
ベルリン Berlin	ロンドン London	フライパン frying pan	パンダ panda
テレビ TV	ズボン pants	マクドナルド McDonald’s	バスケ basketball
ビル building	ピザ pizza	メダル medal	ブラウザ browser
ゴミ trash	ピアノ piano	ビタミン vitamin	バス bus
パン bread	バナナ banana	デジカメ digital camera	パチンコ pachinko
ドア door	ビデオ video	パソコン personal computer	セレブ celebrity
カナダ Canada	プレゼント present	コンビニ convenience store	ダンス dance
ジム gym	シビア severe	タバコ tobacco	タピオカ tapioca
ダム dam	チヂミ buchimgae	デバイス device	ドラマ drama

Palatal Sounds in Katakana　拗音の片仮名

Palatal sounds are represented in Katakana by following a /i/-sound symbol with a small-sized /y/-sound symbol. These small-sized /y/-sound Katakana are ャ, ュ, and ョ, and they make the following combinations.

※Just as before, there are two ways to write [ja], [ju], and [jo], but remember that those written with ヂ correspond to the consonant /dj/ and those written with ジ correspond to the consonant /j/. 

Example Words with Palatal Sounds 　
拗音を使った単語の例

カジュアル casual	カリキュラム curriculum	キャベツ cabbage
キャンセル cancel	ギャンブル gamble	シャツ shirt
シャンデリア chandelier	ジャンプ jump	ジョギング jogging
チャイム chime	チャンネル channel	パジャマ pajamas
マンション condominium	ピュア pure	ジャズ jazz
ピョンヤン Pyeongyang	チャンピオン champion	ギクシャク awkwardness
ミュンヘン Munich	ジュニア junior	ジャンル genre
チュニジア Tunisia	シャンパン champagne	ギャング gang

Additional Sound Katakana　
特殊音の片仮名

The Japanese mora inventory has expanded to accommodate foreign loanwords. Katakana is most known for its use in transcribing such loanwords, but it is not limited to this, nor is it a set rule that one must always write loanwords in Katakana. So, for the glyphs below, you can mirror them in Hiragana as well for the rare occasion that Hiragana is more desirable.

	+/a/	+/i/	+/u/	+/e/	+/o/
/kw/+	クァ・クヮ			クェ	クォ
/gw/+	グァ・グヮ			グェ	グォ
/s/+		スィ
/z/+		ズィ
/sh/+				シェ
/j/+				ジェ
/t/+		ティ	トゥ
/ch/+				チェ
/ts/+	ツァ	ツィ		ツェ	ツォ
/ty/+			テュ
/d/+		ディ	ドゥ
/dy/+			デュ
/f/+	ファ	フィ		フェ	フォ
/w/+		ウィ		ウェ	ウォ
/y/+				イェ
/v/+*	ヴァ	ヴィ・ヸ	ヴ	ヴェ・ヹ	ヴォ・ヺ

※Loanwords exhibit sounds that would otherwise not be treated as (separate) consonants in Japanese phonology, resulting in some of the glyphs above not actually being pronounced as intended. For instance, the glyphs for /si/ and /zi/ will still be pronounced as [shi] and [ji] respectively by most speakers.

※To create these glyphs, additional small kana (sutegana) have been invented involving vowels and /w/-sound Kana.

※Additional w-sounds and y-sounds are usually pronounced broken up as if they were written with full-sized characters. For instance, kiwi may either be pronounced as kiui キウイ or kiwi キウィ.

※/v/ is not a native sound in Japanese. Although younger speakers may try to pronounce loanwords with /v/ as [v], most speakers pronounce it as [b]. In older texts, /v/ was represented by adding the ゛diacritic to a /w/-sound Kana. Nowadays, the sounds are represented by ヴ + small-sized vowel Kana. 

Words with Additional Sounds　　　
特殊音の入った単語

ウォン Korean won	シェフ chef	チェス chess
ウェブサイト website	ネガティヴ※ negative	ディスク disc
ネイティブ※ native	プレッツェル pretzel	チェコ Czech
ディスコ disco	ファン fan	カフェ cafe
ファイル file	フェイク fake	フォンデュ fondue
フィリピン Philippines	イェルサレム Jerusalem	フォント font
ハイウェイ highway	フィルム film	フィギュア figure
マニフェスト manifesto	ウィキペディア Wikipedia	シェイクスピア Shakespeare
ファミレス family restaurant	クォリティ quality	ツェツェバエ Tsetse fly
ファイト fighting spirit	デュエット duet	おとっつぁん※ father

※Loanwords containing the sound /v/ may be written with /v/-sound or /b/-sound Kana. Thus, ネガティヴ＝ネガティヴ, ネイティブ＝ネイティヴ, etc.
※おとっつぁん (dialectal word meaning “father”) shows how these additional sounds may still be written in Hiragana. This is usually done so to represent sounds found in non-Standard Japanese expressions, such as is the case for this example.

Long Consonants with Small “tsu”　
長子音を示す促音「ッ」

Long consonants are represented by the small “tsu” (sokuon 促音), which in Katakana is ッ. It is very important not to confuse it with a full-sized ツ, as they are not pronounced the same.

マット mat	アップ up(load)/(close-)up	ガッツ guts	クリック click
ロボット robot	エチケット etiquette	キャップ cap	コップ glass
アグレッシブ aggressive	カップル couple	ギャップ gap	カップ cup

To be Continued　次章につづく

Now that we have learned Hiragana and Katakana, we will next focus on the rules which govern how to use them. After that, we will learn about Kanji, concluding our coverage on the basics of Japanese writing.