katakana

katakana

Japanese Katakana

How to read katakana

Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji.

katakana is most often used for transcription of words from foreign languages

 

5 vowels a i u e o
k ka ki ku ke ko
s sa shi su se so
t ta chi tsu te to
n na ni nu ne no
h ha hi fu he ho
m ma mi mu me mo
y ya yu yo
r ra ri ru re ro
w wa o
n n
g ga gi gu ge go
z sa shi su se so
d da ji zu de do
p pa pi pu pe po

 

カメラ⇒kamera  camera

ペン⇒pen   pen

テレビ⇒terebi  television

アメリカ⇒amerika  America

ピザ⇒piza  pizza

 

Quiz: How to read following Katakana?

  1. テニス(tennis)   2.パン(bread)  3.レモン(lemon)

( a. remon  b. pan  c. tenisu )

 

A small katakana ,ya, yu or yo (ャ, ュ or ョ) is added at the ending of i-row(キki, シshi, チchi, ニni, ヒhi, ミmi , リri, ギgi, ジji, ビbi, ピpi)

This changes the i vowel sound to a glide (palatalization) to a, u or o, e.g. キャ (ki + ya) /kja/. Addition of the small y kana is called yōon.


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