learn to write katakana

The Complete Guide to Learning Katakana Step-By-Step

カタカナ  ( katakana ) is one of the fundamental components of the Japanese writing system.  ひらがな  ( hiragana ) and  漢字  ( kanji ) are the other two Japanese writing systems. If you want to learn all of the  katakana  for free, this step-by-step guide with video will teach you how to pronounce, read, and write all of the  katakana  characters.

Modern Katakana Characters

Modern  katakana  has 46 base characters: five singular vowels, 40 consonant-vowel unions, and one singular consonant. The 46 characters are organized in a chart format, which is called  アイウエオ表  ( aiueo hyō ). The chart has ten rows of up to five hiragana characters. 

Why do you need  katakana  when there’s  hiragana ? They both represent the same Japanese sounds, so is  katakana  even necessary? Yes, it is! The biggest difference is that hiragana is used to express Japanese words and combines with kanji characters (to form different verb forms).  

On the other hand, katakana is used to express 外来語 ( gairaigo ), or foreign loanwords. You’ll notice that many of the example words given in this guide sound similar to English. That’s because a lot of words used in Japan do come from English! And katakana is used when writing these types of loanwords. There are times when Japanese words are written in  katakana . This is usually done because a writer wants to emphasize that word.  

How to Read and Write Katakana: 直音 ( Chokuon )- Basic Characters

直音 ( chokuon ) means all the basic  hiragana  and  katakana . Be sure to practice and memorize these  katakana  first before learning the more complex  katakana  covered later in this guide.

You can download the blank sheets to practice writing the katakana characters here: Blank practice katakana writing sheet

ア行 (A Gyō) – A Row: Pronunciation

ア  ( a ) is the first  katakana  on the  katakana  chart, just like  hiragana   あ  ( a ).  ア  ( a ) is similar to the  katakana  character  フ  ( fu ).  ア  ( a ) has a curved line under the “ フ ” part.

Words Starting With ア (A):

•アイス ( aisu ): Ice cream •アクリル ( akuriru ): Acrylic •アスパラガス ( asuparagasu ): Asparagus

イ  ( i ) is relatively similar to the  katakana   ノ  ( no ).   ノ  ( no ) is simply a curved line, whereas,  イ  ( i ) has a vertical line under the curved line.

Words Starting With イ (I):

•イギリス ( igirisu ): United Kingdom •イラスト ( irasuto ): Illustration •インフルエンザ ( infuruenz a ): Flu

When writing  ウ  ( u ), make sure to start with a small dash at the top before writing the bottom part. You may notice that this character looks similar to the character  ワ  ( wa ).

Words Starting With ウ (U):

•ウイルス ( uirusu ): Virus •ウクライナ ( ukuraina ): Ukraine  •ウエスト ( uesuto ): Waist

エ  ( e ) consists of three straight lines. Be sure to start with the top line, then a vertical line down the center, and finally a bottom horizontal line (longer than the top horizontal line).  A helpful tip that can apply to writing in all Japanese components ( hiragana ,  katakana , and  kanji ): when writing horizontal lines, it’s almost always drawn from left to right. When you write vertical lines, it’s almost always from top to bottom.

Words Starting With エ (E):

•エルメス ( erumesu ): Hermès (Luxury Goods Store) •エチケット ( echiketto ): Etiquette •エクアドル ( ekuadoru ): Ecuador

When writing  オ  ( o ), be sure to start with a horizontal line, followed by a vertical line cutting through it. Be sure to do a sharp, upward “hook” stroke at the end of this vertical line. You then will end with a smooth curved line for the third and final stroke. It might sound complicated, but the video below will show you exactly how it’s done!

Words Starting With オ (O):

•オムレツ ( omuretsu ): Omelette •オイル ( oiru ): Oil •オアシス ( oashisu ): Oasis

カ行 (Ka Gyō) – Ka Row: Pronunciation

As you might notice,  katakana   カ  ( ka ) looks similar to  hiragana   か  ( ka ). However, the  hiragana  か  ( ka ) includes a disconnected stroke in the top right corner and has no sharp angle. In contrast, the  katakana  カ  ( ka ) has no disconnected stroke in the top right corner and has an acute angle in the first stroke.

Words Starting With カ (Ka):

•カメラ ( kamera ): Camera •カレンダー ( karendā ): Calendar •カレー ( karē ): Curry (and rice)

Again, you can see similarities between  katakana  キ  ( ki ) and  hiragana  き  ( ki ). The  katakana  キ  ( ki ) does not have an upward turn like the  hiragana  き  ( ki ) has, or a curved stroke at the end like  き  ( ki ) has.

Words Starting With キ (Ki):

•キャラクター ( kyarakutā ): Character  •キャベツ ( kyabetsu ): Cabbage •キムチ   ( kimuchi ):  Kimchee

ク  ( ku ) is similar to the  katakana   タ  ( ta ). The only difference between  ク  ( ku ) and  タ  ( ta ) is the third stroke of  タ (the center line connecting the strokes in the middle).

Words Starting With ク (Ku):

•クッキー ( kukkī ): Cookie •クーポン ( kūpon ): Coupon •クレープ ( kurēpu ): Crêpe

ケ  ( ke ) starts with a short curved stroke in the top left corner, followed by a straight horizontal line, and ends with a longer curved stroke to the left. One thing to note is that the first and third strokes should be parallel to each other.

Words Starting With ケ (Ke):

•ケーキ ( kēki ): Cake •ケーブル ( kēburu ): Cable •ケチャップ ( kechappu ): Ketchup

コ  ( ko ) is made of only straight lines, which makes it less challenging to write. The  katakana   ロ  ( ro ), which will be discussed later in this section, is a complete square, whereas,  コ  ( ko ) has an opening on the left side. Although it seems easier to write these symbol-like characters with a single stroke, knowing the correct number of strokes and their order is essential. Watch the video to see the correct stroke order.  

Words Starting With コ (Ko):

•コロッケ ( korokke ): Croquette •コップ ( koppu ): Mug, Cup •コルク ( koruku ): Cork

サ行 (Sa Gyō) – Sa Row: Pronunciation

サ  ( sa ) looks a bit similar to  katakana  リ  ( ri ). The difference is that  サ  ( sa ) has a horizontal line cutting through both vertical strokes.  

Words Starting With サ (Sa):

•サーモン ( sāmon ): Salmon •サンフランシスコ   ( san furanshisuko ): San Francisco •サーフィン ( sāfin ): Surfing

シ  ( shi ) can be one of the most tricky  katakana  characters because of its similarity with the character  ツ  ( tsu ). As you may notice,  シ  ( shi ) has two short lines that lay flat (close to 180 degrees in angle), whereas  ツ  ( tsu ) has two short slashes that are more vertical. シ  ( shi ) can also be mistaken for  ン  ( n ) or  ソ  ( so ), both of which also look similar to each other. To better understand how to write  シ  ( shi ) correctly, check out the video and be sure to practice writing it.

Words Starting With シ (Shi):

•シアトル ( shiatoru ): Seattle •シカゴ ( shikago ): Chicago •シーザーサラダ ( shīzā sarada ): Caesar salad

ス  ( su ) is similar to  ヌ  ( nu ). The only difference between  ス  ( su ) and  ヌ  ( nu ) is the second stroke: for  ス ( su ), the second stroke just touches the bottom of the first stroke—the second stroke for  ヌ ( nu ) cuts right through the first one.

Words Starting With ス (Su):

•スーパー ( sūpā ): Supermarket •スマホ ( sumaho ): Smart phone •ストーブ ( sutōbu ): Stove, Heater

セ  ( se ) is similar to the  hiragana  version of  せ  ( se ). The  hiragana  せ  ( se ) has an extra line on the right side and its third stroke curves to the right. On the other hand, the  katakana  セ  ( se ) lacks a vertical line on the right side and its second stroke has a sharper angle turning to the right.

Words Starting With セ (Se):

•セール ( sēru ): Sale •セロハンテープ ( serohantēpu ): Scotch tape •セルフサービス ( serufusābisu ): Self-service

ソ  ( so ) can be easily mistaken for  ン  ( n ). One difference is that the first stroke of  ソ  ( so ) is more vertical than that of  ン  ( n ). Also, when you write  ソ  ( so ), you write the second stroke from top to bottom (downward); however, when you write  ン  ( n ), you write the second stroke from bottom to top (upward). 

Words Starting With ソ (So):

•ソース ( sōsu ): Sauce • ソフトドリンク ( sofutodorinku ): Soft drink, Soda •ソフトクリーム ( sofutokurīmu ): Soft serve ice cream

タ行 (Ta Gyō) – Ta Row: Pronunciation

The  katakana  タ  ( ta ) looks a little like  ク  ( ku ). The difference is that  タ  ( ta ) has an extra line in the middle.

Words Starting With タ (Ta):

•タイ ( tai ): Thailand •タレント ( tarento ): An entertainer on television or radio •タオル ( taoru ): Towel

When you write  チ  ( chi ), you will start with an upper horizontal stroke, then a longer horizontal stroke under it, and end with the curvy downward stroke.

Words Starting With チ (Chi):

•チワワ ( chiwawa ): Chihuahua •チアリーダー ( chiarīdā ): Cheerleader •チンパンジー ( chinpanjī ): Chimpanzee

As mentioned above,  ツ  ( tsu ) is similar to the  katakana  character  シ  ( shi ). Be sure to watch the video and pay attention to the stroke order of this character. Of course, don’t forget to practice writing it too!

Words Starting With ツ (Tsu):

•ツナ ( tsuna ): Tuna •ツイッター ( tsuittā ): Twitter * •ツーショット ( tsūshotto ): Picture of two people (usually a man and a woman)

*Note: Twitter changed it’s name to “X” now.

テ  ( te ) has two horizontal strokes with a final curvy vertical stroke that only touches the bottom of the second stroke. Be sure not to go through the horizontal lines when you write the last stroke.

Words Starting With テ (Te):

•テーブル ( tēburu ): Table •テクニック ( tekunikku ): Technique •テレビ ( terebi ): TV

ト  ( to ) has two straight lines. The first stroke is a long and straight vertical line. The second stroke is a shorter line, which stems from the midpoint of the first stroke and is slanted downwards.

Words Starting With ト (To):

•トイレ ( toire ): Restroom •トースト ( tōsuto ): Toast •トレーニング ( torēningu ): Training

ナ行 (Na Gyō) – Na Row: Pronunciation

ナ  ( na ) is one of the simpler  katakana  characters to remember. If you remember  チ  ( chi ) from earlier,  ナ  ( na ) is  チ  ( chi ) without the top stroke.

Words Starting With ナ (Na):  

•ナース ( nāsu ): Nurse •ナイフ ( naifu ): Knife •ナタデココ ( natadekoko ): Nata de coco (Coconut gel)

All the  katakana  characters originate from  kanji .   ニ  ( ni ) is the most obvious example of this. The  kanji  character for “two” is “ 二 ,” the same as  katakana   ニ  ( ni ).

Words Starting With ニ (Ni):  

•ニス ( nisu ): Varnish •ニックネーム ( nikkunēmu ): Nickname •ニュース ( nyūsu ): News

As mentioned above,  ヌ  ( nu ) is similar to Katakana  ス  ( su ).  ヌ  ( nu ) has its second stroke crossing its first stroke.

Words Starting With ヌ (Nu):

•ヌードル ( nūdoru ): Noodle •ヌー ( nū ): Gnu •ヌード ( nūdo ): Nude 

ネ ( ne ) can be confusing to remember at first. It takes four strokes to write  ネ  ( ne ). Check out the video to see the correct way to write it.

Words Starting With ネ (Ne):

•ネイティブ ( neitibu ): Native (speaker) •ネクタイ ( nekutai ): Necktie •ネガティブ ( negatibu ): Negative (person, way of thinking, etc.)

ノ ( no ) might be the easiest  katakana  character to write. Be sure to start the stroke from the top right and go down to the bottom left.

Words Starting With ノ (No):

•ノート ( nōto ): Notebook •ノック ( nokku ): Knock •ノルウェー ( noruuē ): Norway

ハ行 (Ha Gyō) – Ha Row: Pronunciation

Some people say  ハ  ( ha ) looks like  hashi  (chopsticks) as the two strokes are equal in length and angle.

Words Starting With ハ (Ha):

•ハイタッチ ( haitacchi ): High five •ハイキング ( haikingu ): Hiking •ハンバーガー ( hanbāgā ): Hamburger

ヒ ( hi ) is made up of one horizontal stroke and one long line that curves around it.  

 Words Starting With フ (Fu):

•フットサル ( futtosaru ): Futsal •フラミンゴ ( furamingo ): Flamingo •フラダンス ( furadansu ): Hula (dance)

ヘ  ( he ) is another  katakana  character that requires only one stroke. The shape of  ヘ ( he ) resembles a boomerang. If you remember  hiragana  へ  ( he ), the  katakana   ヘ  ( he ) is identical.

 Words Starting With ヘ (He):

•ヘッド ( heddo ): Head •ヘルニア ( herunia ): Hernia •ヘルメット ( herumetto ): Helmet

ホ  ( ho ) has a cross in the center and two short outward strokes on each side. 

Words Starting With ホ (Ho):

•ホース ( hōsu ): Hose •ホームラン ( hōmuran ): Home run •ホッチキス ( hocchikisu ): Stapler

マ行 (Ma Gyō) – Ma Row: Pronunciation

マ  ( ma ) is similar to  フ  ( fu ), but has a shorter downward stroke and an extra stroke at the end. 

Words Starting With マ (Ma):

•マグロ ( maguro ): Tuna •マネージャー ( manējā ): Manager  •マーガリン ( māgarin ): Margarine

ミ ( mi ) is made up of three equal-length strokes. When writing  ミ  ( mi ), you start with the top stroke, going from left to right. As you write the stroke, it should gradually taper downwards. The three strokes should be parallel to each other.

Words Starting With ミ (Mi):  

•ミイラ ( miira ): Mummy •ミートソース   ( mītosōsu ): Meat sauce (Bolognese sauce) •ミッキーマウス ( mikkīmausu ): Mickey Mouse

The first stroke of  ム  ( mu ) starts at the top, goes downward and slightly to the left, then turns sharply to the right. The second stroke is a straight line slanted to the left and touches the end of the first stroke.  

Words Starting With ム (Mu):

•ムエタイ ( muetai ): Muay Thai •ムース ( mūsu ): Mousse (food) •ムニエル ( munieru ): Meunière

メ  ( me ) is a lot similar to the  katakana  ノ  ( no ). However,  メ  ( me ) has an extra stroke that crosses the first stroke.

Words Starting With メ (Me):

•メイク ( meiku ): Makeup •メール ( mēru ): E-mail •メス ( mesu ): Scalpel

モ  ( mo ) is a little similar to the  hiragana  も  ( mo ). However, the  katakana  モ  ( mo ) is much more square (less curvy) than the  hiragana  も  ( mo ). Also, the third stroke of the  katakana  モ ( mo ) does not stick out at the top of the character. It just touches the first stroke, but does not go through it. 

Words Starting With モ (Mo):

•モンブラン ( monburan ): Mont Blanc (a dessert made with chestnut purée and cream)​, Mont Blanc mountains in Europe •モップ ( moppu ): Mop •モノクロ ( monokuro ): Monochrome

ヤ行 (Ya Gyō) – Ya Row: Pronunciation

ヤ  ( ya ) is another  katakana  character that has similarities with its  hiragana  partner. The  hiragana  や  ( ya ) is rounder than the  katakana  ヤ  ( ya ) and has an extra dash at the top.

Important : Please note that the image of ヤ ( ya ) shown here is incorrect. The first stroke should be the horizontal stroke with a hook at the end. The second stroke is the vertical stroke that cuts through the first stroke. Please check the video to see how ヤ ( ya ) is written correctly.

Words Starting With ヤ (Ya):

•ヤシの木 ( yashi no ki ): Palm tree •ヤンキー ( yankī ): Delinquent •ヤンデレ ( yandere ): Someone with an (unhealthy) obsession over their love interest

ユ  ( yu ) is slightly similar to  ニ  ( ni ), but if you practice writing this character a few times, you will quickly notice and learn their differences.  

Words Starting With ユ (Yu):  

•ユーモア ( yūmoa ): Humor •ユッケ ( yukke ): Yukhoe (A Korean dish made with seasoned raw beef and usually topped with an egg yolk) •ユニフォーム ( yunifōmu ): Uniform

The  katakana  ヨ  ( yo ) has three strokes in total. The first stroke starts at the top left corner, moving to the right and making a 90-degree turn downward. The second stroke is the line in the middle. The last stroke is the line at the bottom, which results in this character looking like a backward “E.”

Words Starting With ヨ (Yo):  

•ヨーグルト ( yōguruto ): Yogurt •ヨガ ( yoga ): Yoga •ヨーロッパ ( yōroppa ): Europe

ラ行 (Ra Gyō) – Ra Row: Pronunciation

ラ  ( ra ) looks a lot like the  katakana  フ  ( fu ). The difference is that  ラ  ( ra ) has an additional horizontal line at the top.

Words Starting With ラ (Ra):  

•ライチ ( raichi ): Lychee •ライム ( raimu ): Lime •ライオン ( raion ): Lion

 リ (Ri)

If you remember the  hiragana  り  ( ri ), you might notice that the  katakana  リ  ( ri ) is very similar. As opposed to the  hiragana  り  ( ri ), which has two curved strokes like parenthesis ( ), the  katakana  リ  ( ri ) has two strokes that are more straight and rigid.

Words Starting With リ (Ri):

•リコーダー ( rikōdā ): Recorder •リストラ ( risutora ): Restructuring of a company, down-sizing, laying people off •リボン ( ribon ): Ribbon

ル  ( ru ) is similar to the  katakana   ノ  ( no ). The difference is that  ル  ( ru ) has an extra curved stroke (that looks like a sharper “L”) on the right side in addition to  ノ  ( no ).

Words Starting With ル (Ru): 

•ルアー ( ruā ): Lure •ルーム ( rūmu ): Room •ルール ( rūru ): Rule

The  katakana  character  レ  ( re ) looks similar to the right half of  ル  ( ru ).

レ  ( re ) looks like the letter “L” but with the bottom stroke curving up at a sharper angle.  

Words Starting With レ (Re):  

•レジ ( reji ): Cashier, Cash register •レスリング ( resuringu ): Wrestling •レストラン ( resutoran ): Restaurant 

ロ  ( ro ) looks like a square. Although a square seems easy enough to write (if you single or double-stroke it),  ロ  ( ro ) has three strokes. Watch the demonstration video to see how it’s written.

Words Starting With ロ (Ro):

•ロボット ( robotto ): Robot •ロース ( rōsu ): Pork loin, Sirloin (beef) •ロケット ( roketto ): Rocket

ワ行 (Wa Gyō) – Wa Row: Pronunciation

ワ  ( wa ) looks a little like  フ  ( fu ).  ワ  ( wa ) has an extra stroke in the upper left corner. Be sure the second stroke (upper horizontal line) is long enough, so it doesn’t look like katakana  ク  ( ku ).

Words Starting With ワ (Wa):

•ワイシャツ ( waishatsu ): Dress shirt for work •ワイン ( wain ): Wine •ワンピース ( wanpīsu ): Dress

ヲ ( o ) is similar to the  katakana  フ  ( fu ); however,  ヲ  ( o ) has an extra horizontal line in the center.

Words Starting With ヲ (O):

There are no words starting with  ヲ  ( o ) in Japanese.  

ン  ( n ) looks almost exactly like the  katakana  ソ  ( so ).  ン  ( n ) ‘s first stroke is more horizontal than that of  ソ  ( so ) ‘s. The second stroke of  ン  ( n ) starts at the bottom, going upwards, whereas that of  ソ  ( so ) begins at the top, going downwards. Make sure to watch the demonstration video so you   can differentiate these two similar characters! It’s very easy to get these two characters mixed up.  

Words Starting With ン  (N):

There are no words starting with  ン  (n) in Japanese. 

Part II Advanced Katakana: Characters With Different Sounds

Nice work! You now know all of the basic  katakana  characters! Let’s level up and learn how to use these basic characters to create new characters and sounds.   

濁音  (Dakuon) – Katakana with 濁点 (Dakuten)

濁点 ( dakuten ) are the two small, vertical dashes that you write on the upper right-hand side of certain characters. It looks very similar to small double quotation marks (“). Adding these two strokes to certain katakana characters will change it from an unvoiced consonant to a voiced consonant 濁音 ( dakuon ). 

This is easy to do. All you need to do is remember which characters can take the  dakuten  marks. 

Characters that can take the  dakuten  are  カ ( ka )、サ ( sa )、タ ( ta )、and ハ ( ha ) rows . 

Let’s see how to use the  dakuten  and how it changes the characters in those rows. 

Dakuon: カ (Ka) Row Becomes the ガ (Ga) Row

Characters in the カ ( ka ) row with a  dakuten  will have their “k” sound change to a “g” sound.

• カ ( ka ) —> ガ ( ga )
• キ ( ki ) —> ギ ( gi )
• ク ( ku ) —> グ ( gu )
• ケ ( ke ) —> ゲ ( ge )
• コ ( ko ) —> ゴ ( go )

Words Starting With ガ (Ga):

• ガイド ( gaido ): Guide
• ガソリンスタンド ( gasorinsutando ): Gas station
• ガラス ( garasu ): Glass

Words Starting With ギ (Gi):

• ギター ( gitā ): Guitar
• ギガ ( giga ): Giga, Gigabyte
• ギリシャ ( girisha ): Greece

Words Starting With グ (Gu):

• グアム ( guamu ): Guam
• グッピー ( guppī ): Guppy
• グミ ( gumi ): Gummy candy

Words Starting With ゲ (Ge):

• ゲート ( gēto ): Gate
• ゲスト ( gesuto ): Guest
• ゲレンデ ( gerende ): Ski area, Ski slope

Words Starting With ゴ

• ゴーヤ ( gōya ): Goya, Bitter melon
• ゴリラ ( gorira ): Gorilla
• ゴルフ ( gorufu ): Golf

Dakuon: サ (Sa) Row Becomes the ザ (Za) Row

The characters in the サ ( sa ) row with a  dakuten  attached to it will go from an “s” sound to a “z” sound.  

** EXCEPTION:   シ ( shi ) will turn into ジ ( ji ).

• サ ( sa ) —> ザ ( za )
• シ ( shi ) —> ジ ( ji )
• ス ( su ) —> ズ ( zu )
• セ ( se ) —> ゼ ( ze )
• ソ ( so ) —> ゾ ( zo )

*Note:  ジ ( zi ) is the way you read/write romaji with the 訓令式 ( kunrei shiki ) system, which is used by the Cabinet of Japan. However, “ ji”  is how you would read “ジ” with the Hepburn style of romaji. The Hepburn style is used in most English translations. It is also easier to understand since the readings of each character are much closer to the actual pronunciation of Japanese words. For example, the word ジーンズ ( jīnzu) means “jeans.” It is pronounced “ ji-nzu .” If you were to pronounce it using the  kunrei shiki  romanization, it would be “ zi-nzu ,” which would not be the correct pronunciation.

Words Starting With ザ (Za):

• ザ ( za ): The
• ザンビア ( Zanbia ): Zambia 
• ザック ( zakku ): Zac/Zack/Zach (name)

Words Starting With ジ (Ji):

• ジーンズ ( jīnzu ): Jeans
• ジェットコースター ( jettokōsutā ): Roller coaster
• ジム ( jimu ): Gym

Words Starting With ズ (Zu):

• ズーム ( zūmu ): Zoom
• ズッキーニ ( zukkīni ): Zucchini
• ズボン ( zubon ): Trousers, Pants

Words Starting With ゼ (Ze):

• ゼリー ( zerī ): Jelly
• ゼミ ( zemi ): Seminar
• ゼロ ( zero ): Zero

Dakuon: タ (Ta) Row Becomes the ダ (Da) Row

The  katakana  ta-row has two exceptions. Characters in the タ ( ta ) row with a  dakuten  attached to it will go from a “t” sound to a “d” sound.

**EXCEPTIONS : チ ( chi ) and ツ ( tsu ): チ ( chi ) will turn into ヂ ( ji ) and ツ ( tsu ) will change to ヅ ( zu ). 

Notice that シ ( shi ) also turns into ジ ( ji ). Both ジ and ヂ become “ ji”  (romaji and pronunciation are the same). Why do two different characters have the same reading and pronunciation? 

This is something called 連濁 ( rendaku ) in Japanese.  Rendaku  is when you combine Japanese words that result in the first constant of the second word becoming voiced. 

In  katakana , very few words use ヂ or ヅ (usually proper nouns like names or places). So it is much easier to understand if we take a look at the example we have in our learning hiragana guide:  

はな ( hana ) means either flower or nose. For this example, it will mean “nose.” ち ( chi ) also can mean blood or ground/earth. We will use the “blood” meaning for this example.  

When we put these words together, it should look like this: はな ち  ( hanachi ).

However…

Because of the concept of 連濁 ( rendaku ), the first constant of the second word ち (chi – blood) will become voiced —> ぢ(ji). Therefore, the correct word will be はな ぢ  ( hana ji ), which means “nosebleed.” If we were to use the other “ ji, ” it would not be correct technically:  

X はなじ –> Not correct technically

O はなぢ –> Correct writing of the word

つ ( tsu ) is the same. With the  dakuten , it will change to づ ( zu ) (just likeす ( su ) —> ず ( zu )) and is mainly used with 連濁 ( rendaku ) words. This means that づ ( zu ) is primarily used when combined with other words (in the middle of the end of words, not at the beginning).

Let’s take a look at the whole da-row:

• タ ( ta ) —> ダ ( da )
• チ ( chi ) —> ヂ ( ji )
• ツ ( tsu ) —> ヅ ( zu )
• テ ( te ) —> デ ( de )
• ト ( to ) —> ド ( do )

Words Starting With ダ (Da):

• ダーツ ( dātsu ): Darts
• ダイエット ( daietto ): Diet
• ダム ( damu ): Dam

Words Starting With ヂ (Ji):

There are no modern words that start with  ヂ  ( ji ).

Words Starting With ヅ (Zu):

Most words with ヅ ( zu ) are written in  kanji / hiragana .  However, some geographical names start with ヅ ( zu ):

• ヅンヌキ沢 (Zunnukisawa): Zunnuki-sawa (Akita Prefecture)
• ヅナ峠 (Zunatōge): Zuna-Toge (Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture)
• ヅーベット山 (Zūbettoyama): Zubetto-Yama (Saga Prefecture)

Words Starting With デ (De):

• デザート ( dezāto ): Desert
• デパート ( depāto ): Department store
• デビュー ( debyū ): Debut

Words Starting With ド (Do):

• ドア ( doa ): Door
• ドイツ ( doitsu ): Germany
• ドーナツ ( dōnatsu ): Donut

Dakuon: ハ (Ha) Row Becomes the バ (Ba) Row

Characters in the ハ ( ha ) row with a  dakuten  attached to it will go from a “h” sound to a “b” sound.

• ハ ( ha ) —> バ ( ba )
• ヒ ( hi ) —> ビ ( bi )
• フ ( fu ) —> ブ ( bu )
• ヘ ( he ) —> ベ ( be )
• ホ ( ho ) —> ボ ( bo )

Words Starting With バ (Ba):

• バイト ( baito ): Part-time job
• バケツ ( baketsu ): Bucket
• バター ( batā ): Butter

Words Starting With ビ (Bi):

• ビー玉 ( bīdama ): Marbles (game)
• ビール ( bīru ): Beer
• ビニール ( binīru ): Vinyl

Words Starting With ブ (Bu):

• ブレーキ ( burēki ): Brakes (car, bicycle, etc.)
• ブラック ( burakku ): Black
• ブラシ ( burashi ): Brush

Words Starting With ベ (Be):

• ベッド ( beddo ): Bed
• ベビーカー ( bebīkā ): Baby stroller
• ベランダ ( beranda ): Balcony

Words Starting With ボ (Bo):  

• ボクシング ( bokushingu ): Boxing
• ボランティア ( borantia ): Volunteer
• ボンド ( bondo ): Adhesive **

**Note: ボンド ( bondo ) is actually a brand name of an adhesive. The word for “adhesive” is actually 接着剤 ( secchakuzai ).

半濁音 (Han Dakuon): Katakana With the Consonant “P”

The 半濁音 ( han dakuon ) applies to only the ハ ( ha ) row. The  ha -row is the only row that can either change to a  dakuon  reading (バ ( ba ), ビ ( bi ), ブ ( bu ), ベ ( be ), ボ ( bo )) or a 半濁音 ( han  dakuon ) reading. The  han dakuon  reading changes the “h” sound to a “p” sound. To create the  han dakuon  reading for the  ha -row, draw a small circle at the top right-hand corner of the character:

• ハ ( ha ) —> パ ( pa )
• ヒ ( hi ) —> ピ ( pi )
• フ ( fu ) —> プ ( pu )
• ヘ ( he ) —> ペ ( pe )
• ホ ( ho ) —> ポ ( po )

It can be very easy to mistake the small circle ( han dakuon ) for the two slashes ( dakuon ) at the upper right-hand corner of the character, so be sure to pay special attention when reading or writing these characters.

Words Starting With パ (Pa):

• パン ( pan ): Bread
• パトカー ( patokā ): Police/Patrol car
• パプリカ ( papurika ): (Usually refers to red or yellow) Bell pepper 

Words Starting With ピ (Pi):

• ピアノ ( piano ): Piano
• ピエロ ( piero ): Clown
• ピザ ( piza ): Pizza

Words Starting With プ (Pu):

• プール ( pūru ): Pool
• プライバシー ( puraibashī ): Privacy
• プレゼント ( purezento ): Present, Gift

Words Starting With ペ (Pe):

• ペーパー ( pēpā ): Paper
• ペンキ ( penki ): Paint
• ペンチ ( penchi ): Pliers

Words Starting With ポ (Po):  

• ポイント ( pointo ): Point(s) (scoring, point of a story, etc.)
• ポスト ( posuto ): Postbox
• ポテト ( poteto ): Potato

促音 (Sokuon): The Small “ツ ( Tsu )” in Katakana

The small ッ ( tsu ) represents a doubled or “geminate” consonant called 促音 ( sokuon ) in Japanese. When you put a small tsu (small ッ vs. a normal sized ツ) in a word, it will change the pronunciation of the character that comes right after it. That consonant in that character will change to a double consonant.

For example, the word バグ (bagu) means “bug” (as in a computer bug). However, we put a small ッ in the middle of that word, we would get バッグ (baggu) which means “bag” (as in a tote bag, or purse).

Notice how the character that followed the small ッ changed into a double consonant (from “gu” to “ggu”). These double consonants act as a small pause when you pronounce these words.

Check out our hiragana guide to learn more about the small tsu in detail.

Example Words Using the ツ ( Tsu ):

• ポケット ( poketto ): Pocket
• ソックス ( sokkusu ): Socks
• マップ ( mappu ): Map

Part III: Combination Katakana Characters

In this last section, we’ll combine characters to form new katakana characters. If you have already mastered the basic characters above, this section will be easy! All you need to do is remember which characters go together, and you’ll finish this section in no time.  

拗音  (Yōon): Combination Katakana Characters

Smaller versions of the characters  ヤ  ( ya ),  ユ  ( yu ), and  ヨ  ( yo ) can be added to specific characters ending in an “ i ” sound. The katakana that can be combined with the ya-row characters are:

• キ ( ki ) and ギ ( gi )
• シ ( shi ) and ジ ( ji )
• チ ( chi ) and ヂ ( ji )
• ヒ ( hi ), ビ ( bi ), and ピ ( pi )

All you need to do is write a smaller  ヤ  ( ya ),  ユ  ( yu ), and  ヨ  ( yo ) character and put it in the bottom right-hand corner of any of the characters listed above. Let’s look at examples from each of these rows. To read these combination katakana, you will drop the “i” from the first character and replace it with the reading of the ya -row character.

For example:

• キ( k i ) + ャ( ya ) = キャ ( kya )
• キ( k i ) + ュ( yu ) = キュ ( kyu )
• キ( k i ) + ョ( yo ) = キョ ( kyo )
• and so on…

* EXCEPTIONS : シ (shi), ジ (ji), チ (chi), and ヂ (ji) are the exceptions. Just like the characters above, you will replace the “ i ” with the reading of a ya -row character. However, you will get rid of the “y” and only use the vowel of the ya-row character (a, u, o).

• シ( sh i ) + ャ ( y a ) = シャ ( sha )
• ジ( j i ) + ャ ( y a ) = ジャ ( ja )
• チ( ch i ) +ュ( y u ) = チュ ( chu )

Let’s take a look at each row of combination characters in more detail.

キャ行  ( Kya Gyō ) – Kya Row:  キ  (Ki) and ギ (Gi) + ヤ (Ya) , ユ (Yu) ,  and ヨ (Yo)

Words Starting With キャ (Kya) and ギャ (Gya):

• キャ スト ( kya suto ): Cast
• キャ ビア ( kya bia ): Caviar
• キャ プテン   ( kya puten ): Captain
• ギャ グ ( gya gu ): Joke, Gag
• ギャ ラリー ( gya rarī ): Gallery 
• ギャ ンブル ( gya nburu ): Gambling 

Words Starting With キュ (Kyu) and ギュ (Gyu): 

• キュ レーター ( kyu rētā ): Curator
• キュ ーティクル ( kyū tikuru ): Cuticle
• キュ ーブ ( kyū bu ): Cube
• ギュ メ ( gyu me ): Angle brackets (e.g. < >)

Words Starting With キョ (Kyo) and ギョ (Gyo):

• キョ ンシー ( kyo nshī ): A Chinese vampire/monster
• キョ フテ   ( kyo fute ): Kofta (Meatball/meatloaf dishes)
• キョ ードー東京   ( Kyō dō Tōkyō): KYODO TOKYO INC. (theater company)
• ギョ ーザ ( gyō za ): Gyoza, Dumplings, Potstickers
• ギョ ロ目 ( gyo rome ): Big, bulging eyes

シャ行 (Sha Gyō) – Sha Row:  シ  (Shi) and ジ (Ji) + ヤ (Ya) , ユ (Yu) ,  and ヨ (Yo)

Words Starting With シャ (Sha) and ジャ (Ja):

• シャ ベル ( sha beru ): Shovel
• シャ ワー ( sha wā ): Shower
• シャ ーベット ( shā betto ): Sherbet
• ジャ ム ( ja mu ): Jam
• ジャ ズ ( ja zu ): Jazz
• ジャ ケット ( ja ketto ): Jacket

Words Starting With シュ (Shu) and ジュ (Ju):

• シュ シュ ( shu shu ): Scrunchie
• シュ ノーケル ( shu nōkeru ): Snorkel
• シュ ークリーム ( shū kurīmu ): Cream puff(s)
• ジュ ース ( jū su ): Juice
• ジュ ニア ( ju nia ): Junior
• ジュ エリー ( ju erī ): Jewelry 

Words Starting With ショ (Sho) and ジョ (Jo):

• ショ ッピング ( sho ppingu ): Shopping
• ショ ー ( shō ): Show
• ショ ック ( sho kku ): Shock
• ジョ ギング ( jo gingu ): Jogging
• ジョ ッキ ( jo kki ): Jug, Beer mug
• ジョ イント ( jo into ): Joint

チャ行   (Cha Gyō) – Cha Row: チ (Chi) and ヂ (Ji) + ヤ (Ya), ユ (Yu),   and ヨ (Yo)

Words Starting With チャ (Cha) and ヂャ (Ja):

• チャ ック ( cha kku ): Zipper
• チャ ンス ( cha nsu ): Chance
• チャ ート ( chā to ): Chart

*There are no common words starting with ヂャ ( ja ). Words that use this character are usually proper nouns like names, places, or creations.  

Words Starting With チュ (Chu) and ヂュ (Ju):

• チュ ロス ( chu rosu ): Churro
• チュ ーブ ( chū bu ): Tube
• チュ ーター ( chū tā ): Tutor

*There are no common words starting with character ヂュ ( ju ). Words with this character are usually proper nouns like names or places. ジュ ( ju ) is used for words that contain the reading “ ju ” in them.  

Words Starting With チョ (Cho) and ヂョ (Jo):  

• チョ コ ( cho ko ): Chocolate
• チョ ッキ ( cho kki ): Vest
• チョ ーク ( chō ku ): Chalk

*No common words start with the character ヂョ ( jo ). Words with this character are usually proper nouns like names or places. ジョ ( jo ) is used for words with this sound.  

ニャ行 (Nya Gyō) – Nya Row: ニ (Ni) + ヤ (Ya), ユ (Yu) ,  and ヨ (Yo)

Word Starting With ニャ (Nya):

ニャ チャン ( nya chan ): Nha Trang

Words Starting With ニュ (Nyu):

• ニュ アンス ( nyu ansu ): Nuance
• ニュ ーヨーク ( nyū yōku ): New York
• ニュ ース ( nyū su ): News

Words Starting With ニョ (Nyo):

• ニョ ッキ ( nyo kki ): Gnocchi
• ニョ オウインコ ( nyo ouinko ): Golden Parakeet

ヒャ行 (Hya Gyō) – Hya Row: ヒ (Hi), ビ (Bi) and ピ (Pi) + ヤ (Ya), ユ (Yu) ,  and ヨ (Yo)

Word Starting With ヒャ (Hya):

ヒャ クメオオトカゲ ( hya kumeootokage ): Argus monitor (species of lizard)

Word Starting With ビャ (Bya):

ビャ ンビャン麺 ( bya nbyanmen ): Biangbiang noodles

Word Starting With ピャ (Pya):

ピャ チゴルスク ( pya chigorusuku ): Pyatigorsk (a city in southern Russia)

Words Starting With ヒュ (Hyu):

• ヒュ ーストン ( hyū suton ): Houston
• ヒュ ーマン ( hyū man): Human
• ヒュ ーマニティー ( hyū maniti ): Humanity

Words Starting With ビュ (Byu):

• ビュ ッフェ ( byu ffe ): Buffet 
• ビュ ーティフル ( byū tifuru ): Beautiful
• ビュ ー ( byū ): View

Words Starting With ピュ (Pyu):

• ピュ ーマ ( pyū ma ): Puma
• ピュ ア ( pyu a ): Pure
• ピュ ーレ ( pyū re ): Purée

Word Starting With ヒョ (Hyo)

ヒョ ウ モンチョウ族 ( hyo u monchou zoku ): Argynnini (a tribe of butterflies in the Heliconiinae subfamily)

Word Starting With ビョ (Byo):

ビョ ンビョン ( byo nbyon ): Onomatopoeia for something bouncy

Word Starting With ピョ (Pyo):

ピョ ートル1世 ( Pyō toruissei): Peter the Great

ミャ行 (Mya Gyō) – Mya Row: ミ (Mi) + ヤ (Ya), ユ (Yu) ,  and ヨ (Yo)

Word Starting With ミャ (Mya):   

ミャ ンマー ( mya nmā ): Myanmar

Words Starting With ミュ (Myu):

• ミュ ージアム ( myū jiamu ): Museum
• ミュ ージック ( myū jikku ): Music
• ミュ ージシャン ( myū jishan ): Musician 

Word Starting With ミョ (Myo):

ミョ ウバン ( myo uban ): Alum

リャ行 (Rya Gyō) – Rya Row: リ (Ri) + ヤ (Ya), ユ (Yu), and ヨ (Yo)

Word Starting with リャ (Rya):

リャ ザン ( Rya zan ): Ryazan (a city in western Russia)

Words Starting With リュ (Ryu):  

• リュ ーマチ ( ryū machi ): Rheumatism
• リュ ック ( ryu kku ): Backpack

Words Starting With リョ (Ryo)

• リョ クトウ ( ryo kutou ): Mung bean(s)
• リョ ウブ科 ( ryō bu ka ): Clethraceae (plant family of flowering plants)

Remembering all the  katakana  takes some practice, so don’t get frustrated if you don’t remember them all at once. Just go step-by-step: watch the videos and then practice writing and reading them. Flashcards are also a great way to help you remember the characters.  

I hope this guide helped you to learn  katakana ! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave us a comment!

Momoko Hoyt

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Japanese Letters

The Japanese language has three types of characters: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic symbols, each representing one syllable while Kanji is ideogram, each stand for certain meaning.

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• Japanese Writing

Writing Japanese Katakana

Writing Japanese katakana characters can be learned in the same way as in writing hiragana.

Similarly, there are 46 of them. In this section you will get to learn the first 25 characters.

In the diagrams that you are going to see, the first character on the left in each row shows the full katakana character. The subsequent columns show you the strokes in the correct order.

By following the green line of each stroke, memorize how each katakana character is written. After a few rounds of practice, learn to write each character without looking at the diagram.

As compared to hiragana characters, katakana characters have more straight lines and more angular corners in terms of shape. But it's also not difficult to master how to write them after some practices.

Be careful of some katakana characters that look similar, like ソ (so) and ン (n). The main difference is the direction of the second stroke.

For ソ (so), the second stroke starts from the top right and diagonally down to the bottom left.

Whereas for ン (n), it's a stroke starting from the bottom left and diagonally up to slightly below the top right.

Write Katakana in the a-line

The following diagram shows how to write katakana characters ア (a), イ (i), ウ (u), エ (e) and オ (o) in the correct order and strokes.

Write Katakana in the ka-line

The following diagram shows how to write katakana characters カ (ka), キ (ki), ク (ku), ケ (ke) and コ (ko) in the correct order and strokes.

Write Katakana in the sa-line

The following diagram shows how to write katakana characters サ (sa), シ (shi), ス (su), セ (se) and ソ (so) in the correct order and strokes.

Write Katakana in the ta-line

The following diagram shows how to write katakana characters タ (ta), チ (chi), ツ (tsu), テ (te) and ト (to) in the correct order and strokes.

Write Katakana in the na-line

The following diagram shows how to write katakana characters ナ (na), ニ (ni), ヌ (nu), ネ (ne) and ノ (no) in the correct order and strokes.

Practise as many times as you can and you will be able to write katakana characters without referring to the diagrams quickly.

Do you want to learn more about how to write all the Japanese hiragana and katakana characters? Make sure you check out these video lessons where you will be guided through every single letter .

By the way, this link above is an affiliate link, which means that I would earn a commission if you do end up purchasing the related learning course. It's at no extra cost to you, and please if you have any questions related to this learning course, please let me know and I would be happy to answer them for you.

Related Pages

1. Learn to write katakana in the ha-line, ma-line, ya-line, ra-line, wa, wo and n .

2. Learn to write hiragana in the a-line, ka-line, sa-line, ta-line and na-line .

3. Learn to write hiragana in the ha-line, ma-line, ya-line, ra-line, wa, wo and n .

To know more, I recommend you take a look at  this book on katakana .

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Practice Test Unit 5

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Practice Katakana 1

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Learn Katakana Alphabet

What is katakana.

Welcome to the fascinating world of Katakana! If you’re just starting your journey into learning Japanese, Katakana is one of the first steps you'll take. Katakana is one of the three main writing systems in Japanese, alongside Hiragana and Kanji. It consists of 46 basic characters, each representing a distinct syllable. Unlike the more intricate Kanji characters, Katakana characters are simple, angular, and easy to recognize. For instance, here are a few Katakana characters: ア (a), イ (i), ウ (u), エ (e), and オ (o).

The Role of Katakana in Japanese

So, what makes Katakana special? It plays a unique and important role in the Japanese writing system. Primarily, Katakana is used for writing foreign words and names, known as loanwords or “gairaigo.” For example, the English word “television” becomes テレビ (terebi) in Japanese, and “coffee” is written as コーヒー (kōhī). Katakana is also used for onomatopoeia, which are words that imitate sounds. Imagine writing the sound of a dog barking – in Katakana, it’s ワンワン (wanwan). But that's not all! Katakana is also the go-to script for scientific and technical terms, especially those derived from foreign languages. Moreover, when you want to emphasize something in writing, Katakana is your tool, much like how we use italics in English.

How is Katakana Different from Hiragana?

Now, you might be wondering, how does Katakana differ from Hiragana? Both Katakana and Hiragana represent the same set of 46 syllables, but they look and are used quite differently. First off, let’s talk about appearance. Katakana characters are more angular and straight, giving them a sharp, modern look. Take a look at these examples: カ (ka), サ (sa), and タ (ta). In contrast, Hiragana characters are more curved and flowing, making them appear softer and more cursive. Here are a few Hiragana characters for comparison: か (ka), さ (sa), and た (ta). When it comes to usage, Katakana and Hiragana have distinct roles. Katakana, as we mentioned, is used for foreign loanwords, names, onomatopoeia, scientific terms, and emphasis. It’s like the stylish, cosmopolitan cousin of Hiragana. On the other hand, Hiragana is the backbone of Japanese sentence structure. It’s used for native Japanese words and grammatical functions, such as verb endings and particles. Because of its fundamental role in grammar and everyday writing, Hiragana is usually taught first to Japanese learners and children.

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Learn Japanese Katakana – Get a Katakana Chart

This post helps you learn Japanese Katakana properly. Once you develop bad habits, it is very hard to shake them off. Therefore, I want to guide you on how to write each Katakana accurately.

Keep the below points in mind when you write Katakana. These are how Japanese children learn to write Katakana in school.

Do you need the Katakana chart and practice sheets? I can send them to your inbox via email. (PDF, 10 pages)

Are Hiragana & Katakana different?

You may have wondered why there are Hiragana and Katakana in Japanese. Both are phonetic letters (they tell you how to pronounce the word), but why do we need two sets?

The reason is this. We use Hiragana letters to spell Japanese-origin words (e.g., すし sushi) and Katakana letters to spell non-Japanese words that we imported from other languages. (e.g., コーヒー coffee)

• Hiragana – for spelling Japanese-origin words
• Katakana – for spelling non-Japanese words (loan words)

So, unless you have a Japanese name, you have to write your name in Katakana letters. If you want to find out how to spell your name in Katakana, try this website: Japanese Name Converter

Pay Attention to the 3 Tips

Just like the Hiragana letters , each stroke of Katakana has one of the following tips (endings): Stop (tome), Brush-up (hane), and Release (harai).

This resulted from the custom of writing with a brush in the old days.

When I teach the Katakana letters, I indicate what ending you need for each stroke of each letter. I encourage you to follow the instruction so you’ll get used to writing Katakana with correct stroke endings.

Let’s Learn Japanese Katakana!

There are 45 basic Katakana letters. I have free resources for you to learn Katakana.

1. Complete Lessons on Writing Katakana

You can go to my school website and watch 9 video lessons on how to write 45 Katakana letters.

You can download the Katakana chart & practice sheets there too.

Go to Complete Katakana Lesson Series

2. Japanese Katakana Spelling Systems

You need to know the spelling systems when you use Katakana. Some rules are specific to Katakana (#1 & #4 below)

Go to each lesson below and learn to spell words correctly! The lessons also provide reading practices.

1: Long Vowels in Katakana words

2. Glides (small YA, YU, YO)

3. Double Consonants (small TSU)

4. Special Combination for Katakana Words

I hope this post helped you start to learn Katakana on your own!

Learning a new set of characters can be challenging. Proceed with one letter at a time.

Be patient with yourself and enjoy the learning journey. Stress only hinders learning.

Instead, get excited that you can spell your name, country name, and many other words in Japanese once you learn all the Katakana letters. 😉

Happy learning! では、また。

裕子先生（ゆうこせんせい）Yuko sensei

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Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese

Katakana , as already mentioned, is mainly used to represent words imported from other languages. We’ve already learned all the sounds when we learned Hiragana. All you need to learn is a different way of writing them.

* = rarely used

Due to the straight lines and relatively few strokes, there are many characters in Katakana that look very similar. In particular, 「シ」、「ツ」 「ソ」、and 「ン」. You should pay careful attention to the stroke order and direction. You may also notice that the Katakana 「ヘ」 is virtually identical to its Hiragana counterpart 「へ」. They are in fact, written pretty much the same way. Below are handy PDFs for writing practice.

• Katakana trace sheets
• japanese-lesson.com

English words in Japanese

Many words from foreign languages, particularly English, have become part of the Japanese language via Katakana throughout the years. However, there are relatively few distinct sounds in Japanese and only five vowel sounds. As a result, these words usually don’t bear much resemblance to their original pronunciations. An important thing to remember is to stay true to the Japanese pronunciation and completely forget how it’s really supposed to be pronounced. To give you an idea, here is a short list of foreign words and their Japanese equivalents.

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About Katakana

Katakana is Japanese writing system along with hiragana  and kanji . 

Katakana is one of the two syllabic scripts used in the Japanese writing system, along with hiragana . It is used to write words borrowed from other languages, foreign names, and onomatopoeic expressions.

Hiragana & Katakana

A side-by-side comparison.

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Katakata Pronunciation

The sound of hiragana and katakana is the same., click katakana to listen to the sounds..

Shop Katakana Worksheet

--------------, master japanese katakana with our beautifully created worksheet books our katakana i book includes 46 primary katakata to practice, while katakana ii includes 30 dakuon/handakuon and 39 yo-on katakana. both books are available in left-handed versions as well. improve your reading and writing skills with our fun and effective practice worksheet books..

Katakana Course: 10-Day Challenge

Learn Katakana: Day-1 Vowels

Learn Katakana: Day-2 K-Line (Ka gyō)

Learn Hiragana: Day-3 S-Line (Sa gyō)

Learn Katakana: Day-4 T-Line (Ta gyō)

Learn Katakana: Day-5 N-Line (Na gyō)

Learn Hiragana: Day-6 H-Line (Ha gyō)

Learn Katakana: Day-7 M-Line (Ma gyō)

Learn Katakana: Day-8 Y-Line (Ya gyō)

Learn Hiragana: Day-9 R-Line (Ra gyō)

Learn Katakana: Day-10 W-Line & Solo N (Wa gyō & N)

Learn Katakana: 72 Katakana Variations

Learn Hiragana: Overview of all Katakana characters

Master Japanese katakana with our beautifully created worksheet books! Our " Katakana I" worksheet  includes 46 Primary Katakana to practice, while " Katakana II"  worksheet includes 30 Dakuon/Handakuon and 39 Yo-on Katakana. Both books are available in left-handed versions as well!. Improve your reading and writing skills with our fun and effective practice worksheet books.

Japanese Primary Katakana Hard Cover

Japanese Primary Katakana

Japanese Primary Katakana Soft Cover

Hiragana is the main phonetic writing system used to represent every distinct sound in Japanese. We recommend you to learn Hiragana first, also, learn how to pronounce all the sounds in the Japanese language.

Most words in Japanese are written in Kanji. Kanji are Chinese characters adapted for Japanese, are heavily used in writing. and it has been evolving with Japan’s culture over the years.

FREE lessons at Romaji Hub! Learn the basic sounds, rules, and practice exercises of Romaji. With our Romaji Mastery Quiz, you'll be able to test your understanding and improve your skills. 

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Learn Katakana Now!

This page assumes you've learned hiragana. If you prefer to learn katakana first, no problem, but first go through the first section of our hiragana pages (the sounds) before starting this page. Already know katakana but need practice? Click here for our Katakana Practice Quiz .

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A FEW POINTS

• Katakana is known as the more "masculine" of the Japanese writing systems. This is because most of the characters are rigid and have sharp turns.
• Katakana is mainly used for foreign loan-words , non-Japanese names , and onomatopoeia (sound effects). For example: Cola is コーラ  ko-ra . You will notice the dash in the middle. This makes the コ  ko longer in sound. If this were to be written in Hiragana, it would look like: こうら  koura . (In Hiragana the u lengthens the previous character) Other than that, Hiragana and Katakana work and sound in the same way.
• Most sounds in Japanese are found also in English. Unlike English, the "letters" in Japanese only have one sound, with a few exceptions that will be mentioned later on.
• Please download the sound files to get a feel for the sounds before beginning (see last page).
• In modern Japanese, there are 45 main katakana, one less than hiragana since the " wo " katakana isn't used much today.
• The most important to master are the vowels (the first row). These sounds are all found in English and they are the same as the vowel sounds in Spanish.

THE CHART Spend a few moments and you should be able to see a clear pattern. The columns are the vowels and the rows are the consonants. The first row has no consonant, so those characters represent only vowel sounds: A, I, U, E, and O. The second row is the "K" row, so the order would be KA, KI, KU, KE, and KO. There are only a few exceptions which we will get to.

• Sounds like: fAther or cAr or Ah
•  It looks like a capital A leaning over (doing exercises).

• Sounds like:   i - as in "fEEt"
•  It looks like a lowercase “i” with a hat on instead of a dot.

• Sounds like:   as in "fOOd"
• It looks like a mouth about to eat fOOd.

You may be tempted to write this next one in two strokes but try to follow the correct stroke order.

• Sounds like:   "eh?" or "hAte"
• It looks like a capital “I” but it really is an Eh sound.

• Sounds like:   o - as in "knOw"
•  It looks like someone kicking something "OH OH!"

Chapter Test

How do you read the following katakana characters these are all english words..

Click Here for Answers

• Sounds like: CAr
• It looks like the hiragana ka か just remove the hanging line.

• Sounds like: KEY
• It looks like a hiragana ki き without the base.

• Sounds like:   COOl
• It looks like a guy giving a thumbs-up. That's COol!

• Sounds like:  KAY or CAke
• It looks like someone's CApe.

• Sounds like:   COld
• It looks like a refrigerator door; that's COld!

• Sounds like: SOlitude
•  It looks like a squished SAw blade.

If you know hiragana, be careful with this one. It looks like a backwards hiragana se せ.

• Rōmaji: SHI
• Sounds like:   SHE
• It looks like someone pulling down a SHEEt from a closet.
• SHE always smiles, tilting her head.

Here is the first irregular pronunciation. You would think it would be " si " and Japanese often Romanize it as " si ," but it is pronounced as " shi " (like the English pronoun "she").

• Sounds like:   SUE
• It looks like SUE standing with her legs apart.

• Sounds like:  SAY
• Say, it looks like someone with a huge mouth SAYing something.

• Sounds like:   SO
• It looks like someone is touching something on a pedestal. It's SO pretty.

Be careful with this one. There is another katakana (the ン n character) that looks very similar. ソ so is an abbreviation of the そ (hiragana so ) therefore the longer stroke starts at top. The stroke for ン n starts at the bottom.

Sometimes, also, the eye looks down at something with so (ソ). With n (ン) it is usually tilted horizontally. While it is easy to confuse the two, you'll find it easier to discern as you learn their individual usages.

• Sounds like: TOm
• It looks like an invisible TOm boy hitting a TAmbourine (the American pronunciation of "tambourine" is a little off but say it with a "tah" pronunciation).

• Rōmaji: CHI
• Sounds like:   CHEEze
• It is a CHEAp and CHEEzy umbrella turned inside out.

• Rōmaji: TSU
• Sounds like:   caT SOUp
• It looks like someone politely smiling at you after hearing you say "cat soup" thirty times really fast.

And now we come to perhaps the hardest character to pronounce in Japanese! It is also irregular. You would expect this to be tu but it is tsu . This is the sound in "tsunami" (a loanword from Japanese). A good way to get this sound is saying "Cat Soup" quickly. The "T Sou" part is the approximate sound but listen to the sound file and mimic what you hear.

• Sounds like:   TApe
• It looks like someone is putting down a roll of TApe.

• Sounds like:   TOE
• It looks like someone is kicking something with their TOE.

• Sounds like: NOt
• It looks like someone is NOdding off for a nap.

• Sounds like:   NEAt or KNEE
• It is someone on his KNEEs getting ready to write the ChiNEse kanji for the number two.

If you remember, the number two in Japanese is " ni ." This character has two lines. In fact, the kanji for the number two looks pretty much the same as the katakana.

• Sounds like: NEW
• It looks like a brand-NEW scythe.

• Sounds like: NEIGHbor
• It looks like a cross-section of a NAval ship. Or an arm growing out of your NEIGHbor's NAvel.

• Sounds like:   NO
• It looks like the curve of someone's NOse.

• Sounds like: HA!
• It looks like a capital "H" laughing "HA!" so loud that its middle fell off.

• Sounds like:   HE
• HE is sitting down with his arms out.

• Sounds like:   FOOd
• It looks like the end of someone's FOOt.

• Sounds like:   HEY!
• It looks the same as the hiragana HE!

This one-stroke character is pretty much the same as the hiragana (although your computer actually uses a different character when typed). It is also used as a directional marker: I'm going to the store. mise he ikimasu . (but when used as a marker, it tends to sound more like e than he .

• Sounds like:   HOE
• It looks like two people scraping a HOE into the ground in a field.

If you are familiar with the kanji for tree 木 ( ki ), you can make some mnemonic with that. But remember the two branches do not touch the trunk of the HO tree.

• Sounds like: MAMA
• It looks like MAma kicking someone out with her foot.

• Sounds like: MEEt
• It looks like a MEteor shower.

If you know the kanji for the number three (三), this is similar. Also, one of the pronunciations to say the number three is " mi ." This katakana has three strokes and three lines.

• Sounds like:   MOOd
• It is an upside-down katakana ma マ, pronounced mu .

• Sounds like:   MAY
• It looks like a man with his legs tied. He MAY fall if he doesn't stop leaning over.
• Perhaps you can remember this one as a line through the katakana no character: ノ

• Sounds like: MOE
• It looks like a lawn MOWer.

• Sounds like: hiYA!
•  It looks like a YAk that stepped on something.

This row only has three characters. This is because yi and ye are not used in modern Japanese.

• Sounds like: YOU
• It looks like a number one: YOU are #1!

• Sounds like: YO!
• It looks like a backwards E. YO, what's up with that?

• Sounds like: hoRAH!
• It looks like a monster yelling, "RAA!"

• Sounds like:   REal
• It looks like a REpeat of the hiragana い i but flipped around.

• Sounds like:   RUE
• It looks like someone putting his or her foot out to trip someone. How RUde!

• Sounds like: RAY
• It looks like a RAY of light.

• Sounds like:   ROW
• It looks like a tunnel on the ROad.

The kanji for "mouth" looks very similar to the katakana ro —just a box.

• Sounds like: WAnd
• It looks like a baby with only one tooth crying, "WA!!!"

Be careful with the katakana u sound (ウ); they are very similar. wa doesn’t have a hat on.

• Sounds like:   WOE
•  It looks like a double-bladed sword; WOE to the enemy!

This character isn't used much, but you may see it in place of を when a whole sentence is written in katakana (like an old-fashioned telegram). In other words, don't worry about memorizing this character. Just knowing its existence is probably enough.

• Sounds like:   nnnN
• It looks like a one-eyed joker just smiliN'

Wrapping up Katakana Part I

Adding the Ten Ten

A "ten-ten" looks like a double quote ("). It changes the sound of the character to a harder sound. You can ONLY "ten-ten" the "K" row, the "S" row, the "T" row, and the "H" row.

A "maru" is the tiny circle that makes H sounds a P sound. This can only be added to the H row.

Look at the chart below. Notice how the "ten-ten" makes the sounds harder:

• The K row becomes G
• The S row becomes Z
• The T row becomes D
• The H row becomes B with a ten-ten or P with a maru.

It may take some time, but once you allow it to sink in, it will eventually seem natural.

Wrapping up Katakana Part II

Some Finishing Touches...

• There are only five vowel sounds.
• All other characters (except ン n ) are made of a consonant and one of the vowel sounds.
• The not-so-logical irregular characters are CHI チ, TSU ツ, and FU フ.
• The R sounds are pronounced somewhere between the R and L sounds in English.
• N cannot be used to begin a word.
• A small TSU causes a slight pause or break between syllables. For example, in English, we say a slight pause after the "boo" in "book club."
• You cannot "ten-ten" vowels.
• You can only use the "maru" with the H row.

And lastly, the small YA, YU, and YO. We briefly mentioned this when introducing the YA, YU, and YO characters, but they are often used to combine sounds (and thus, create new katakana characters)

Study this chart. It lists every possible combination.

To pronounce any of these, just start with the consonant, drop its vowel sound, and then say "YA," "YU," or "YO."

For example, the first one (top, left) is KI + YA. That would be KYA. Say it as a single sound (KYA) and not “KIYA.”

The last one is RI + YO and that would be RYO.

And don't forget combining the ten-ten with the small ya-yu-yo:

If you would like to have more practice (in addition to getting instant access to several books on beginner-level Japanese), check out our Beri- Beri- Shoshinsha Beginner's Bundle over at TheJapanShop.com. It includes a dozen resources to take your Japanese to the next level.

Now, try your hand at our Katakana quiz page ! Can you read these 50 words? Be careful, it's tricky!

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How To Learn Katakana (カタカナ) // Essential Things To Know

• By Zoe Stephens
• Learn Japanese
• June 8, 2021
• 10 Comments

Your Complete Guide on Katakana and How To Learn It

Right, so… How to learn Katakana? Well, you’re half-way there already (providing you’ve read our Hiragana article that is)!

Remember when you were terrified about learning hiragana?

Well, when answering the question “how to learn katakana”… it’s actually pretty darn similar to how you learnt hiragana.

They’re pretty much the same alphabet. Just, with different symbols? 

What I mean by that is it’s the same concept.

There is no need to re-learn how to actually read the alphabet table or understand the consonant-vowel phonetic syllable system in Japanese.

You know that everything is ‘ka’, ‘ma’, bu’, ‘ni’ etc. 

Each of these sounds is represented by one Hiragana and one Katakana.

FOR EXAMPLE – Take the sound “ma” in Japanese.

Hiragana for the ma sound | ま

Katakana for the ma sound | マ

Let’s try with another sound, this time “ki” .

• Hiragana for the ki sound | き
• Katakana for the ki sound | キ

You’ll find some Hiragana and Katakana with the same sound even look very similar, but we’ll come to that shortly.

Firstly, and we cannot stress this enough…

DISCLAIMER – This one is important. If you haven’t learnt hiragana yet, I recommend you first learn Hiragana before setting out on your journey on how to learn Katakana. Link right here for you 👇👇👇

How to Learn Hiragana (Quickly) // 7 Terrific Tips To Success

How to Learn Hiragana? It might seem difficult but Hiragana can be understood within a few hours. Follow these tips for success and start reading Hiragana.

Hiragana is much more widely used and is needed for beginner Japanese.

You’ll also learn some basic things about how Japanese sounds work and how to actually read that complicated looking table that I promise makes more sense very quickly!

So let’s waste no time and get down to the best ways on how to learn katakana, as well as why you need to learn it in the first place! 

How to Learn Katakana – What is Katakana?  How to Learn Katakana – How To Use Katakana? How to Learn Katakana – Recognising Katakana How to Learn Katakana – Tips & Tricks How to Learn Katakana – TOP TIP BONUS – QUIZ TIME How to Learn Katakana – FAQ’s

How to Learn Katakana // What Is Katakana?

Before you go onto how to learn Katakana, first take some time to understand what Katakana is. 

Katakana is one of the three alphabets of Japanese .

Actually, personally I believe that Japanese only has two alphabets and that Kanji (the Chinese characters) can’t be called an alphabet.

That is after all what kanji is, characters. Not an alphabet. Anyway, that’s just a matter of my opinion!

Nevertheless, Katakana and Hiragana can both definitely be called alphabets. 

And the funny thing is, both alphabets represent the exact same sounds… 

Want proof? Check out our Hiragana and Katakana tables side by side.

This is normally followed by the questions, why do we need katakana in the first place , and how is katakana used ?

Well, I’m glad you asked…

How to Learn Katakana // How To Use Katakana?

If the symbols represent the exact same sounds as Hiragana, what’s the point? Why use katakana? 

That’s like having two different symbols for the letter ‘p’, right? 

Actually, that’s wrong! 

In Japanese, in one sentence you could have both Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. 

FOR EXAMPLE – 私はゾイです。’Watashi wa Zoe desu.’ Meaning, “I am Zoe”. 

Can you spot the Katakana in that sentence? 

Let’s break it down… 

• 私 = Kanji, meaning “I”, or “me”. 
• は = Hiragana, particle marker, showing “I” as the subject. 
• ゾイ = Katakana, literally pronounced as ‘ZO-I’ 
• です = Hiragana, verb ‘to be’. 

So looking at the sentence again… the katakana is in bold/brackets. 

私は (ゾイ) です。

This is a great example of WHY and HOW we use hiragana.

It’s used in various contexts, including exaggeration etc, but really Katakana is mainly used for foreign origin words, including foreign names and country names. 

So in the above example, we see Katakana is used for the foreign name “Zoe”… and the same will be true for all names…

• James (ジェームズ)
• David (デビッド)

See how they all use Katakana? If you refer to the Katakana table above you will see they all sound pretty much the same as their English counterparts.

ANOTHER FEW EXAMPLES:

• イギリス　‘igirisu’ – England
• アルバイト　‘arubaito’ – Part-time work (from the German ‘arbeit’) 
• テーベル　‘taberu’ – Table
• グラス　‘gurasu’ – Glass
• イタリア　‘Itaria’ – Italy

Why don’t you have a go at figuring out your own name in Japanese? 

Use the Katakana table above and comment below with your Japanese name !

If you are not sure, comment your name and we’ll translate your name to Japanese using Katakana.

How to Learn Katakana // Recognising Katakana

I don’t know about you, but Hiragana sounds like it reads, and Katakana sounds like it reads, too.

Hiragana sounds softer, more flowy . More curvy . Katakana sounds rough , with sharp edges. 

Interestingly, historically Hiragana was actually the script associated towards females of Japan and Katakana the males. It kind of makes sense with Hiragana known more for its beauty and curves, with Katakana known more for it’s blade/structured look, let’s say!

A number of Katakana symbols are actually pretty similar to their Hiragana counter-part and some are even exactly the same.

But as mentioned, Katakana is generally a bit sharper and angular than the curvy Hiragana. 

FOR EXAMPLE ‘ya’ in hiragana is や, and ‘ya’ in katakana is ヤ.  Not an awful lot of difference is there!

Others are different and the way to learn them is to simply memorise and get familiar with them.

This video is one we like a lot for learning Katakana as it helps picture each symbol to something we are familiar with…

How to Learn Katakana // Tips & Tricks

Now we finally get to tips on how to learn Katakana – hopefully as quickly an efficiently as you did Hiragana! 

If those tips worked for you for Hiragana, try them with learning Katakana, too.

Since these alphabets are pretty similar, Katakana should be much easier to learn now you’ve already conquered Hiragana. 

Let’s go through the basic tips again, click on any you wish to read again/recap.

• Tip 1 (Don’t Panic)
• Tip 2 (Understand The Concept)
• Tip 3 (Understand The Hiragana Table)
• Tip 4 (Practice Everyday)
• Tip 5 (Read Everyday)
• Tip 6 (Print The Hiragana Table)
• Tip 7 (WATCH OUT For These Things)

Go in there slowly and first learn the vowels.

Then the next row of consonants plus vowels.

The next day, add on another row… and by the end of the week, if you’ve been practicing every day, you should at least (maybe with some help) be able to read and recognise most of the symbols on the Katakana table. 

Let’s show you the table again below. How many do you know?

How to Learn Katakana // TOP TIP

So now you know that Katakana is used mainly for foreign origin words, this makes it a lot more fun to learn!

Is it actually a lot easier to learn Katakana than Hiragana. 

Since Katakana is usually used on English loan words, why not practice your Katakana on the English loan words? This way it’s a lot of fun and actually very rewarding!

You never knew you understood this much Japanese already, right?! 

We gave you some examples before… but here’s some more.

Doesn’t get much easier than that does it – oh and by the way if you want to learn a load more Japanese loanwords , check our blog out here 👇👇👇.

Japanese Loanwords 🤩 41 You Should Learn Straight Away

Japanese Loanwords are actually a great way to boost language learning motivation because it makes you realise you can still find similarities with English!

Actually, there’s a whole world of vocabulary you already know in Japanese if you know English.

Learning Katakana will help you to unlock that! 

Start off with these 10 common English loan words written in katakana below. 

Try covering up the pronunciation if you feel more confident when reading katakana, and if you’re super confident, cover up the English too and see if you can work out the words by yourself.

Some of them take a bit of imagination, since Japanese doesn’t have some letters such as ‘L’ or “V”. This merely adds to the fun…! 

Bar | バー (Baa)

Bus | バス (Basu)

Club | クラブ (Kurabu)

Elevator | エレベーター (Erebeetaa)

Escalator | エスカレーター (Esukareetaa)

Event | イベント (Ebento)

Guide | ガイド (Guaido)

Hotel | ホテル (Hoteru)

Restaurant | レストラン (Resutoran)

Toilet | トイレ (Toire)

Once you’ve mastered how to learn Katakana and Hiragana, you’re almost there! 

Now it’s just Kanji to tackle… but that’s for another day! Take baby steps, it’s a marathon not a sprint remember.

Whilst learning Katakana and Hiragana might take you a few weeks, Kanji will most likely take a few months or indeed a few years.

With thousands of them, it’s actually a never-ending learning curve, very similar, or in fact, exactly the same as learning Chinese, as there is no alphabet . 

How To Learn Kanji // The Ultimate Tips & Tricks You Should Know

How to learn Kanji? Generally, you’ll need to learn about 1,000-2,000 Chinese characters in Japanese. Here’s the best way to go about learning them.

If the alphabets and languages of Asia fascinate you then we’ve got a few more entries we think you’ll like such as:

• The Alphabet of Korea – Discover Hangul
• Vietlish – It’s Vietnamese + English
• Our favourite Chinese Loanwords

There’s plenty more where that came from!

How to Learn Katakana // QUIZ TIME

OK time to put your knowledge to the test.

We’ve prepared a nice, friendly quick-fire Katakana quiz for you.

Don’t worry, it’s only 20 questions, can be completed really fast, and results are instant!

If you nail it with a big score, why not share it with us below …?!

Welcome to your Katakana Quiz! Let's get going...

Time is Up!

How to Learn Katakana // FAQ’s

カタカナ , each symbol represents a syllable.

For example, you can guess カ means “ka” in Japanese easily!

Hiragana is more cursive whereas the Katakana letters are more angular in shape.

This makes it really easy to differentiate between which alphabet is being used on paper or on screen.

Here are some Hiragana –  おはよう (this means today)

Here are some Katakana –  カメラ (this means camera)

See the differences?

There are loads but here’s ten to prove it’s not all that bad to learn Japanese!

Yes and most do in fact. Here is a very basic example:

This translates to “My name is Zoe” and includes all 3 of Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji

Some do but most don’t.

For example the sound “ma” in Japanese is represented as follows:

You can see these look quite different.

There are 3 in total.

These are Hiragana , Katakana and Kanji.

イギリス which is pronounced “i gi ri su”.

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Katakana is beautiful to look at

We wholeheartedly agree!

I got 100% in the quiz! The blog was such a great help and i love your charts which I downloaded, thanks!

Amazing!!! You've nailed it JJ - thanks for sharing.

3 alphabets in one language 😂

Give it time and it makes a lot of sense Jess!! Beautiful scripts too!

Your blog is so extensive for these learning topics! Thanks LTL and Lex!!

Thanks Alex!! So kind

I like the duolingo tutorials on katakana

Yes the alphabet lessons are useful we agree!

How To Learn Katakana

Today I’m going to continue going over the Japanese writing system and show you how to learn katakana.

As you may have heard before, the Japanese writing system is divided into three parts. The first part is called hiragana, the second part is called katakana, and the third part is called kanji.

These first two parts are collectively known as the “kana” and they are both scripts that represent sound (just like the English alphabet does).

Katakana is pretty cool because it has exactly the same pronunciation as its counterpart hiragana, but it looks different and has a different function in writing.

A few of the katakana symbols actually look very similar to the hiragana ones that you (hopefully) already know, so they should be easy to learn.

Besides that, there are a few katakana that are unique and can’t be found anywhere else.

If you remember in my post on hiragana , I talked a little about three different learning methods that you can use and I explained a little about how each one worked.

These same methods can be used for katakana, so if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then be sure to go back and read that part before continuing on in this article.

How is Katakana Different?

Hiragana and katakana were created at the same time, but for different reasons.

We will get to the reasons in the next section, so now let’s just look at how the two are different from one another:

(1) Hiragana is more cursive in style and katakana is more angular.

(2) Hiragana is used as the basis of all Japanese writing (think grammar) and katakana has a few, specific uses.

(3) They both represent the exact same sounds, but katakana has a few extra ones for words that are non-native to Japanese.

(4) Hiragana were created by abbreviating certain kanji and writing them cursively, whereas katakana was created by selecting particular elements from kanji.

What is Katakana Used for?

Katakana kind of reminds me of capital letters in the English alphabet. They signify certain things from a grammatical standpoint, but they have no bearing at all for the spoken part of the language.

That being said, just what exactly is katakana used for?

The most common answer that you will find is that katakana is used for gairaigo ( 外来語 ) which means “loan/borrowed word.”

In fact, I wrote a post on 301 English loan words that are used in Japanese.

If you check out the list, you will probably recognize all of them! And all 301 of those foreign words are written in katakana .

But the uses of katakana don’t end there.

Sometimes it’s used for the names of plants and animals.

Sometimes you will see a Japanese person’s name written in katakana instead of kanji for various reasons.

In addition to that, it’s used for onomatopoeic expressions pretty often.

In case you’re not sure that those are, they are “sounds that represent a feeling or an action.” In English it might be “GULP!” to express that someone is shocked and perhaps a little scared.

Katakana is also used to write out telegrams, which is probably not very applicable to today’s uses…

Finally, sometimes it is just used to  GRAB ATTENTION!

Katakana is the “cool” way to write things down after all.

So to sum up katakana’s uses:

• Loan/Borrowed Words
• Names of plants and animals (sometimes)
• Onomatopoeia
• Just to look cool
• Non-Japanese People’s Names

Learning the Basic 46 Katakana

Take a look at the complete chart of katakana below.

I’ve included everything, but for right now just focus on the basic 46 katakana on the left side of this chart. Those are the ones that you will want to master first, since the more complicated ones are just slight modifications of the basics.

Click on the picture below to open it up in a new tab and save it to your computer (or phone) for your personal use. I’m going to refer back to it in this post, so be sure to have it handy.

You can use the same method that I did to learn these katakana. Just take a row of five Kana at a time and write them out.

Remember that horizontal lines go from left to right →, and vertical ones go from top to bottom ↓.

Practice a couple of times from the chart, and then try to recall it from memory.

Once you feel that you’ve got a good grasp on a group, move on to the next.

Since katakana is pretty similar to hiragana, you will probably have an easier time learning them this second time around.

As for me, I think I memorized all of these katakana in about two days.

Here is also a useful chart that illustrates the correct stroke order. Feel free to click on it and print it out for practice.

It was created by user Pmx  and can be found on the WikiCommons by clicking  here . Just remember that this one is formatted in the traditional Japanese way of writing, which is to start in the top right corner and go down from there.

As a side note, you will notice that there are two katakana characters on this second chart that were not on the first one.

They are ヰ (wi) and ヱ (we). These are outdated katakana so you don’t need to know them unless you’re reading old Japanese books.

Now let’s point out the specific Katakana that look just like their Hiragana counter parts.

These ones ought to be the easiest for you to remember.

But on the flip side, the hiragana せ (se) looks similar to the katakana サ (sa), which are not the same syllable. So just be aware of that.

That’s the good part about learning katakana, there are quite a few that look just like the corresponding hiragana.

The bad side is that there are some katakana that look almost identical to one another and it can be a little tricky telling one from the other.

Here are the different katakana that look like each other. Take a look so that you can see the difference.

A lot of these will become easy for you to distinguish after some repeated use.

I would have to say that the only ones that occasionally give me trouble are the “シ shi / ツ tsu” combination and the “ソ so / ン n” combination. In those cases, you can usually figure out which one is correct by sounding out the word and trying to recognize it.

Also, let me just take a moment to give you a specific tip on the Katakana ヲ (wo) because everybody teaches it, but it almost never gets used in the real word.

The reason is because ヲ is the Katakana version of を which is only used to mark the object of the sentence . But as it turns out, を is the correct one to use 99% of the time!

So the question is, “when is it appropriate to use ヲ as the direct-object particle?” And the answer is one thing: in telegrams.

Learning the Modified 61 Katakana

There’s not really much to say for this part. Just like hiragana, the modified katakana are simply the voiced versions of the basic ones.

Try this experiment to see what I mean:

• Lay the palm of your hand on the front of your throat
• Make this consonant sound: “ssssssssss”
• Now make this consonant sound: “zzzzzzzzzz”

Did you notice that your vocal cords vibrated when you make the “zzz” sound, but not when you made the “sss” sound?

All of the basic 46 katakana that you learned first use “unvoiced consonants” like the “sss” sound, and when you add two abbreviated dashes to the upper right part of the basic katakana, it turns them into the “voiced consonant” version just like the “zzz” sound.

• カ turns into ガ (KA into GA)
• セ turns into ゼ (SE into ZE)
• ヒ turns into ビ (HI into BI)

And so on and so forth.

Check out the Katakana chart I gave you above to see how each basic version turns into the Dakuon version with just two little dashes.

Also, the “H” section is special because it can also turn into Handakuon (that’s the “P” group) by adding a tiny circle instead of the two strokes.

Finally, there is the You-on group which is on the far right section of the chart. These ones are created by combining one of the “I” groups (KI, SHI, CHI, HI, etc) with one of the three “Y” Kanas (YA, YU, or YO).

• KI + YU = KYU (キ + ユ = キュ)
• SHI + YO = SHO (シ + ヨ = ショ)
• PI + YA = PYA (ピ + ヤ = ピャ)

I like to think of this last group like math.

You just add two kanas together to create a new one. And from the way that they sound individually, the new combination kana makes sense.

The Special, Unique Katakana

All of these katakana that we’ve gone over so far have a mirror version in the hiragana script, but there are some special katakana that were invented specifically for loan words from other languages like English.

Now that you know about changing katakana by adding dashes, or combining it with other katakana, you can take that same knowledge to create and use these new, unique katakana.

These new katakana are in the bottom right corner of the chart I provided earlier. Take a little time now to check them out. I’ve also got a couple of example words that use them below:

フォローする (forō suru) means “to follow” like when you follow someone on Twitter.

パーティー (pātī) means “party” like when you are going to attend a party at someone’s house.

Did you notice something new about these one?

That’s right! It is that long dash (ー) that represents an elongated vowel. This is only used in katakana, not hiragana.

Further Resources

Just like in the hiragana post, I wanted to give you some further resources that you could check out if you want a little more help remembering katakana.

(2) Want some flash cards to help learn? Try out Tinycards .

(3) Interested in trying out mnemonics to learn? Tofugu has a pretty cool post on it.

What’s Next?

At this point you’ve learned the first two Japanese writing systems!

That’s pretty cool and you can read a great deal of Japanese material with just these two.

But unfortunately it’s not enough to be considered literate in Japanese. You will have to learn the third writing system as well: kanji!

Kanji are really cool, and at the same time really scary. That’s because there are over 50,000 of them!

Holy cow!!!

But the good news is that you don’t need to know all of them. There are about 2,000 that are considered “the essential ones.”

That is the next step: learning kanji . Most people can learn both hiragana and katakana within a week or two, but the journey to mastering kanji can take a lot longer.

What do you think about the idea of a language having three different writing systems? Let me know your thoughts with a comment below!

Further Resources for Learning Japanese:

#1 See How I Learn Japanese

#2 Save 35% Off LingQ Premium

#3 Get My eBook (Secrets to Learning Japanese) for Free

7 thoughts on “How To Learn Katakana”

Western languages also have two alphabets: lower case and upper case. (e.g. “a” sound just like “A” but the symbols are totally different.) Just like Hiragana vs. Katana. And the Dakuon and Handakuon are the equivalent of the diacritical marks in Spanish, French and German. Just different symbols an pronunciation rules.

(“Hiragana that looks like katakana” image link) [https://japanesetactics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Hiragana-that-look-like-Katakana.jpg] seems to be broken. – 2020-10-02

Thanks for letting me know. I’m not sure what happened to the original picture, but I’ve uploaded a new version of it.

Katakana is basically the “West”, America, Britain, Europe. Japanese use katakana tk describe “Hamburgeru” and “Baseboru”

While Kanji is basically China. Learning Kanji is learning chinese characters.

Native Japanese (Hiragana), is squeezed between Japan’s two major historical influences (China and the west).

Now that I think about it, that’s actually a really great way to think about it! I totally agree!

This seems to be really sophisticated. How long time did it take for you to learn Katakana? A week as you mention or faster? And you mention Kanji – that it takes much longer time to learn that – how long time does it take? Can you say you are fluent in Kanji?

Hey Arta, it only took me about a day or two to learn all of the Katakana syllables. It helped that I already knew all of Hiragana since there are a lot of similarities in how some of them look, and the rules you use to form the modified ones are basically the same for both.

As for Kanji, it does take a lot longer since there is so much more of them and each one can represent several different sounds and meanings. Although I have heard about people that learned the 2,000 required to be literate in as little as a couple of months.

I wouldn’t say that I’m fluent in Kanji yet, as even the Japanese have to know closer to 3,000 kanji in order to go to college and do advanced schooling. But I know enough to read most manga that I have.

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• Beginner Level

Katakana I: Basic characters

Objective: Learn to read & write the 46 basic Katakana characters

Introduction to Katakana

Katakana characters are most commonly used in Japanese to write words that have been borrowed from other languages. An example is the Japanese word for hamburger, ハンバーガー. Learning to read and write katakana is a prerequisite for studying elementary Japanese.

46 Basic Katakana characters

To learn how to write a character, click on an image below to watch an animation demonstrating the correct method and stroke order of writing the katakana character.

You may notice some difference between the handwritten character and the computer font character, this is normal.

Writing Practice

Write each of the 46 Katakana characters from memory

• a, i, u, e, o
• ha, hi, hu, he, ho
• ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
• ma, mi, mu, me, mo
• na, ni, nu, ne, no
• ra, ri, ru, re, ro
• sa, shi, su, se, so
• ta, chi, tsu, te, to

Pronunciation Guide

• ア = like the "a" in "water"
• イ = like the "ee" in "meet"
• ウ* = like the "oo" in "food"
• エ = like the "e" in "fed"
• オ = like the "o" in "hold"

The u vowel sound in ス is often whispered or not pronounced at all, so words like スポーツ may sound like "spootsu".

Extended Vowels

In katakana, extended vowels are held for two syllable-counts instead of one and are written by simply adding a horizontal line after the initial vowel sound.

• Long オ sound: オー
• Long イ sound: イー
• Long ウ sound: ウー
• Long エ sound: エー

Vowel Combinations

Often times vowel combinations such as エイ and アイ have unique pronunciations.

• エイ = the "ay" in "way"
• アイ = the "ie" in "tie"
• アウ = the "ow" in "how"
• オイ = the "oy" in "toy"
• ウエ = the "we" in "web"

Special Character Notes:

フ(hu/fu): Sometimes you will see words written beginning with fu. Please don't be confused, hu/fu is the same character. The pronunciation might sound more like hu or more like fu depending on the word and speaker's dialect.

ラ, リ, ル, レ, ロ: the "r" is made by placing your tongue at the roof of your mouth as if to say "l", but saying "r" instead.

ン(n) is pronounced like the "n" in the word under.

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How to write Katakana あ

How to write katakana い, how to write katakana う, how to write katakana え, how to write katakana お, how to write katakana は, how to write katakana ひ, how to write katakana ふ, how to write katakana へ, how to write katakana ほ, how to write katakana か, how to write katakana き, how to write katakana く, how to write katakana け, how to write katakana こ, how to write katakana ま, how to write katakana　み, how to write katakana む, how to write katakana め, how to write katakana も, how to write katakana な, how to write katakana に, how to write katakana ぬ, how to write katakana ね, how to write katakana の, how to write katakana ら, how to write katakana り, how to write katakana る, how to write katakana れ, how to write katakana ろ, how to write katakana さ, how to write katakana し, how to write katakana す, how to write katakana せ, how to write katakana そ, how to write katakana た, how to write katakana ち, how to write katakana つ, how to write katakana て, how to write katakana と, how to write katakana や, how to write katakana ゆ, how to write katakana よ, how to write katakana わ, how to write katakana を, how to write katakana ん.

Let's Learn Katakana! カタカナ

This entire page is to help you learn to write Katakana. If you haven't learned Hiragana yet, please go to this page first .

Are Hiragana & Katakana different?

Both Hiragana & Katakana are phonetic letters. They tell you how to pronounce the word. But why do we need two sets of letters in Japanese?

The reason is this. We use Hiragana letters to spell Japanese-origin words (e.g., すし sushi) and Katakana letters to spell non-Japanese words that we adapted from other languages. (e.g., コーヒー "coffee")

Hiragana - for spelling Japanese-origin words

Katakana - for spelling non-japanese words (loan words).

The closest font to handwritten Katakana is Kyokasho-tai  (Textbook font) . I use the font in the videos below and all of the Katakana materials I provide.

I can send you Katakana Chart & Practice Sheets.

Where shall i send them let me know below. , katakana chart and practice sheets.

I will send the Katakana materials ( PDF, 10 pages ) to your mailbox right away!

Success! Now check your email to get your Katakana Materials.

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Katakana Lesson Videos

1. vowels (a, i, u, e, o) & n - アイウエオン.

Now let's learn to write Katakana. There are 45 basic Hiragana letters . Have your practice sheets ready and follow the lessons below.

2. (Ka, Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko) - カキクケコ

3. sa, shi, su, se, so - サシスセソ, 4. ta, chi, tsu, te, to - タチツテト, 5. na, ni, nu, ne, no - ナニヌネノ, 6. ha, hi, hu (fu), he, ho - ハヒフヘホ, 7. ma, mi, mu, me, mo - マミムメモ, 8. ya, yu, yo, wa - ヤユヨ＆ワ, 9. ra, ri, ru, re, ro - ラリルレロ.

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Study Japanese in your spare time with my support.

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The Essential Guide to Japanese Katakana

Level up your japanese with this guide to katakana – or skip straight to our interactive katakana lessons on busuu., i want to learn....

Looking to learn Japanese katakana? You’ve come to the right place. We’ll show you all the characters in the katakana alphabet and the best way to memorize them.

What is katakana?

Let’s start with the basics. Katakana is one of three Japanese alphabets – hiragana , katakana, and kanji .

Hiragana and katakana are both what’s called syllabaries, meaning they’re like an alphabet, but instead of each character representing a letter, they each represent a syllable. For example, in hiragana, か is ‘ka’. There are also characters for ‘ki’, ‘ku’, ‘ke’, and ‘ko’ (and many more, of course!).

Both hiragana and katakana contain 46 characters, representing the same set of sounds – although one of the characters in katakana is not in use. That means, to master katakana, you need to learn 45 characters.

It’s easy enough to do, and we’ll show you how.

Want to become an expert in writing Japanese katakana?

You can become a master when it comes to writing Japanese katakana, via Busuu’s free online courses and learning resources!

Should I learn kanji or katakana first?

When you learn Japanese, you typically start by learning hiragana, then katakana, then tackle kanji last. Kanji has thousands of characters, and knowing hiragana makes it much easier to start learning it. And katakana, as you’ll quickly discover, goes hand-in-hand with hiragana. So that’s why we usually recommend learning in that order!

Typically, learning hiragana and katakana takes just a week or two. (You can even do it in just a few days if you’re willing to put in some hard work!). New learners often wonder if Japanese is difficult to learn , and while there are certainly some challenges and complexities, basic Japanese is easier to master than you might think!

Hiragana vs. katakana

But wait, you might be asking, if hiragana and katakana are different characters for the same sounds, what’s the difference? What is katakana used for? Well, while hiragana is used for Japanese words – that is, words that come from the Japanese language – katakana is used for words that come from other languages.

For example, you’ll see katakana used to write English loan words that are used in Japanese , like ice cream and sausage. Here’s what that looks like:

アイスクリーム Aisukuri-mu Ice cream

ソーセージ So-se-ji Sausage

Like English, Japanese has a ton of loan words brought in from other languages. If you see katakana in use, you’ll know you’re looking at a word with a foreign origin or a non-Japanese name. Neat, right?

Katakana chart

With that out of the way, let’s get down to katakana business.

Katakana, as mentioned above, has 46 basic characters. Each one represents a sound or syllable used in the Japanese language. Like hiragana, katakana also uses transformations – called dakuten, handakuten, and combinations – that tweak those basic characters in order to cover a wider range of sounds.

Since katakana is used for words from other languages, it also includes combinations and transformations you don’t see in hiragana to create sounds that aren’t typically used in Japanese. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves!

Let’s start with the basic characters of katakana. When we learn hiragana and katakana, we start with the 5 vowels – ‘a’ (ア), ‘i’（イ), ‘u’ (ウ), ‘e’ (エ), and ‘o’ (オ), pronounced like ‘ah’, ‘ee’, ‘ooh’, ‘eh’ and ‘oh’.

Each row after that has one consonant sound paired with each of those vowels, always in the same order. After ‘a’, ‘i’, ‘u’, ‘e’, ‘o’, we learn ‘ka’, ‘ki’, ‘ku’, ‘ke’, ‘ko’, then ‘sa’, ‘shi’, ‘su’, ‘se’, ‘so’, and so on and so forth. (Note that it’s ‘shi’ instead of ‘si’ – there are a few exceptions!)

Check it out.

*ヲ, written as ‘o’ or ‘wo’, is the character that’s not in use. You’ve seen it, now forget about it!

The easiest way to learn katakana? Mnemonics

Now that you’ve seen all the katakana characters, you need to start working on remembering them.

At Busuu, our Japanese course content was designed by language learning experts to make it easier for you to reach your goals – which, of course, includes making it easier to memorize katakana.

We use something called mnemonics. A mnemonic device, if you don’t know, is anything you can use – like a rhyme, image, or other association – to help you remember something. For example, using your knuckles to recall which months have 31 days, or remembering that dessert has a second s (while desert only has one) by thinking about strawberry shortcake. Both of those are kinds of mnemonics.

We use primarily word and image associations to learn hiragana and katakana.

For example, it might help you to remember that the character for ‘ha’ looks like a hat! Take a peek:

Or here are a few other fun examples from our katakana lessons:

Learn and remember katakana characters easily!

Uncover more mnemonics and get bite-sized katakana lessons with Busuu’s award-winning online Japanese course.

But wait, there’s more

Katakana doesn’t stop at those 46 characters. As we mentioned, there’s also dakuten, handakuten, combinations, and more. Let’s take a closer look on these transformations.

Dakuten is a little symbol that looks like a quotation mark. When it’s added, it makes unvoiced consonants voiced. That means instead of a voiceless sound like ‘t’ or ‘s’, you get a voiced sound like ‘d’ or ‘z’.

(New to this kind of thing? Try making just a ‘t’ sound – like you’re starting to say a word but not continuing – then make a ‘d’ sound. Notice how your mouth and tongue move. The sounds are the same, except one you’re using your voice and one you’re not!).

Confused? Don’t fret! In general, Japanese pronunciation can be a bit tricky for English speakers, but it’s easy enough to master with the right information and a little practice. You can help from native Japanese speakers when you learn Japanese with Busuu.

Here are all the katakana characters that can have dakuten added and the new sounds they make.

Katakana characters with dakuten

And there’s one special mention! While ‘v’ is usually translated into Japanese as a ‘b’ noise, in katakana, you can also make a true ‘v’ by adding dakuten to a ‘u’, like this: ヴ.

Handakuten is just like dakuten, but it only applies to the h row of sounds, turning them into a p sound. The handakuten symbol is a little circle, like a degree symbol.

Combinations and more

Like in hiragana, we can also combine characters to create new noises, like the ‘gyo’ for gyoza or the ‘chu’ for Pikachu.

However, while in hiragana you only combine the ‘i’ column and small y-characters – for example, gi (ギ) + yo (ヨ) = gyo (ギョ) – in katakana, you can use small versions of any of the vowels and combine them with different consonants as needed.

Here are a few examples:

ファ = fa グォ = gwo ポィ = poi ヴォ = vo

Or, in action:

フューシャ = fuchsia フォーク = fork ヴァイオリン = violin

You may also have noticed the choonpu (ー), or long sound symbol. It appears up above in both fuschia and fork. It looks like a long dash and indicates a syllable where the sound is extended when pronounced out loud. It’s only used in katakana, as hiragana uses double vowels instead to show a longer syllable. It’s written horizontally, like this: ー, when the text is horizontal, but changes to a vertical line when used in vertical text.

And let’s not forget the sokuon, or small tsu (ッ), which is the way a hard stop is shown in katakana, just like the small tsu (っ) is used in hiragana. In romaji, we see this as a repeated consonant, like pp or kk. It’s used to tell you to take a little hard pause in the middle of the word, like in gakkou (がっこう), meaning school, or the name Alex, typically translated into Japanese as Arekkusu (アレックス).

When it comes to katakana, practice makes perfect

Whew! That’s a lot, right? But the good news is, you’re well on your way to mastering katakana. To learn more and get some practice, check out our complete katakana course on Busuu!

Topics for Beginners

• Beginner’s guide to the Japanese alphabet
• Here’s the best way to learn kanji
• Should you learn romaji?
• Learn the Japanese numbers 1 to 100
• Yes, you can learn Hiragana right now

Grammar Topics

• Japanese honorifics: The basics
• 15 Essential Japanese particles and what they mean
• Japanese pronunciation for beginners
• Japanese verb conjugation made easy
• Everyday Japanese phrases

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The Best Hiragana & Katakana Learning Resources How to & What To Use for Studying "Kana" Characters Efficiently

August 10, 2023 • words written by Kanae Nakamine • Art by Aya Francisco

Hiragana and katakana are literally the ABCs of Japanese. They're the most basic types of Japanese characters and essential parts of the Japanese language. Learning these two types of characters is often the very first step to learning Japanese, too.

Being able to read hiragana and katakana is amazing because it's such an immediately practical skill. You see them everywhere in Japan. The scenery of Japan, or even your neighborhood Asian grocery store may start to look different once you know hiragana and katakana.

Luckily, they're fairly easy to master, too. No, you don't need a photographic memory or superpower to memorize all of them. All you need is the right method and tools to study effectively and efficiently.

There are 46 hiragana characters for hiragana and katakana respectively. Memorizing 92 characters with unfamiliar shapes might sound intimidating now, but trust me. People have learned them in a couple weeks, a few days, or even a few hours with these effective methods.

If you want to study hiragana and katakana fairly quickly, and never forget them, you've come to the right place. I'll talk about how you can do it, and introduce some of the best kana learning resources you can use for a successful kana learning experience.

1. Use memory hints aka "mnemonics"

2. prioritize "reading" over "writing", 3. practice recalling, tofugu's learn hiragana/katakana books, hiragana/katakana memory hint, learn languages with dr. moku (hiragana & katakana), learn all hiragana/katakana in 1 hour - how to write and read japanese (japanesepod101.com), tofugu's learn kana quiz, how to learn hiragana & katakana.

First, let me go through the three key points for successful kana learning.

Memory hints, aka mnemonics, are honestly the game changer in remembering foreign characters like hiragana, katakana, and even kanji. Using mnemonics, you can easily associate the shape of kana with the reading. Curious how mnemonics actually work? Here's an example to remember hiragana "ki" (き). This one is pretty simple. Just think of a key ! 🔑

Remembering a bunch of unfamiliar shapes suddenly sounds doable, right? Mnemonics make things easy to remember, recall, and not forget. It really is a powerful tool for kana learning.

Focus on reading first. Not writing. I know, it's not the traditional way children learn their characters. But, learning to read is more important as the most common form of "writing" nowadays is typing. (If you can read kana, you can type them.)

Being able to handwrite hiragana from memory is a great skill to have too, but it takes a lot more time to master and has fewer real-life benefits. I recommend you save it for later. Handwriting or tracing over the characters with your fingers can be a great way to spend time observing the shapes closely, but always keep in mind the "reading" priority rather than being able to handwrite from your memory. At least, for now.

Once you become familiar with the kana, practice reading repeatedly. Make sure to review items you've learned and keep it up. And when you review, focus on your recall. The more effort you put into recalling something, the stronger memory your brain will end up building.

The Best Resources for Learning Hiragana/Katakana

So now that we've talked about the three key points for successful kana learning, you may be thinking, "What tools can I use to learn hiragana and katakana?"

I got you — I put together a list of some of the best kana learning resources. They, of course, have small differences, but they all feature mnemonics and reading practice, which are the key points for successful kana learning.

Now, let's take a closer look at each resource.

Before anything, let me talk about Tofugu's own products — our Learn Hiragana/Katakana Book series. This is a shameless plug as I am very proud of all the learners who successfully learned kana with our books and proved them to be effective. They're also available for free, so nothing to lose if you give them a try.

Tofugu's Learn Hiragana/Katakana Book series consists of two PDF workbooks, so you can print or use them on your device offline. The workbooks cover everything you need to know about hiragana and katakana. You'll learn how to pronounce, and how to remember each character with mnemonics and writing practice sheets. There are also reading practice exercises to help you review what you've just learned by filling in romaji. The quiz uses actual words made from the characters you've learned, creating a rewarding moment that hopefully makes you go "Woah, I can read Japanese words!" and motivates you to keep going.

More than anything, the ultimate focus of our content is the quality of mnemonics. We've been updating and improving our mnemonics ever since we first published them, and that's what makes our kana content special. For example, to explain the pronunciation of each kana, we use an English word that uses the same or very similar sound so that you know exactly how to pronounce it. And, when possible, we use the English keyword for mnemonics too. For example, the hiragana い sounds just like "e" as in " ee l." And to help you associate the sound and the shape of the characters, we use the same keyword "eel," and say い looks like two eels hanging out. Another common mnemonic for い is that it looks like the number e leven as in 11 (which, it totally does!) but we choose "eels" for the more accurate pronunciation. We believe that learning kana is also about learning the sounds of the Japanese language and the basics of Japanese pronunciation, so we hope those keywords help you remember the correct pronunciation.

We also keep our mnemonic art simple in a way that makes it easy to see the original shape of the character. Not many mnemonics out there have this quality, and it's sometimes hard to recognize the original shape in the mnemonic art.

If you are looking for a one-stop solution for kana learning, you won't be disappointed with Tofugu's Learn Hiragana/Katakana Books.

For those who want to be able to listen to the pronunciation of each kana …

we have web page versions too — Learn Hiragana: The Ultimate Guide and Learn Katakana: The Ultimate Guide . While these don't come with writing sheets, you can play the audio, which is always a bonus.

So there you have it. We actually have more kana learning tools in various formats and for different purposes, so check out the list below to find something that suits your preference and needs. You can mix and match too — they're all free!

• Learn Hiragana: The Ultimate Guide
• Learn Katakana: The Ultimate Guide
• Learn Hiragana Today
• The "Hiragana Mnemonics Chart," by Tofugu
• Tofugu's Official Anki Deck: Hiragana , Katakana

HIRAGANA Memory Hint and KATAKANA Memory Hint are mobile apps to help you learn kana with memory hints (aka mnemonics). Developed by The Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai, both apps are available for free. The apps are divided into two parts: Memory Hints and Quiz.

The memory hints are overall helpful and intuitive, and they all come with cute illustrations. If anything, the unique art style makes it a bit hard to recognize the original characters in the illustration. Many of the illustrations sort of modify the shapes to make sense of the visual mnemonics (or at least, many look a lot different from generic font text). So if you ever use these apps, keep that in mind, and make sure to compare the illustration to what the character actually looks like. There are a couple options in the app that help you with this; one to see the mnemonic illustration and the original side by side, and another to play an animation of the illustration gradually fading out and the original character appearing after that.

If you go to the Quiz screen, there are four types of quizzes you can select from. In addition to the typical practice of choosing the corresponding romaji reading for each kana, the options include Listen & Choose , where you hear a sound and choose a corresponding kana out of three choices, and Similar Hiragana / Similar Katakana , where you see a sound written in romaji and choose a corresponding character out of two or three kana options that look alike, such as あ, め, and ぬ.

Another nice thing about the quiz feature is that you can narrow down the characters you want to practice by selecting a group(s) of kana. Each group contains two kana rows of eight to ten characters. Not many people cram all the kana in one sitting, so it's nice to be able to select and practice the kana you just became familiar with, before moving forward to study more.

However, it's worth noting these quizzes are all in multiple-choice format. Compared to typing or writing, it's a less strict method of testing your knowledge, or practicing your recall. But if you prefer easing into kana with a more relaxed approach, this could be a good option. Regardless of your answer being correct or not, you'll be shown the mnemonic illustration of the answer right after you answer each question. It's a nice gesture for people who had a hard time recalling most of the characters, but this feels redundant when you try to get through the session as quickly as possible or when you're already confident and don't need to see them. Quiz sessions are timed to motivate people to go through quickly, so being shown the mnemonic image can feel extraneous.

Overall, despite minor details that you may wish to change, HIRAGANA/KATAKANA Memory Hint is a legitimate option to learn kana with the help of mnemonics. And it's free!

As a side note… As of reviewing the apps (February, 2023), the audio was unfortunately not working at all on my iPhone 13 mini. Audio play buttons to check the pronunciation of each character doesn't work, and the Listen & Choose quiz doesn't play the audio either.

Learn Languages with Dr. Moku is a mobile app that uses the power of mnemonics to help visual learners study the characters of foreign languages, including Japanese — hiragana, katakana, and even basic kanji. In their hiragana and katakana courses, you'll be presented with mnemonic illustrations and a short phrase or two to help you associate the shape of the character with how it's pronounced.

Upon tapping the mnemonic image, it plays an animated version of the visual mnemonic (You'll hear Dr. Moku reading the mnemonic aloud for you!), then an animation showing how the character is written following its stroke order. Many mnemonics are clever, but just be aware that there are some pop culture references used in the mnemonics, such as Mr. T or Ed Sheeran, which may not be relatable to everyone.

Following mnemonics is an audio play button to hear the pronunciation along with some useful information about each character — how to pronounce it or where you might see the character. It also shows a few words where the character is used.

After learning a set of characters, you'll be prompted with quizzes to review what you've just learned. It offers various formats of quizzes, such as typing in romaji, and selecting a character corresponding to the sound you hear. It quizzes you with not only single characters but also sometimes words that are made out of multiple characters.

The app overall has a great design and quality illustrations and animations, but you have to pay for what you get — it's not free to learn all the kana. You can use it for free to study eleven hiragana and eight katakana, but after that, you'll have to make a one-time in-app purchase to upgrade to the full kana coverage. Each kana package costs $5.99, but there's a Japanese Bundle package for $7.99, which includes both kana as well as basic kanji and a phrase book.

The upgrade also unlocks some bonus features, including a practice tool where you can do extra quizzes, but this practice feature won't really be useful until you're already familiar with the whole set of 46 basic kana plus variation characters. You can choose how many questions you want to go through in a session, but it doesn't consider what kana you've already learned on the app, nor does it let you select kana you're already familiar with and want to quiz.

Learn ALL Hiragana/Katakana in 1 Hour is a series of two video lessons available for free on YouTube. Each video is an hour long, focusing on either a whole set of hiragana or katakana. The video gives an overview of hiragana and katakana using graphics and charts, then goes through each character to help you remember how to write and read them. Each character is introduced with the stroke order of the character, and what the character looks like in different kinds of fonts. They also show an illustration mnemonic for each character to make it easy to remember. You'll also hear a brief explanation of where you might see the character in Japanese grammar. When they introduce a new kana that has a similar shape to the one you've already learned, they take the time to compare and explain the differences.

Once each column (a set of three to five characters) is introduced, they do a quick quiz to review, showing you the characters you've just learned while giving you a moment to recall how they're pronounced. Some quizzes use actual words where the character appears.

The host of the video lessons, Risa, is a native speaker of Japanese, so you get to hear her authentic pronunciation of each character. However, keep in mind there's sometimes a gap between the actual Japanese sound and the English keywords they use in their mnemonics. For example, they encourage you to think of the shape of an a pple to remember a hiragana あ (a). However, あ is closer to the sound of " a h" (ɑ), not " a pple" (æ). This may trip you up, so try focusing on how the host reads the character, rather than the mnemonic keywords for accurate pronunciation.

They do cover all the kana in an easy-to-understand way using illustrations and animations. However, an hour long video lesson is a lot to pack in. If you're interested in using this video lesson series for learning kana, don't force yourself to go through it all in one sitting.

The series is created by JapanesePod101.com , who are known for offering a huge amount of Japanese learning content. However, at the same time, their content organization tends to be difficult to navigate. For example, these YouTube videos don't have timestamps, so you may find it hard to keep coming back to where you left off.

If you prefer a collection of bite-size lessons, you can check out the 10-Day Hiragana Challenge and 10-Day Katakna Challenge playlists. Each of the two videos from the Learn ALL Hiragana/Katakana in 1 Hour series are divided into ten parts with videos just several minutes long. The downside of this 10-Day Challenge series though is that it includes more advertisements for JapanesePod101.com products.

For Extra Quiz Practice and Reviews

The resources that I've talked about so far are all one-stop solutions that help you remember kana with mnemonics and review and practice through quizzes. As I've mentioned, kana is everywhere. Once you start studying other aspects of the Japanese language, you'll see them constantly. So in a way, you'll be naturally reinforcing your kana knowledge moving forward. That said, you'll want to first practice a lot and make sure you solidify your kana knowledge.

You can get some practice in with the resources above, but I also wanted to introduce you to a couple other tools specifically designed to quiz your kana knowledge for extra practice. One standout feature is that they let you actually type in romaji for the kana readings instead of just offering you multiple choice answers. This means they are a better assessment of your true kana knowledge, and can help you identify what kana you might be struggling to remember.

This is another shameless plug (okay okay, I promise this will be the last).

Tofugu's Learn Kana Quiz is a web app originally designed to be a quiz tool to help you solidify the kana knowledge from our kana products, such as the workbooks and web pages I introduced earlier. However, it would be a great companion for really any kind of kana-learning resource as what it does is allow you to practice whatever kana you want, as many times as you want. It also helps you to identify the characters you still have a hard time with.

The way it works is simple. On the main page, you get to choose the kana you want to practice by column (a set of three to five characters). You can check all hiragana or all katakana with a single button too, if you're already familiar with all the kana listed.

During the quiz, you'll be prompted with a set of the selected hiragana characters and asked to type in the readings for each one. You can choose to skip items so you can save the ones you have a hard time recalling and circle back on those later. We believe the act of recalling is important, so unlike any other quiz tools, we actually won't tell you the correct answer even when you get things wrong. (We intentionally make it hard to cheat, and it's all for you!) However, you can try answering the same item until you type in the right answer so you can test your recall over and over.

Then, when you finish a session, the results show you how many failed attempts you had with the characters you couldn't answer correctly at the first go. This will help you identify what kana characters are not still sticking in your memory so you can do something about them — revisiting the mnemonics, inventing new mnemonics, or tracing the characters — whatever you gotta do to finally remember them!

So this is it! Hope you found something that you want to give a try in this article. Again, being able to read kana is a big first step, and it's not as hard as you think. I hope the methods and resources that I talked about will give you a great head start on your Japanese learning journey! Happy Kana Learning!

Learn the Japanese Alphabet: A Guide to Katakana (Part 2)

This article is part 2 of a 3 part series. The first part will focus on how to learn hiragana, the second katakana, and the third kanji.

So you've been studying hiragana for a while and have gotten the hang of it, and now you're wondering what's next in your journey of studying Japanese?

Well, the most logical thing would be learning to read and write katakana!

Katakana is one of the three Japanese alphabets, the other two being hiragana and kanji.

In this article, we will take you through a brief history of the Japanese writing system, some differences between hiragana and katakana characters, and some useful learnTing strategies.

By the end of this piece, you will have a better idea of how to read and write katakana characters, how they function in the Japanese language in comparison to hiragana and kanji characters, and the best ways to practice.

See also: The best way to learn Japanese

Ready? イキマショー!

What is Katakana? A Quick Background to the Japanese language

So what is katakana, where did it come from, and why is it important in understanding the Japanese language?

Katakana emerged in the 9th century during the Heian period and is thought to have been developed by monks for translating Buddhist texts.

Katakana literally translates to 'fragmentary kana.' This is because katakana characters are derived from components or fragments of more complex Chinese characters.

Like hiragana characters, katakana symbols are phonetic and have a one-to-one relationship with a spoken syllable. These syllables are identical to those that hiragana characters represent, and there is the same number of characters in katakana.

Some Differences Between Hiragana and Katakana Characters

There are some stark differences between katakana and hiragana characters, both in the function that they serve in the Japanese language and the way in which they are written.

While hiragana is used for native Japanese words and grammar particles, katakana can be compared to how English uses italics or capitalization.

Specifically, it is used for the transcription of foreign names and words into Japanese, borrowed words from other languages; to represent onomatopoeia; for technical or scientific terms; for the names of animals, plants, and minerals; and to emphasize things like titles or the names of Japanese companies. We'll go over some examples later on.

Also, unlike hiragana, you will never see katakana used to represent a grammatical particle.

More obviously, you may notice that a katakana character is more angular, sharp, and simple in comparison to its hiragana counterpart. One might even argue that the simplicity of katakana might make it easier to learn than the hiragana version in terms of stroke order.

How to Learn Katakana: The Basic Katakana characters

Once you have learned hiragana, it is very easy to learn katakana. Both alphabets contain 46 characters that represent the same sounds.

For example: キ is the katakana for the hiragana き (ki).

The only difference between these Japanese characters is that the katakana character uses straight lines and one less stroke.

You can think of hiragana characters as written cursive, and katakana characters as writing in print.

Let's take a look at a few more examples:

• セ is the katakana for the hiragana せ (se)
• モ is the katakana for the hiragana も (mo)
• ヤ is the katakana for the hiragana や (ya)
• リ is the katakana for the hiragana り (ri)

However, you should be cautious when learning katakana and pay special attention to learning the correct stroke order. This is because, like hiragana, there are a few similar-looking characters.

For example, let's take a look at the katakana characters シ (shi) and ツ (tsu).

At first glance, these two characters appear to be almost identical. However, when learning katakana, シ (shi) is written with horizontal strokes, while ツ (tsu) is written with vertical strokes.

As with learning hiragana, the first step to learning katakana is by studying and creating your own katakana chart like the one below.

Similar to the hiragana chart, the vowel sounds are located in the furthest right column and organized by consonant sounds from right to left.

Transformations of the Basic Katakana Character

Hiragana and katakana both use the same kinds of transformations to produce different Japanese sounds.

One common anomaly you might see is a small 'tsu' (ッ) in the middle of a word. This is translated into a double consonant in English and depicts a short break in the rhythm of the word.

In katakana, you might usually find the small ッ in foreign words that end with a consonant. An example of this would be the word バッグ (bag), pronounced 'baggu', which would be spelled with double consonants when translated to English.

Additionally, other transformations known as 'dakuten', and 'handakuten' will tweak the original hiragana character to form other sounds.

'Dakuten' are represented with two short strokes in the upper right-hand corner of a character to create new sounds. For example, 'ka' (カ) written with a dakuten becomes 'ga' (ガ).

The unvoiced consonant sound changes to a voiced one, and therefore a 'k' sound will become a 'g' sound. You might notice that the characters for 'za', 'da', and 'ba', are similar to 'sa', 'ta', and 'ha', but with a dakuten tacked on to the end.

Similarly, you might sometimes see a small circle to the right of a character, specifically those characters starting with an 'h' sound. This small circle is called 'handakuten' and will transform all 'h' sounds into plosives, or 'p' sounds. For example, the character ハ (ha) will become パ (pa) with a handakuten added to it.

Two more things: sometimes you may see combination katakana, which will be indicated by a larger katakana character followed by a smaller one.

And, finally, sometimes you may see a katakana character followed by a dash. These horizontal lines indicate that the vowel sound is stretched out for a longer period of time.

Some Examples of Katakana Words

Remember, katakana is used for the transcription of foreign names and words into Japanese, borrowed words from foreign languages; to represent onomatopoeia; for technical or scientific terms; for the names of animals, plants, and minerals; and to emphasize things like titles or the names of Japanese companies.

It is also important to add that this includes ALL foreign languages being translated into Japanese, not just English.

Let's take a look at a few examples you might see in Japan or Japanese media.

Borrowed and Foreign Words

• ビール (biiru) - beer (from Dutch 'bier')
• アルバイト (arubaito) - part-time job (from German 'arbeit')
• カメラ (kamera) - camera
• ホテル (hoteru) - hotel
• パン (pan) - bread (from Portuguese 'pão ' )
• アイスクリーム (aisukuriimu) - ice cream
• テレビ (terebi) - television, TV
• コンビニ (konbini) - convenience store
• エアコン (eakon) - air conditioning
• スーパー (suupaa) - supermarket

Foreign Names

• カイル (kairu) - Kyle
• クリス (kurisu) - Chris
• ウィリアム (uiriamu) - William
• トム (tomu) - Tom
• アラン (aran) - Alan
• テド (tedo) - Ted
• ローレン (ro-ren) - Lauren
• ブリトニー (buritonii) - Britney
• エミリー (emirii) - Emily
• サラ (sara) - Sarah

Japanese Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia actually plays a huge role in the Japanese language. Learning the different kinds of onomatopoeia will not only help you understand forms of media, such as manga and anime but will also help you communicate fluently when speaking Japanese.

There are five kinds of onomatopoeia in Japanese:

• Giseigo - animal and human sounds
• Giongo - actual sounds made by inanimate objects and in nature
• Gitaigo - sounds that describe conditions or states of being

Giyougo - sounds describing movements or actions

Gijougo - sounds describing feelings.

Let's take a look at a few examples of each!

Giseigo - Animal and Human sounds

All languages have their own way of interpreting nonverbal real sounds. Some of these may sound similar to what you've already heard, and some may be a far cry from what you could have guessed!

• ワンワン (wan wan) - a dog's bark
• ニャン (nyan) - a cat's meow
• ゲロゲロ (gero gero) - a frog's ribbit
• チューチュー (chyuu chyuu) - a mouse's squeak
• コケコッコ (kokekokko) - a rooster's call

Giongo - sounds made by inanimate objects and in nature

These are also real sounds. However, they are ones that wouldn't come out of a person or animal's mouth. For example, the wind in the trees, the river flowing, or someone's phone going off. You might see a lot of these in manga and anime.

• ゴロゴロ (goro goro) - the sound of thunder rumbling
• ザーザー (zaa zaa) - the sound of heavy rain pouring down
• コバコバ (koba koba) - the sound of water bubbling gently
• メラメラ (mera mera) - the sound of suddenly bursting into flames
• タタタタ (ta ta ta ta) - the sound of one's steps while running quickly

gitaigo - sounds that describe conditions or states of being

These onomatopoeias are mimetic to the conditions or state that they describe. You might hear people use these in spoken conversation.

• ムシムシ (mushi mushi) - when it's unpleasantly hot and humid
• ベトベト (beto beto) - when one's skin is sticky with sweat (or blood)
• キラキラ (kira kira) - when something is shining, sparkling, or brilliant
• フアフア (fua fua) - when something is fluffy like a cloud. Think soft, buoyant, puffy things like sheep or a Japanese soufflé pancake
• ドキドキ (doki doki) - when someone's heart is pounding

These words describe movements and motions, most commonly when one is walking or traveling from one place to another.

• ウロウロ (uro uro) - when one is wandering aimlessly
• ノロノロ (noro noro) - when one is moving very slowly or sluggishly
• ウトウト (uto uto) - when one is nodding off or falling asleep
• ガクガク (gaku gaku) - when one's joints, like their knees, are shaking
• ブルブル (buru buru) - when one is trembling from fear or anger

These describe emotions and can be found in both manga, and anime, as well as in spoken conversation.

• ワクワク (waku waku) - excited from anticipation or happiness
• モヤモヤ (moya moya) - worrying about the future or wondering what to do
• モジモジ (moji moji) - expresses indecision stemming from embarrassment or shyness
• クヨクヨ (kuyo kuyo) - describes regret or worry about trivial things in the past
• ウキウキ (uki uki) - to be happy or lighthearted

Strategies for Learning Katakana

Once you have learned hiragana, several of the same strategies can be applied to write and read katakana.

All it takes is some dedication, consistency, and practice, practice, practice!

Create Your Own Katakana Chart

Writing out your own chart is the easiest and most basic way to master all the katakana characters.

Just like with learning hiragana, start with the vowels, move on to the basic consonant syllables, then to transformations and combination katakana.

Having your own katakana chart handy will be one of the best resources you can have.

Flash Cards

Once you have familiarized yourself with each katakana character, the next step would be to practice using flash cards. Flash cards are the best way to remember characters and to get some extra practice to write and read katakana.

Start small and write each katakana character on a separate flash card, with the English translation on the other side.

After you've memorized every katakana character, move on to Japanese words.

Just like you did before, write the Japanese words in katakana on one side, and the English words (or foreign words) on the other, practice, and repeat as needed!

Besides writing out physical flashcards, you can also use online tools, like the dynamic flash cards found on Lingopie. This way, you can learn to read and write katakana on your phone anywhere at any time!

Learning Katakana Through Video

Perhaps the best thing you could do to practice your listening and reading is to start watching anime, movies, and TV shows with subtitles.

By engaging with Japanese media, you will be able to hear how Japanese is naturally spoken, and pick up on social cues and colloquialisms you might not find in typical Japanese textbooks.

And if you're going to binge on television for a few hours, you might as well use that time to learn Japanese and teach yourself a thing or two!

A website like Lingopie provides a wide array of Japanese resources to help you learn hiragana and katakana (and eventually kanji characters) while watching Japanese movies and TV shows .

With Lingopie, you can access many popular Japanese anime , movies, and TV shows you might find on Netflix.

However, on top of this, Lingopie also provides online tools like interactive subtitles and flashcards to make learning hiragana and katakana a lot easier and more convenient.

For access to a diverse selection of great Japanese TV shows and films, sign up for Lingopie.

This streaming service offers quality Japanese shows and films that are optimal for practicing both hiragana and katakana.

Common FAQs about Katakana

So, any questions so far? Hold that thought! Here are some commonly asked and answered FAQs. A lot of these questions address two key gripes that come with learning any language: strategy and time.

Hopefully, these will lend some good advice and give you some direction. However, remember that consistency, dedication, and practice are key to learning katakana, Japanese, and any alphabet or language for that matter!

Is katakana easy to learn?

Yes! katakana is a phonetic alphabet, so every character depicts one specific sound. There are 46 characters in total in the katakana script. A little time and practice are all it takes to master Japanese pronunciation.

How can I memorize katakana quickly?

Make a katakana chart. Start with all the basic katakana characters, and then move on to the transformations. This will help you read and write katakana.

Make your own katakana flash cards. This is perhaps the most crucial exercise to learn katakana fast. Start with each katakana character, and then for every new word or phrase you learn.

These two memorization techniques can be applied to hiragana and kanji characters as well.

What is a good way to learn katakana?

Practice writing katakana! Keep a dedicated notebook for vocabulary. Sound out the syllables as you write katakana.

Organize your notebook into three columns: one for the katakana character, one for its hiragana counterpart, and one for the English translations.

Read manga and Japanese books! Japanese graphic novels are a great place to start learning how to read Japanese.

Learning Japanese doesn't have to be boring! Immerse yourself in native TV shows and movies to learn Japanese.

Use Lingopie's interactive subtitles and flashcards for a deeper understanding of hiragana and katakana with English translations.

How long does it take to learn katakana?

Learning the katakana alphabet can take as little as a few hours. After one afternoon of intense memorization, all you need to do is practice reading and writing katakana.

Summing Up: Learning Katakana

Now you are one step closer to being able to speak Japanese!

As we've seen, katakana is a crucial part of learning Japanese . And, considering you have already taken the time to learn hiragana, all you have to do is learn how to write katakana to represent the same sounds.

Each katakana character is a fragment of a more complex kanji character. This will be good to keep in mind when you eventually move on to practice writing and dissecting a kanji character.

We've also seen that katakana plays a different role in Japanese grammar.

Even though each katakana character has the same sound as its hiragana counterpart, we write katakana to express completely different things.

Remember, we only write katakana to express words and names borrowed from a foreign language, for emphasis, for onomatopoeia, and for scientific or technical terms.

Hopefully, now you've been inspired by one or several of the learning strategies we have suggested to help you read and write katakana.

Learning Japanese can be difficult, but it's not impossible when you break it down into easy-to-follow steps!

Be sure to check out the resources on Lingopie to help you learn Japanese faster!

Lorena Macedo

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Kana refers to the two syllabic writing systems used in Japanese: Hiragana and Katakana .

Kana Pro is a quiz type learning tool for memorizing the kana characters. There is no "the right way" to use Kana Pro. If you are a beginner, you might want to start by choosing the first two groups (a -> ko) of hiragana. Once you manage to pass the last stage, add in one or two more groups. Aim for the perfection - you want to be answering quickly.

This app is - and always will be - open source , and completely free for personal and educational use.

6 December 2019 · Enhancement: Improved progressive web app features for better mobile usability & reliability. 2 October 2018 · New feature: Created new groups for katakana characters that look similar. Thanks to sirati97 and Sinbu! 9 September 2018 · New feature: Alternative characters are now separated to groups. Thanks to nahive for his contribution ! 29 April 2017 · New domain! Also added comment box and some social media links, share if you like! 27 March 2017 · Bugfix: Allow mobile browsers to change a locked stage number. 24 March 2017 · Enhancement: Improved mobile browser usability with reduced margins. 18 March 2017 · Bugfix: Fixed unintended behavior when same group was selected from both hiragana & katakana. Thanks for the bug report!

Coders needed! This app is open source, but I'm currently the only one working on it. If you'd like to practice your React.js skills, feel free to check the issues and fork it on GitHub !

14 Aug 2016 · Launch: Here we are finally with a new version of Kana Quiz. This app doesn't require flash anymore, and should work great with mobile phones and tablets. Note that this is still a beta version, so there may be a few quirks. I would love to hear your thoughts, so if you'd like, be sure to shoot me some feedback ! If you for some reason want to use the old version, it's still available here .

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Requisitos do sistema.

• Sistema Operativo: Windows 10
• Processador: 2 GHz dual core
• Memória: 512 MB RAM MB de RAM
• Placa gráfica: Hardware Accelerated Graphics with dedicated memory
• Processador: 1 GB RAM

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