Easy Katakana Mastery Guide: Part 1

Katakana is the twin brother of Hiragana whom have the exact same pronounciation, but with a different shape and have a few special rules that are different than Hiragana. Make sure you have master Hiragana before learning Katakana. If you’re ready, then スタート！sutaato : start

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As explained in our post about Japanese writing system, Katakana is mostly used for imported/foreign words directly used in Japanese. Other than that, Katakana is also used for Plants/Animals name, sound effect, animal sound/cry, foreign names, etc. Note that although a lot of Katakana words come from English, not all words is English words,you might even find some Japanese words that is being written in katakana to look more catchy/easy to distinguished.

Katakana is also a bit tougher than his brother Hiragana! Not because of the shape (using this guide here you will be able to master the shape in no time!). But because the way Japanese spelled the imported words is kinda unique. A simple word such tomato is still TO MA TO. Or words such as black become BU RA KKU is still understandable. But some other words such as buildings, get spelled as BI RU (somehow it get abbreviated in a way that foreign might not understand). So sometimes even though you can read the words and it’s comes from English, you cannot simply guess what the meaning of the word is!!

So, what to do? Although you can try to guess how to spell the katakana version of some English words, it’s best and easiest to just learn how Japanese spell them and memorize it. Since basically the way they spelled it is sometimes very unpredictable.

As you can see,this chart is almost identical to Hiragana Chart in terms of layout. So, what are you waiting for 😀 Let’s start~

#1. Vowel: A I U E O

As with Hiragana, The first alphabet we will learn would be the vowels! A I U E O

#2. KA KI KU KE KO

#3. SA SHI SU SE SO

Important There is no SI sound, it’s SHI.

#4. TA CHI TSU TE TO

Important There are no TI and TU sound, it’s CHI and TSU.

#5. NA NI NU NE NO

#6. HA HI FU HE HO

Important There is no HU sound, it’s FU.

#7. MA MI MU ME MO

#8. RA RI RU RE RO

#9. YA YU YO WA WO N

SUMMARY

#1. ア・イ・ウ・エ・オ

A – If you rotate it a bit, you can see A alphabet in it

I – Its somewhat like letter i , but with an oversize dot above

U – It is similar to letter U in Hiragana but in a more rigid form

E – The shape looks like a pedestal that holds a giant ancient Egg

O – It looks like a man who open his foot

#2. カ・キ・ク・ケ・コ

KA – It’s the same shape as KA in Hiragana, but without the dot/stripe above

KI – It’s the same shape as KI in Hiragana but without the curve below

KU – It’s similar to a cook’s hat shape!

KE – When you see it clearly, it’s the shape of K alphabet!

KO – The shape have 2 corner

#3. サ・シ・ス・セ・ソ

SA – It’s a shape of Japanese wooden sake barrel

SHI – She has one creepy smile

SU – A suit hanger

SE – It’s the same shape as SE in Hiragana. But you remove one of the seven, so it’s made only of two seven.

SO – I need one needle and a thread to repair my Sock

#4. タ・チ・ツ・テ・ト

TA – It’s similar to a cook’s hat (KU – ク), which being slashed in the middle. A cook’s with no talent will get his hat slashed into two!

CHI – There’s only a Cheap antenna sold on this City

TSU – Two needle and a thread are all of my sewing supply

TE – It’s a telephone pole

TO – Tick Tock *sound of a clock*. The shape is like the clock’s arrow

Note If you encounter a little ツ, like this >> カップ
It means that you double the consonant on the alphabet after it. So you don’t read it as a KATSUPU but KAPPU (you double the P in PE). As for the sound, you make it longer, you hold the P so it sounds like PPU…

#5. ナ・ニ・ヌ・ネ・ノ

NA – A notes sent by nailing a paper into the wall

NI – There are two line *the shape is the same with kanji 二 which read as NI and means two*

NU – It’s a head of Nuke rocket!

NE – The shape is so confusing and tangled, it looks like a fish net

NO – It’s a NO smoking sign!

#6. ハ・ヒ・フ・ヘ・ホ

HA – It look similar to an old man BIG NOSE *Hana means nose in Japanese*

HI – The sales graphic this month is very high

FU – It looks like a cliff, and jumping from a cliff to the sea looks very fun!

HE – It’s the same shape as HE in Hiragana

HO – It’s a sparkling Holy Cross!

#7. マ・ミ・ム・メ・モ

MA – The baby needs milk from the Mama’s breast

MI – Miauw !! The cat scratch me!

MU – It’s the shape of a mussels

ME – The scar is the same shape as Samurai X scar. It’s a famous japanese animu

MO – It’s the same shape as MO in Hiragana but with no horn and looks’ more rigid.

#8. ラ・リ・ル・レ・ロ

RA – A rat with a light above its head

RI – It’s the same shape as RI in Hiragana

RU – It looks like it’s belong to some kind of ancient Rune

RE – it’s the small arm of a T – REX

RO – A blue print of a room

#9 ヤ・ユ・ヨ・ワ・ヲ・ン

YA – It’s the same shape as YA in Hiragana, but remove one horn in the back

YO – It’s a person doing Yoga stretching

YU – Who’s number 1! You are!! *the shape is similar to 1

WA – What? *it looks like a ? shape

WO – Wooff!! Wooff! *it’s a mouth of a dog*
*The chance that you encounter ヲ is almost none, that it’s safe to ignore this alphabet.

YA – It’s the same shape as YA in Hiragana, but remove one horn in the back

Easily differentiate similar Katakana shape