
You see its legs and its back, curved down like an eagle's? イ looks like an eagle, standing on the ground, or on a branch, or wherever. You have to turn your head to the side and connect some lines, but it's there. Otherwise, this guide does not focus much on pronunciation because it assumes you already know it. When there is an exception to the rule I'll let you know. After that, it's just that consonant + vowel pattern until we reach katakana's version of "n." For the most part, everything will be pronounced exactly the same. You can handle it, can't you? ア ( A ) イ ( I ) ウ ( U ) エ ( E ) オ ( O ) ・ カ ( KA ) キ ( KI ) ク ( KU ) ケ ( KE ) コ ( KO )Īs you know from learning hiragana, the first five katakana characters are going to be vowel sounds. At least, I hope you do.īecause of this, I want you to learn ten katakana characters right from the very start. Learning katakana is a lot easier since you already have that hiragana foundation. Some of you will finish this guide in hours, others days, but overall it should be pretty quick. Let's Learn Katakana!Īs with the hiragana guide, just follow each and every step and you'll come out the other side with the ability to read katakana. Print it and hang it on your bathroom door, or your bedroom ceiling - whatever spot you think you'll be frequently stairing at. It's a handy chart that shows basic katakana along their mnemonic images, which we'll be using on this page to help you remember the katakana.
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Optionally, download the katakana "mnemonic" chart. If not, you can follow along digitally too. It shows all the katakana (including "variation" katakana) you will be learning on this page.
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If you prefer a more hands-on learning experience, or simply think the PDF format works better for you, check it out! Katakana ChartsĪs the first step, download this katakana chart. Just like its hiragana version, it comes with extra handwriting practice and reading practice that use actual katakana words. Tofugu's Learn Katakana Bookīefore you actually start studying katakana, I wanted to let you know that we also have Learn Katakana Book - a PDF version of this Learn Katakana content you can print or use on your tablet. There are other smaller use cases as well, but those will be the main ones (aside from foreign words, which will be 80%+ of the use cases).

Many foods (especially animal and plant foods) are written in katakana too.
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As you get used to it, though, you'll begin to not only understand non-Japanese words that have been made "Japanese," but also know how to say foreign words using Japanese sounds (and write them in katakana).īesides foreign words, katakana is often used for: So, words that are transcribed in katakana often don't sound like the original. The sounds available in the Japanese language tend to be limited, and are not as flexible compared to other languages. The most common use is to transcribe foreign words (non-Japanese words), especially English words. Katakana is used for a variety of things. It would be like if in English you replaced the letter "A" with the symbol "ア" without changing how it's used and pronounced.

But, the characters representing those sounds are different. Katakana is, for the most part, the same sounds you learned with hiragana. In terms of what you're learning, it will be very simple.

Let's get started with the first ten katakana. If you haven't yet, please review the learn hiragana guide before you begin learning the katakana. It also skips the pronunciation explanations (except when a katakana character is different from hiragana). It uses the same style techniques, worksheets, and exercises. This guide assumes you went through our hiragana guide already, so it won't explain how and why this method works. Ready to do the same thing all over again so you can learn katakana?
