Katakana
Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet (rōmaji). The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji.Katakana are characterized by short, straight strokes and angular corners, and are the simplest of the Japanese scripts. There are two main systems of ordering katakana: the old-fashioned iroha ordering, and the more prevalent gojūon ordering.
In modern Japanese, katakana is most often used for transcription of words from foreign languages except Chinese (called gairaigo). For example, "television" is written terebi. Similarly, katakana is usually used for country names, foreign places, and foreign personal names. For example, America is written Amerika (America also has its own kanji (ateji) Amerika or for short, Beikoku, which literally means "Rice Country" – though the connection with the "rice" character, is purely a phonetic one).
Katakana are also used for onomatopoeia, words used to represent sounds – for example, pinpon, the "ding-dong" sound of a doorbell.
A difference between katakana and hiragana is that katakana stroke are mostly straight whereas the strokes of hiragana characters are slightly curved. But there are a few katakana characters which do have curved strokes. Few rules while making katakana words are as follows:
Below are four katakana charts for learning katakana:A difference between katakana and hiragana is that katakana stroke are mostly straight whereas the strokes of hiragana characters are slightly curved. But there are a few katakana characters which do have curved strokes. Few rules while making katakana words are as follows:
- As there is no "l" pronunciation in Japanese language if a word foreign word end in sound "l" then while writing it in katakana you should end it with a "ru" sound. E.g. Table – teburu (te-bu-ru)
- A word ending either with "otion" or in "ation" in English should always be written as "shon" in katakana. E.g. motion – moshon (mo-sho-n).
- In a word if two vowels come together, it is indicated by using a " – " . E.g. Soup – su-pu.
Katakana Chart 1
Katakana Chart 2
Katakana Chart 3
Katakana Chart 4
How to write Katakana
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