Katakana - As mentioned in Lesson 1, Katakana (as seen in the chart below) is mainly used for foreign words such

h as foreign names and words that have been borrowed from other languages such as (kompyu-ta- = computer). Katakana is the least frequently used of the three character sets in Japanese. The Japanese language does not have as many sounds as the English language so, when creating a name in Katakana, for instance, the name must be sound out to the closest Japanese equivalent. Katakana, Hiragana, and Furigana (when Hiragana is written small next to a Kanji character to show how that character is read) are collectively known as Kana. Don't worry too much about Katakana (beyond maybe learning your name) for now. There are some special Katakana characters that exist only for foreign names (such as (she) or (ti)). These special characters are not in the chart below (which contains only the standard set of Katakana characters) but can be seen in our Names in Japanese lesson.

Combinations

kya

kyu

kyo

ka

ki

ku

ke

ko

gya

gyu

gyo

ga

gi

gu

ge

go

sha

shu

sho

sa

shi

su

se

so

ja

ju

jo

za

ji

zu

ze

zo

cha

chu

cho

ta

chi

tsu

te

to

nya

nyu

nyo

da

ji

zu

de

do

hya

hyu

hyo

na

ni

nu

ne

no

bya

byu

byo

ha

hi

fu

he

ho

pya

pyu

pyo

ba

bi

bu

be

bo


pa

pi

pu

pe

po

mya

myu

myo

rya

ryu

ryo

ma

mi

mu

me

mo

ya

yu

yo

ra

ri

ru

re

ro

wa

wo

n/m

Click here for a printable Katakana chart (PDF - get Adobe Acrobat Reader).