Saturday, December 2, 2017

katakana カタカナ

The katakana 片仮名 is one of the three Japanese "alphabets". It's counterpart of the hiragana ひらがな. Both katakana and hiragana are sometimes referred to as kana かな.

Unlike the kanji 漢字, whose readings may vary depending on the word, the way a kana such as katakana is read always stay the same.

The katakana is normally used to write loan-words, foreign (non-Japanese) names, onomatopoeic and mimetic words, the readings of kanji and words in online dictionaries, and to indicate speech sounds off (e.g. mispronounced, or badly pronounced, like a robot talking) in manga. Aesthetically, it looks cooler than the other "alphabets."

Chart

For reference, the romaji chart including only the katakana:

a
i
u
e
o
ka
ki
ku
ke
ko
ga
gi
gu
ge
go
sa
shi
su
se
so
za
ji
zu
ze
zo
ta
chi
tsu
te
to
da
di
dzu
de
do
na
ni
nu
ne
no
ha
hi
fu
he
ho
ba
bi
bu
be
bo
pa
pi
pu
pe
po
ma
mi
mu
me
mo
ya
yu
yo
ra
ri
ru
re
ro
wa
n
wo

Some notes:

Next you have the diphthongs (compound kana) spelled using the small kana ゃゅょ.

kya
キャ
kyu
キュ
kyo
キョ
gya
ギャ
gyu
ギュ
gyo
ギョ
sha
シャ
shu
シュ
sho
ショ
ja
ジャ
ju
ジュ
jo
ジョ
cha
チャ
chu
チュ
cho
チョ
dya
ヂャ
dyu
ヂュ
dyo
ヂョ
nya
ニャ
nyu
ニュ
nyo
ニョ
hya
ヒャ
hyu
ヒュ
hyo
ヒョ
bya
ビャ
byu
ビュ
byo
ビョ
pya
ピャ
pyu
ピュ
pyo
ピョ
mya
ミャ
myu
ミュ
myo
ミョ
rya
リャ
ryu
リュ
ryo
リョ

For reference, as an image:

A katakana chart.

1 comment:

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  1. I love the way this form looks, with all the sharp edges they remind me of a razor sharp katana blade. ^_^ As you also described the others in your section of how hiragana looks chummy and kanji look serious.

    However certain ones always confuse me such as -shi, so, tsu and n. Most places do not give the "lip" or "tail" and just make a curved line, followed by one or two dashes like- " or ' . Here and how I write them, they always have that little extra to help to determine which is which. How exactly are you suppose to know otherwise? I try to look for differences, but when they are not in order of the alphabet, I have a hard time distinguishing between them. I think there might be a small curve that forms at one end or the other, but hardly noticeable to me.

    "No" is not hard to figure out, because it is the only one not have a "tick" mark and is the odd one out. (I know they are called something else, but for lack of a better term I hope you can understand.)

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