Basic Japanese Character: Katakana

Interestingly, Katakana is often used to emphasise certain words or names that are foreign to Japanese, like Russia which read as ロシア or "Ro Shi A". Most of the imported foreign languages in Japan is used in Katakana to allow them to read and pronounce correctly in order to convey a message. This is important for Japanese people to understand the words, which might be pronounced differently from the original English words due to a limited set of vowel and consonants sounds. Obviously, a native English speaker pronounces a word sound like, well... English, but for Japanese, it is an entirely separate word. Therefore, a native English speaker might find it difficult to pronounce the "Japanese version" of "Russia" into "Ro Shi A" or "A Me Ri Ka" or アメリカ for America. Unlike Mandarin, they have a specific word for America like 美国 or Měiguó or Russia for 俄国 or Éguó.

I presume you have learned Hiragana before you dive into Katakana as you really need to memorize all the characters in Hiragana before learning Katakana. For me, Katakana is like another word for Hiragana. Even all the characters are different, but you will find the similarity of the characters such as カ for か.

The following characters are the basic Katakana

ア     イ    ウ    エ    オ

A     I         U        E     O

カ    キ    ク    ケ    コ

KA     KI     KU     KE     KO

サ    シ    ス    セ     ソ

SA     SHI     SU     SE     SO

タ        チ        ツ        テ        ト

TA     CHI     TSU     TE     TO

ナ        ニ        ヌ        ネ        ノ

NA     NI     NU     NE     NO

ハ        ヒ        フ        ヘ        ホ

HA     HI     FU     HE     HO

マ        ミ        ム        メ        モ

MA     MI     MU     ME     MO

ラ        リ        ル        レ        ロ

RA     RI     RU     RE     RO

ヤ        ユ        ヨ

YA     YU     YO

ワ        ヲ

WA     WO

ン

N

There are 46 basic Katakana. I know there is a lot of confusion and I have to admit that, especially for ワ, ラ, ヲ, フ, ス, ウ, ク, and タ. Even me myself take some time to memorize it every each of them. However, with enough practice, nothing is impossible. Now we will go through another additional 25 Katakana with additional sounds. Again, do not jump to 25 additional Katakana without mastering the first 46 Katakana.

ガ        ギ        グ        ゲ        ゴ

GA     GI     GU     GE     GO

ザ    ジ    ズ    ゼ    ゾ

ZA     JI     ZU     ZE     ZO

ダ    ヂ    ヅ    デ    ド

DA     ZHI     DZU     DE     DO

バ        ビ        ブ        ベ        ボ

BA     BHI     BU     BE     BO

パ        ピ        プ        ペ        ポ

PA     PI     PU     PE    PO

Before going through another 33 Katakana, again, memorize all 71 Katakana. Without which, I can assure you the last 33 will be extremely difficult as you will have to recall 11 different lines of Katakana with combined pronunciation or single syllable.

キャ     キュ     キョ

KYA     KYU     KYO

ギャ    ギュ    ギョ

GYA     GYU     GYO

シャ    シュ     ショ 

SHA     SHU     SHO

ジャ    ジュ    ジョ

JA     JU     JO

チャ    チュ     チョ

CHA     CHU     CHO

ニャ    ニュ    ニョ

NYA     NYU     NYO

ヒャ    ヒュ    ヒョ

HYA     HYU     HYO

ビャ    ビュ    ビョ

BYA     BYU     BYO

ピャ    ピュ    ピョ

PYA     PYU     PYO

ミャ    ミュ    ミョ

MYA     MYU     MYO

リャ    リュ    リョ

RYA     RYU     RYO

Congratulation! You have gone through the last 33 Katakana, with a total of 104 Katakana.

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