I can read a sign or a menu written in katakana, tell the look-alikes シ and ツ, ソ and ン apart, and hear the long vowels that katakana writes with the long-vowel mark.
Another outfit for the same moras
Another outfit for the same moras
Katakana is a second set of characters for the very same moras: ア is [a], カ is [ka], シ is [ɕi]. The rows come in the same order as in hiragana, and there are 46 characters here too.
Katakana is used for words borrowed from other languages, for country names and foreign names (ロシア, アレクセイ, イリーナ, ミゲル), and for sound words. Japanese words and family names are not written in katakana: 鈴木（すずき）さん is written in kanji, with the reading in hiragana.
A katakana word is a Japanese word: read it mora by mora, every vowel included, not as the English word it looks like. ホテル (hoteru) is three even moras, not “hoh-TELL”.
The two strokes, the small circle, and the small characters work the same way in katakana: ビ, パ, シャ.
Katakana is typed with the same romaji input: the keyboard switches with the conversion key, and the rules of lesson 3 stay the same.
What is written in katakana
Katakana — the same moras in another outfit.
| What is written in katakana | Example | What the rest is written in |
|---|---|---|
| words from other languages | カメラ (camera) | Japanese words — in hiragana and kanji |
| countries and foreign names | ミゲル | Japanese family names — not in katakana |
| onomatopoeia | ゴロゴロ (of thunder) | — |
Lesson notes
Another outfit for the same moras
Katakana is a second set of characters for the very same moras: ア is [a], カ is [ka], シ is [ɕi]. The rows come in the same order as in hiragana, and there are 46 characters here too.
Katakana is used for words borrowed from other languages, for country names and foreign names (ロシア, アレクセイ, イリーナ, ミゲル), and for sound words. Japanese words and family names are not written in katakana: 鈴木（すずき）さん is written in kanji, with the reading in hiragana.
A katakana word is a Japanese word: read it mora by mora, every vowel included, not as the English word it looks like. ホテル (hoteru) is three even moras, not “hoh-TELL”.
The two strokes, the small circle, and the small characters work the same way in katakana: ビ, パ, シャ.
Katakana is typed with the same romaji input: the keyboard switches with the conversion key, and the rules of lesson 3 stay the same.
The long-vowel mark and look-alike characters
Katakana writes a long vowel with the long-vowel mark ー, and it is still a mora of its own: ビル (“building”) has two moras, ビール (“beer”) has three. English spelling doesn't show length, but here one mora changes the word.
To type the mark, press the “-” key. Our checker also accepts a repeated vowel, but we'll always show the spelling with the mark.
Four characters differ in the slant and direction of their strokes, and everyone mixes them up: in シ the short strokes almost lie flat and the long one goes from the bottom up; in ツ the short strokes almost stand upright and the long one goes from the top down. ソ and ン have two strokes each: in ソ the second one goes from the top down, in ン from the bottom up.
ク and ワ differ on the left: ワ has a short vertical stroke there, ク a slanted one.
Common mistakes:
• NOT ビル when you mean beer: the mark is a full mora.
• NOT ツ read as [ɕi] — it's [tsɯ].
• NOT a Japanese family name written in katakana.