Lesson 6. Extended katakana and your own name

To write sounds Japanese didn't have, katakana puts a small vowel after a character: フ + small ァ = ファ. This gives ファ, フィ, フェ, フォ, ティ, ディ, トゥ, ドゥ, ウィ, ウェ, ウォ, ジェ, チェ, シェ, ツァ. ヴ stands apart: it is written for a v but said like [b]; more and more often the バ row is written instead. You need to read both. Each combination is one mora, like the combined sounds of lesson 4, but the two are different things: there, small ゃ, ゅ, ょ after a character with [i] give Japanese moras (きょ); here, a small vowel after a consonant gives a foreign sound (ファ). Type them like this: fa → ファ, fi → フィ, fe → フェ, fo → フォ, thi → ティ, dwu → ドゥ, wi → ウィ, we → ウェ, je → ジェ, che → チェ, va → ヴァ. A small character on its own is typed with x: xa → ァ, xe → ェ.

In Japan, a foreigner's name is written in katakana — on a name tag, on a form, on a delivery. It is written by sound, not by spelling: Kate is ケイト, not カテ. Consonants: l and r → the ラ row (Laura ローラ); v → ヴ or the バ row, such as ブ (Victoria ヴィクトリア／ビクトリア); w → ワ before a, otherwise ウ + a small vowel (William ウィリアム); th → the サ or ザ row (Smith スミス); ti, di → ティ, ディ (Tim ティム). Vowels: a long “ay” → エ + イ (Kate ケイト); -er and a long, stressed vowel → ー (Peter ピーター). Every final consonant except n (ン) gets a vowel, and after a short vowel a final k, t, or p takes ッ (Jack ジャック). A middle dot goes between the first and last name: アレクセイ・イワノフ, the course's main character. Country names are written in katakana too, and you already know some: アメリカ, イギリス, オーストラリア. You can now read both scripts: hiragana for Japanese words and grammar, katakana for loanwords, countries, and names. Common mistakes: • NOT writing a name letter by letter — what matters is how it sounds. • NOT マト for Matt — after a short vowel, a final t takes ッ: マット. • NOT [v] in ヴ — it's said like [b].