Katakana: What It Is For and How to Remember It

Katakana is the second Japanese syllabary. It has the same sounds as hiragana but angular shapes, and it is used above all for words from other languages. Below is what katakana is for, which special marks it uses and how to remember it once you know hiragana.

What Katakana Is

The name means “partial kana”: katakana characters grew out of parts of more complex kanji. As in hiragana, each character is a syllable, either a vowel (ア, “a”), a consonant plus a vowel (カ, “ka”) or the nasal ン. Japanese children learn katakana after hiragana.

Where Katakana Is Used

• Borrowed words: アイスクリーム “aisukurīmu” is ice cream.
• Names of countries, foreign cities and foreign names.
• Sound effects and scientific terms.
• Sometimes for emphasis, the way italics work in English.

Special Marks in Katakana

• A dash ー lengthens a vowel: メール “mēru” means e-mail, from the English word mail.
• A small ッ doubles the next consonant: ベッド “beddo” is bed.
• Combinations with small vowels capture foreign sounds: ファ “fa” in ファミリー “famirī,” meaning family.

How to Remember Katakana

1. Start once you can read hiragana: the sounds are the same, so you only need to learn the new shapes.
2. Compare pairs: か and カ, or へ and ヘ, look alike, while シ “shi” and ツ “tsu,” or ソ “so” and ン “n,” are easy to mix up, so learn them together.
3. Learn through familiar loanwords: コーヒー “kōhī” is coffee, and テレビ “terebi” is TV.
4. Review with spaced repetition flashcards; programs and textbooks for this are collected in Best Textbooks and Resources for Learning Japanese.
5. Read things full of katakana, such as menus, packaging and sound effects in manga.

Katakana in Our Course

In our course, students learn hiragana and katakana step by step, starting with single characters and familiar words and then reading short dialogues and stories. The teacher adds reading and writing once a student is ready. Where to begin Japanese from scratch is covered in Basics of the Japanese Language: First Steps for Beginners.

Our Japanese Course

Our teachers have university degrees and teach both children and adults, whether a student is starting from zero, wants to speak more fluently or is getting ready for an exam; each program is built around the student’s level and goals, and lessons also introduce Japan’s traditions and daily life. Lessons are open to students from age 5. A trial lesson costs $8: it is individual and lasts 45 minutes. More about the course is on the Japanese page.