words written by ヴォ　→　BWO (VO). The rest are: シェ　→　she Company names will sometimes write their names in katakana. Time to practice ten at a time! This is mostly because katakana shows up less frequently compared to hiragana, so you don't have as much opportunity to practice. Try to do everything in the "Additional Practice" section. キャ、キュ、キョ　→　KYA, KYU, KYO A necromancer has summoned this zombie. ヴィ　→　BWI (VI) From here on out it's just combinations of kana or variations on kana you already know, which makes things both easier and harder. Besides these sets, there are also a few more scattered sounds you can make with combination katakana. That's how you know that necromancy is involved. Luckily it's very simple: a dash. This is a holy cross. Practice these kana again and again until you're able to answer them all in twenty seconds. This kana looks like a tidal wave, racing across the sea. Along with kanji or after you have a foundation in kanji, it's time to learn some Japanese grammar. Many of the resources here are free, however, the ones that aren’t are marked with a dollar sign $ or otherwise noted. Just as a refresher: カ　→　ガ (GA) But, the characters representing those sounds are different. It would be like if in English you replaced the letter "A" with the symbol "ア" without changing how it's used and pronounced. You’ll learn why this is important on the next page, when you start typing with katakana / kanji. This Resource Might Help. It's all in "English" … though it has been converted into Japanese pronunciation using katakana. There are two routes you can take. His mouth is shaped like an o and he's singing "Ohhhh!". As usual, these exercises will help you to practice katakana you've previously learned plus the ones you just learned. They provide an illustration for each character to help you remember them. Only a necromancer could create a three legged undead like this, because they certainly don't occur naturally with three legs. This should be fairly easy with only ten kana (and maybe a little boring too), but when you're done move on to the next ten katakana. This kana looks like a smiley face, but something is wrong with it. NNNNNNNNNnnnnnoooooo! You will find easy-to-use guides with videos and graphics to help you understand the different aspects of the language, and articles on effective and creative ways to learn and practice Japanese. ジェ　→　je This kana looks like a hanger, with which you hang up your fancy suits. シャ、シュ、ショ　→　SHA, SHU, SHO They're a bit different from the other worksheets in that they're "real" sentences and we're not keeping track of the frequency of the kana being used. September 3, 2014 Actually, the Japanese can't pronounce the "V" sound very well, so it comes out as a "BU" sound. Imagine this is the girders an engineer would use to build buildings. If you can spend an extra 3-4 hours really studying katakana you'll save yourself 20+ hours in the future, just because katakana won't slow you down. Who doesn't love a narwhal? You should already know about the "exception pronunciations" from the hiragana guide. This looks very similar to the hiragana も, so you should be able to make that connection and remember both of these. What are you wearing? When you are done with these exercises it's time to move on to the next set of katakana. Route one and Route two. There is some issue with this though. When someone wants to emphasize text, much like writing in, "Robot-speech" (as in, when you write out text for robots talking). Let's start with katakana's dakuten. Get the practice sheets here: Hiragana Writing Practice Sheets . The closest thing in Japanese? Welcome to Genki Study Resources! The two corners are what help you to remember that this is "ko.". What are you not wearing? There are sites like Tae Kim's Guide To Japanese as well as textbooks (we like the Genki series). If you like the approach we took here (mnemonics, etc) we made WaniKani to show people that kanji isn't as hard as it seems. Type romaji for the kana you know. Katakana is used for a variety of things. ハ　→　パ (PA). If there’s a resource you feel is missing from the list, please add it by clicking the edit button above. The most interesting example of this is the sound "V". Learning Katakana. イ looks like an eagle, standing on the ground, or on a branch, or wherever. Last set! This character is in the shape of the end of a girder, and its made up of them too. It will make katakana reading a lot less overwhelming. There are plenty of apps and resources out there to help you drill as well. So holy. You'll have to connect the pieces, but you can see it, right? This katakana chart is yours now! ア has a deformed capital letter "A" in it. For example: This is pretty much the same thing as こ versus こう, though it would be odd to extend the vowel of a foreign word by using another vowel kana (at least most of the time). Just like with hiragana, you can combine small katakana with big katakana to make new sounds. Article by Tofugu. In addition to this, there are "W" sounds that need to be added in as well. Find the katakana chart that's right for you, and avoid the bad ones. If not, you can follow along digitally too. You can also learn many grammar points and vocabulary in a natural context. Great – it's time to learn your next ten katakana! This road goes around in a square, never ending. When there is an exception to the rule I'll let you know. It looks really similar to the hiragana せ, so you should be able to use that to remember this kana. トゥ　→　tu (like "two") Having a strong base to build off of is important with each section. Lesson 4: Having Trouble Remembering? What are you doing? リャ、リュ、リョ　→　RYA, RYU, RYO. This will help you to differentiate this one and the very similar ン. Print it out, write notes on it, and then print it out again if you’d like. Time to practice these eight katakana (and the previous ones as well). It's just one of those things you have to use and experience to become comfortable with it. It's a lot, but you're getting better at learning these things, right? When they're on their own, resting, and not being used to sew anything (no thread) they're just two needles laying on their side. Keep it up and soon you'll be able to read everything! Let's start with the "M-column.". YouTube videos are a great way to practice your listening in Japanese. When you finish this, I bet you'll be feeling pretty special, like some kind of katakana master. Art by ツァ　→　tsa 3. Learn katakana fast using our curated list of downloadable charts. Created by famed Japanese-culture website Tofugu, WaniKani strives to teach Japanese learners 2,000 kanji and 6,000 vocabulary words in a little more than a year. It's a weird conundrum. Most words are common animal words, but a few are a tad more interesting. As you know, the kana only cover わ and を, and を isn't really a sound that's used, it's only used as a particle. When you ask a question (that's why this is a question mark) you often begin your question with the word what. Do you remember how シ is a lady with a weird face? • Ready to do the same thing all over again so you can learn katakana? Learning katakana is a lot easier since you already have that hiragana foundation. Knowing how and when to use it, especially when you try to "spell" out words you don't really know the spelling of, can be challenging. ドゥ　→　du (like "dew") メガネ (magnifying glass). ディ　→　dy (like "freddie") You see its legs and its back, curved down like an eagle's? As with the hiragana guide, just follow each and every step and you'll come out the other side with the ability to read katakana. Select "Practice Katakana" and then the ア/a and カ/ka boxes and hit the "Start Quiz!" Look at all those angles! Head over to Tofugu's Learn Kana Quiz. Practice writing the above characters in this text box below. チェ　→　che Click the image below to download the katakana chart. Print out, copy, or download this worksheet. Otherwise, this guide does not focus much on pronunciation because it assumes you already know it. Koichi タ　→　ダ (DA) Don't worry a ton about the meaning, but if you can figure it out that's extra points for you! Print out, copy, or download this worksheet, Copy, print out, or download this worksheet, Using this worksheet, copy, print out, or download it, Using this worksheet, fill in all the blanks. button. Katakana charts won't actually teach you the syllabary. The most important thing right now is to be able to read these extra combinations and know they exist. Horizontal lines means it's a face, vertical means it's needles. Katakana is, for the most part, the same sounds you learned with hiragana. Can you see his cheeky grin? ヴェ　→　BWE (VE) This katakana looks just like the hiragana へ. When you're done with this you can start looking at the weird katakana stuff. After that, it's just that consonant + vowel pattern until we reach katakana's version of "n." For the most part, everything will be pronounced exactly the same. Those measurements! This kana looks like an opera singer. This is the last of the main katakana. The right side one is longer because you use your right hand to pick it up (it's heavier too). All that exists in Japanese for "F" sounds is "fu." Tofugu is a blog with lots of great content for anyone learning Japanese. Some of you will finish this guide in hours, others days, but overall it should be pretty quick. After learning katakana, though, what should you do (besides studying katakana more)? In terms of what you're learning, it will be very simple. Moo. Katakana has a few symbols that are similar to hiragana. ツェ　→　tse Keep working hard and you'll continue to get better and better. • Recall is the foundation of memory, and you're going to start doing just that. 27 Katakana Charts: Stroke Order, Mnemonics, Practice, and More. ツォ　→　tso. Now that you've put these kana into your brain (at least somewhat shakily) it's time to pull them out. With katakana, combinations don't stop here. Or, you can think of it like an elevator, with its doors closed. ティ　→　ty (like "party") As you get used to it, though, you'll begin to not only understand non-Japanese words that have been made "Japanese", but also know how to say foreign words using Japanese sounds (and write them in katakana). The third big set is "F" sounds. The exercises provided here are for use with Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese textbooks (Second Edition) and are meant to help you practice what you have learned in each lesson. For the most part, if you know hiragana's dakuten, you know katakana's dakuten. If you haven't yet, please review the learn hiragana guide before you begin learning the katakana. Instead of one needle and thread (ソ), you have two needles and thread. The most common use is to transcribe foreign words (non-Japanese words). Meh, I guess they're dead now. ギャ、ギュ、ギョ　→　GYA, GYU, GYO Once again, go through the steps to make sure you know everything well! It's worth studying now so that you aren't tripping up later on. Bw~ sounds. ヴ　　→　BU (VU) The two little dashes are more horizontal than vertical, which helps us to know it's a face. ヒャ、ヒュ、ヒョ　→　HYA, HYU, HYO It uses the same style techniques, worksheets, and exercises. Skipping these steps may cause you to fail later on in the future. Hiragana is a syllabary of characters, with each character containing the sound of a syllable. That part is much easier, and that is the part that will give you the experience you need to reproduce it later on. I'm sure there are plenty of other resources out there as well, but this should be good enough to get you to that level where you can start using the katakana with other resources. We recommend using them to learn kana but disregarding the language learning advice they provide. It's a bit more like real life… with a nice protective bubble. She has a very weird face. Look at that beautiful red hair that Rei has! It's pronounced like を is (which is pronounced like お), but to remember this is "wo" think of a dog woofing so hard its tongue is flying out. But for new learners it may be hard to navigate youtube – or find quality channels that will provide you with solid information. This is a yogurt container. You may want to isolate and practice easily confused katakana symbols, as a few look very similar to the untrained eye. When you see this, you'll just need to extend the vowel that it comes after. Genki Exercises - 2nd Edition. ビャ、ビュ、ビョ　→　BYA, BYU, BYO You put these syllables together to form words. You can handle it, can't you? ツィ　→　tsi There are many sounds commonly used in non-Japanese languages that katakana needs to try to account for. “Learn Hiragana: The Ultimate Guide” by Tofugu is a thorough visual guide to hiragana which uses images to help readers remember characters in a way they’ll never forget. Now that you've done another set of ten, it's time for exercises! サ　→　ザ (ZA) It's so flowing! I hope this guide helped you to learn katakana effectively and quickly! What a beautiful creature. If you know one you know them both! ジャ、ジュ、ジョ　→　JYA, JYU, JYO (or JA, JU, JO) Be careful! ニャ、ニュ、ニョ　→　NYA, NYU, NYO Although you can probably read most katakana words now, there's a little more you should do before going out into the real world. See the majestic narwhal, swimming up to the surface? You have learn it (get it inside your head) and practice (recall and reproduce it from your head). It gets… weird. You can even see the holy light coming off of it. Cow poop. Because of the deformation of its beak, it doesn't say "hu hu hu" like you'd expect, it says fu fu fu. Some of them you've seen already because of this guide, others you have not. “ Learn Japanese Hiragana ” by Guide to Japanese has handy charts with stroke order and pronunciation guides for each character. ヂャ、ヂュ、ヂョ　→　DZYA, DZYU, DZYO (you'll never see these, pretty much ever) When you feel comfortable with that, it's time to practice with some worksheets. This post is a list of Japanese resources and stands as a collaborative wiki gathered by the WaniKani Community. For each "tasks" section make sure you follow along perfectly. Memorize katakana in hours or days, not weeks or months. The sounds available in the Japanese languages are not as flexible as other languages. Who's face? So, we have to make up for the missing wi and we, and then replace the wo. He is saying heehee (hi). Tofugu. Let's get started with the first ten katakana. Both eyes are sideways and stacked on top of each other like some deep sea fish. Make sure you hit ENTER after writing each one. I was able to learn the hiragana/katakana without writing via tofugu.com ‘s guides with mnemonics, and similarly, I used mnemonics to be able to recognize and associate a meaning to 2200 Kanji in 7 months with a guide by Nihongoshark.com . It also skips the pronunciation explanations (except when a katakana character is different from hiragana). ミャ、ミュ、ミョ　→　MYA, MYU, MYO But, when you combine that with some small katakana (next section), we can make a sound that almost, but not quite, sounds like a "V". This will help you to differentiate this one from シ, which has more horizontal lines. 7. ヴァ　→　BWA (VA) See the sides and imagine the yogurt-container shape. Aya Francisco. This katakana character looks a lot like its hiragana counterpart: う. Close enough to make it easy to remember, though. Can you write them all? If you have a printer, print it out. This is shaped like one of those rice patty hats. Doesn't this look like a cheerleader, doing a cheer? This looks like a big owl beak. Specifically targeting beginners, WaniKani uses SRS and employs a slightly rigid learning structure, starting with elementary-level kanji, radicals and vocabulary. Despite not showing up as often, it is still very important. It looks just like the hiragana り, or at least very, very similar. Way too big for any normal owl, but perfect for this funny looking owl. So this one has two needles. チャ、チュ、チョ　→　CHA, CHU, CHO Making these connections (as in き and キ) will help you to learn katakana more quickly. Practice hiragana and katakana online with Tofugu’s free app. It looks just like the hiragana for "ka", though it's missing that little extra line. The exercises will now cover quite a bit (you know quite a bit! It is a raptor wearing some sweet Ray-Bans. So you've learned hiragana. This is two needles, laying on their side. Let's start with the part you do know (from the hiragana guide) first. It should be similar enough to use as a mnemonic to remember what it is. Many foods (especially animal and plant foods) are written in katakana too. For most people, becoming comfortable with katakana is a slower process than it was with hiragana. This looks just like the hiragana や, minus a little line. Good for you. For now, just focus on reading it correctly. As you know from learning hiragana, the first five katakana characters are going to be vowel sounds. Now, don't get confused about how I said that needles are always vertical… that's only with the katakana that have the slope in them (ソ and ツ). Besides foreign words, katakana is also used for: There are other smaller use cases as well, but those will be the main ones (aside from foreign words, which will be 80%+ of the use case). You have to turn your head to the side and connect some lines, but it's there. This looks like an "X" which is over someone's 目 (め/eye). You may recognize the ウィ sound from The ニンテンドーウィ (Nintendo Wii). What a terrible road this is. This kana looks like three sardines, stacked on top of each other. There are many resources to help you to do this. You'll see some of these pretty often, which means that through experience they will get natural. This guide assumes you went through our hiragana guide already, so it won't explain how and why this method works. If you are having trouble remembering some of the characters, check out Tofugu’s learning hiragana page. Three missiles, flying towards you. Unlike hiragana, which deals with long vowels by adding more vowels to things, katakana has a special vowel extender character. Tofugu’s guide: hiragana, katakana; JapanesePod101’s YouTube videos: hiragana, katakana; WARNING: The resources above contain what MIA considers to be ineffective language learning advice. Some would say that's the horrible part, but I think it's fun.