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Reisuke
01-13-2010, 04:10 PM
I posted it in another post, I`m posting it here for everyone to see.

The Katakana is ONLY for spelling non-japanese words.

A ア - as in mAn || I イ - as in tEE || U ウ - as in mOOn || E エ - as in EnEmy || O オ - as in Ok

KA カ || KI キ || KU ク || KE ケ || KO コ

SA サ || SHI シ || SU ス || SE セ || SO ソ

TA タ || CHI チ || TU ツ || TE テ || TO ト

NA ナ || NI ニ || NU ヌ || NE ネ || NO ノ || N ン - only used when you have to say just N

HA ハ || HI ヒ || FU フ || HE ヘ || HO ホ

MA マ || MI ミ || MU ム || ME メ || MO モ

YA ヤ || YU ユ || YO ヨ

RA ラ || RI リ || RU ル || RE レ || RO ロ

WA ワ || WO ヲ

You might have noticed that some symbols look alike (like TSU and SHI)
The way to separate them is to pay attention to the details.
SHI has the long line more horizontally aligned, while TSU has the long line more vertically aligned.
Putting them next to each other might help: シ ツ

Punctuation
If you see a ten-ten (example: ジ) it means that the first letter of the syllable has changed
For example, the above letter normally sounds SHI, but with a ten-ten, it sounds JI. For a full table of the changes search around.
If you see a small circle (example: ペ) it means that H has turned into a P.
Example: The above letter sounds HE but with the circle it sounds PE.
(Keep in mind, circles only apply to the H syllables)

Combinations
If you want to say a syllable that doesn`t exist, for example, TI or DI, you have to create it with the letters you already know.
To create a combination, you take one of the easier sounding syllables, and combine it with one of the single letter syllables (a i u e o). Of course, if it already exists, you don`t create it.
The above examples are respectively:
ティ (TI)
ディ (DI)
Notice how the single letter syllable is written smaller? It`s to make the reader know it morphs the original letter and is not pronounced separately.(I usually see this with -E syllables, I guess they are the easiest ones to change)


Maybe somewhere you`ve heard characters going "Nya!" or "Kya!"
Well, that is expressed with the Y- syllables (ya yu yo)
The Y- syllables work the same way single letter syllables work, with the only difference that Y- syllables only work with the -I syllables.
For example:
ニャ (nya)
is the correct way of spelling it, whereas this:
コャ (trying to spell kya but failing)
is wrong.

Forgot something.Thanks Pattehfilipino (http://otaku-streamers.com/community/member.php?u=4655) for reminding me:

Double Letters(somewhat)
Having a lowercase TSU in front of a syllable, means that the first letter of the syllable is given more stress.
It`s like writing the letter twice. For example: kakkoi (which means cool, ignore the fact that it`s a japanese word used for the sake of the example). Notice how you actually spell the middle Ks stressed?
This is accomplished like so:
カッコイ - (kakkoi) (again, ignore the fact that I used Katakana for a Japanese word)
Notice how TSU is relatively smaller in size than the other letters. This tells the reader that the next letter is spelled stressed.
Just to show the difference between small and regular:
ッツ
Too small to see? Let`s try again:
ッツ
Kinda more like it. The difference isn't much, but you can still see it.

kurai
01-13-2010, 08:42 PM
This is helpful, i will be reading menus in no time :D

Pattehfilipino
01-13-2010, 08:45 PM
dont forget that repetitively writing it down is one way to enforce reading it. I can read katana and hiragana on sight ^^ (only because I mindlessly wrote them down over and over LOL)

you should also mention the double deal thing with tsu. Having a lower case tsu before a sound means it is doubled!

I've seen katana and hiragana used in weird ways... I frequent japanese sites.
so its not necessarily only used for foreign words. Usually part of a curriculum... hiragana is the one that is taught first... because its way more helpful. The transition from hiragana to katakana is also easier imo ><

Snoozy19
07-08-2010, 07:18 AM
Hey, thats pretty cool.
I never knew a thread like this existed.

The katakana alphabet is actually very useful although I think its better to learn how to speak japanese first..
Spelling japanese words is meaningless if you have no idea what it means.

~ I'm gonna bookmark this page...LOL

IndI311
07-08-2010, 07:29 AM
thx...
..its pretty useful

Elexia12
07-21-2010, 07:06 PM
wow pretty useful thread thnx for sharing lol
If u have another thread like this one but bout hiragana plz let me know :)

venabre
07-21-2010, 07:24 PM
this is really usefull, despite the fact that my computer doesn't show the characters T.T

tokiya8
07-22-2010, 10:17 AM
Personally I think hiragana is easier than katakana because some character in katakana looks similar.. However through constant practice, this can be eliminated. katakana is useful because it helps one converting english to japanese. For example, Restaurant can be converted into kata by the sound (check the chart) re-su-to-ra-n レストラン.

After completing the basic katakana chart u can try memorizing the modern katakana, ex. the "v" syllable and so on.. check wikipedia for the full chart~

Spaek
07-23-2010, 06:46 AM
Here are some practice sheets I used when starting to learn hiragana and katakana (sorry they take up a lot of room in the post >.< )

What you do is write down the hiragana or katakana twice to the right of the printed one in the empty boxes. Then after you have done all of that, you can go down to the bottom section and write whatever you want, like try to write your favorite anime character names without looking up at the symbols, or try and write as many as you can remember without looking.
Also, the red letters should only be used as hints when you are just starting, after a couple of practices you should use the ones without the red letters, it will help you remember them better.


http://i26.tinypic.com/6on7v9.jpg http://i28.tinypic.com/1wvio.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/244wbav.jpg http://i28.tinypic.com/2zf5vd1.jpg

riodaeka
07-23-2010, 06:51 AM
nice... you know it's pretty hard to study katakana, hiragana, much worse is the kanji hehe.. i can read some of them for now

newbie97
07-23-2010, 09:08 AM
nice one =)
now if only kanji was much easier hehe

dothacked
07-24-2010, 05:34 AM
This is awesome!! Thanks man!
Now to practice this and learn how to read Japanese XD

rakusa
07-24-2010, 05:38 AM
i knew that already..

^^

Kobowo
07-24-2010, 06:46 AM
I shall extensively review this...I wanna learn jap T_T