4/3/2019 Learn Katakana: The Ultimate Guide

LEARN KATAKANA: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE

MEMORIZE KATAKANA IN HOURS OR DAYS, NOT WEEKS OR MONTHS.
SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 • 4127 WORDS WRITTEN BY KOICHI • ART BY AYA FRANCISCO 

So you've learned hiragana. Good for you. Ready to do the same thing all over again so you
can learn katakana?

This guide assumes you went through our hiragana guide already, so it won't explain how
and why this method works. It uses the same style techniques, worksheets, and exercises. It
also skips the pronunciation explanations (except when a katakana character is different
from hiragana). If you haven't yet, please review the learn hiragana guide before you begin
learning the katakana. If you have, then you know the drill. Let's get started with the rst ten
katakana.

In terms of what you're learning, it will be very simple. Katakana is, for the most part, the
same sounds you learned with hiragana. 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.

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WHEN DO I USE KATAKANA?

Katakana is used for a variety of things. The most common use is to transcribe foreign words
(non-Japanese words). There is some issue with this though. The sounds available in the
Japanese languages are not as exible as other languages. So, words that are transcribed to
katakana often don't sound like the original. 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).

Besides foreign words, katakana is also used for:

Scienti c words
Animal names
Many foods (especially animal and plant foods) are written in katakana too.
Company names will sometimes write their names in katakana.
When someone wants to emphasize text, much like writing in italics in English.
Often used for onomatopoeia.
"Robot-speech" (as in, when you write out text for robots talking)
For various stylistic purposes

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)

KATAKANA CHART
To begin, download this katakana chart.

If you have a printer, print it out. If not, you can follow along digitally too.

LET'S LEARN KATAKANA!

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. Some of you will nish this guide in hours, others
days, but overall it should be pretty quick. Learning katakana is a lot easier since you already
have that hiragana foundation. At least, I hope you do.

Because of this, I want you to learn ten katakana characters right from the very start. You
can handle it, can't you?

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アイウエオ・カキクケコ
A I U E O KA KI KU KE KO

As you know from learning hiragana, the rst ve katakana characters are going to be vowel
sounds. 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. When there is an
exception to the rule I'll let you know. Otherwise, this guide does not focus much on
pronunciation because it assumes you already know it.

ア is the katakana for "a".

ア has a deformed capital letter " A " in it. You have to turn your head to the side and
connect some lines, but it's there.

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イ is the katakana for "i".

イ looks like an ea gle, standing on the ground, or on a branch, or wherever. You see its
legs and its back, curved down like an eagle's?

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ウ is the katakana for "u".

This katakana character looks a lot like its hiragana counterpart: う . It should be similar
enough to use as a mnemonic to remember what it is.

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エ is the katakana for "e".

Imagine this is the girders an e ngineer would use to build buildings. This character is in
the shape of the end of a girder, and its made up of them too.

Or, you can think of it like an e levator, with its doors closed.

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オ is the katakana for "o".

This kana looks like a dude apping open his trench coat to ash you. " Oh my god," you say.
" Oh no."

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カ is the katakana for "ka".

It looks just like the hiragana for " ka ", though it's missing that little extra line. Close enough
to make it easy to remember, though.

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キ is the katakana for "ki".

It looks like the hiragana for " き " (the top part at least) and also looks like part of a weird
key .

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ク is the katakana for "ku".

This looks like a long coo k's hat.

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ケ is the katakana for "ke".

It looks like the letter " K "!

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コ is the katakana for "ko".

See the two 90 degree co rners? The two corners are what help you to remember that this
is "ko."

アイウエオカキクケコ Tasks
Now that you've put these kana into your brain (at least somewhat shakily) it's time to pull
them out. Recall is the foundation of memory, and you're going to start doing just that. For
each "tasks" section make sure you follow along perfectly. Skipping these steps may cause
you to fail later on in the future. Having a strong base to build off of is important with each
section.

1. Head over to the website Drag n' Drop Katakana. All I want you to do is to nd the ve
kana you just learned (a-i-u-e-o-ka-ki-ku-ke-ko) and drag them to their correct spot.
That's it! It's an exercise in recognizing the kana you learned as well as matching them
to the correct sounds. When you've done it once hit the refresh button and do it again
and again until you're able to get it done in 10 seconds.
2. Print out, copy, or download this worksheet. You'll need to go through it, lling in the
boxes with the romaji for the kana. Try your best not to cheat – even if you spend a
while trying to remember a kana it will be bene cial to your memory (as long as you're

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able to recall it on your own). Looking up the answer doesn't help your memory at all,
but struggle (with accomplishment) tells your brain that this is a thing worth
remembering. Try using the mnemonics when you need to recall something you can't
gure out right away.

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.

サシスセソ・タチツテト
SA SHI SU SE SO TA CHI TSU TE TO

Now that you have the "A-column and K-columns" under your belt it's time for the "S & T-
columns." You should already know about the "exception pronunciations" from the hiragana
guide.

サ is the katakana for "sa".

This kana looks like three sa rdines, stacked on top of each other. The right side one is
longer because you use your right hand to pick it up (it's heavier too). This only works if
you're right handed.

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シ is the katakana for "shi".

This kana looks like a smiley face, but something is wrong with it. Both eyes are sideways
and stacked on top of each other like some deep sea sh. She has a very weird face.

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ス is the katakana for "su".

This kana looks like a hanger, with which you hang up your fancy su its.

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セ is the katakana for "se".

It looks really similar to the hiragana せ , so you should be able to use that to remember this
kana.

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ソ is the katakana for "so."

It is one needle and a long thread, which you use to sew . Remember, needles are always
vertical like this needle, because you need to stab it through something, straight down. This
will help you to differentiate this one and the very similar  . ン

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タ is the katakana for "ta".

This kana looks like a ti dal wave, racing across the sea.

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チ is the katakana for "chi".

Doesn't this look like a chee rleader, doing a cheer?

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ツ is the katakana for "tsu".

ソ
Instead of one needle and thread ( ), you have two needles and thread. Remember, needles
are vertical because you use them to stab into cloth, straight down. This will help you to
differentiate this one from シ, which has more horizontal lines. Horizontal lines means it's a
face, vertical means it's needles. So this one has two needles.

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テ is the katakana for "te".

This kana looks like a te lephone pole.

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ト is the katakana for "to".

It looks just like a to tem pole.

サシスセソタチツテト Exercises
Now that you've done another set of ten, it's time for exercises! As usual, these exercises will
help you to practice katakana you've previously learned plus the ones you just learned.

1. Back to our best buds Drag n' Drop Katakana. Identify and place the ア, カ, サ, and タ
columns into their spots. Do this several times and see if you can do it all in under 30
seconds (or just complete the task 5 times). Once you're able to do either of those, move
on.
2. Using this worksheet, print out, copy, or download it and ll out the boxes with the
correct romaji. If you can't remember something try to think back to the mnemonic rst
before cheating. When you're able to do these two tasks move on to the next ve kana.

ナニヌネノ・ハヒフヘホ
NA NI NU NE NO HA HI FU HE HO

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Great – it's time to learn your next ten katakana! ナ is my favorite. Who doesn't love a
narwhal?

ナ is the katakana for "na".

See the majestic na rwhal, swimming up to the surface? What a beautiful creature.

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ニ is the katakana for "ni".

This is two nee dles, laying on their side. 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). 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.

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ヌ is the katakana for nu.

The chopsticks are grabbing onto some noo dles and pulling them out of a bowl.

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ネ is the katakana for ne.

A ne cromancer has summoned this zombie. Only a necromancer could create a three
legged undead like this, because they certainly don't occur naturally with three legs. That's
how you know that necromancy is involved.

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ノ is the katakana for "no".

It looks like a really long no se.

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ハ is the katakana for "ha."

This is shaped like one of those rice patty ha ts. You'll have to connect the pieces, but you
can see it, right?

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ヒ is the katakana for "hi."

He has no head, and he is reaching out for you.

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フ is the katakana for "fu."

This looks like a big owl beak. Way too big for any normal owl, but perfect for this fu nny
looking owl. Because of the deformation of its beak, it doesn't say "hu hu hu" like you'd
expect, it says fu fu fu .

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ヘ is the katakana for "he".

This katakana looks just like the hiragana へ . If you know one you know them both!

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ホ is the katakana for "ho".

This is a ho ly cross. You can even see the holy light coming off of it. So holy.

ナニヌネノハヒフヘホ Exercises
Time to practice ten at a time! It's a lot, but you're getting better at learning these things,
right? Hopefully easier than hiragana was?

1. Using Drag n' Drop Katakana, nd the katakana from the ア, カ, サ, タ, ナ, and ハ
columns and place them in their correct spots. Try to complete this task 5 times and get
your time in under ~1 minute.
2. Using RealKana, check the , ア カ, サ, タ, ナ, and ハ, uncheck any hiragana columns, and
check all the different typefaces. Then, drill the above kana for 5-10 minutes until you
are consistently getting the answer right and you feel comfortable with the different
fonts that they present.
3. Copy, print out, or download this worksheet and ll in all the boxes. As always, use the
mnemonics and try not to cheat. If this is starting to feel easy, try to time yourself to see
how long it takes to complete each section and try to beat yourself each time.

When you are done with these exercises it's time to move on to the next set of katakana.

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マミムメモ・ヤユヨ
MA MI MU ME MO YA YU YO

Not quite ten in this set (before the exercises), but close enough. Let's start with the "M-
column."

マ is the katakana for "ma".

Look at all those angles! Those lengths! Those measurements! All that ma th!

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ミ is the katakana for "mi."

Three mi ssiles, ying towards you. Be careful!

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ム is the katakana for "mu".

It is shaped like a pile of poop. Cow poop. Moo .

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メ is the katakana for "me".

This looks like an "X" which is over someone's 目 (め/eye). Meh , I guess they're dead now.

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モ is the katakana for "mo".

This looks very similar to the hiragana も , so you should be able to make that connection
and remember both of these.

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ヤ is the katakana for "ya".

This looks just like the hiragana や , minus a little line.

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ユ is the katakana for "yu".

You have a hook for a hand.

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ヨ is the katakana for "yo".

This is a yo gurt container. See the sides and imagine the yogurt-container shape.

マミムメモヤユヨ Exercises
Time to practice these eight katakana (and the previous ones as well). Once again, go
through the steps to make sure you know everything well!

1. Using Drag n' Drop Katakana, drag the ア, カ, サ, タ, ナ, ハ, マ, and ヤ columns into their
spots. You're dragging more kana than you're leaving now, which is pretty neat! Once
you've done this three times, or you're able to get this all done fairly quickly (1:30 or so?)
move on to step 2.
2. Using RealKana, choose the ア, カ, サ, タ, ナ, ハ, マ, and ヤ columns, unchecking any
hiragana columns, and choosing all the typefaces, drill the kana for 10-15 minutes.
3. Using this worksheet, copy, print out, or download it and write in all the boxes. When
you're all done, it's time to tackle the last "main katakana" section. You're almost there!
Not so hard, right?

RA RI RU RE RO WA WO N
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Last set! When you're done with this you can start looking at the weird katakana stuff. Some
would say that's the horrible part, but I think it's fun.

ラ is the katakana for "ra".

It is a ra ptor wearing some sweet Ra y-Bans.

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リ is the katakana for "ri".

It looks just like the hiragana り , or at least very, very similar.

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ル is the katakana for "ru".

There are two rou tes you can take. Rou te one and Rou te two.

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レ is the katakana for "re".

Look at that beautiful re d hair that Re i has! It's so owing!

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ロ is the katakana for "ro".

This ro ad goes around in a square, never ending. What a terrible ro ad this is. What are
you, a 12 year old playing Sim City?

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ワ is the katakana for "wa".

When you ask a question (that's why this is a question mark) you often begin your question
with the word wha t. Wha t are you doing? Wha t are you wearing? Wha t are you not
wearing?

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ヲ is the katakana for "wo".

It's pronounced like を is (which is pronounced like お), but to remember this is "wo" think of
a dog wo o ng so hard its tongue is ying out.

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ン is the katakana for "n/m".

Do you remember how シ is a lady with a weird face? The two little dashes are more
horizontal than vertical, which helps us to know it's a face. Who's face? This is M/n Night
Shyamalan, and the twist is that he only has one eye. NNNNNNNNNnnnnnoooooo!

ラリルレロワヲン Exercises
This is the last of the main katakana. The exercises will now cover quite a bit (you know
quite a bit!), so make sure you understand and know everything before moving on.

1. Using RealKana, choose all of the columns up through ン. Drill for 10-15 minutes until
you feel like you can recall pretty much everything.
2. Using Drag n' Drop Katakana, drag the all of the kana into their spots. Try to be able to
nish it in three minutes. If that's too easy try two minutes. Two minutes should be
dif cult but more than doable.
3. Using this worksheet, ll in all the blanks. You know the drill!

That's it! From here on out it's just combinations of kana or variations on kana you already
know, which makes things both easier and harder. Let's start with katakana's dakuten.

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DAKUTEN
For the most part, if you know hiragana's dakuten, you know katakana's dakuten. Just as a
refresher:

カ　→　 ガ (GA)
サ　→　 ザ (ZA)
タ　→　 ダ (DA)
ハ　→　 バ (BA)
ハ　→　 パ (PA)

But, there are some katakana out there that you can dakuten that aren't the standard fare.

ウ　→　 ヴ (VU → "BU")

Actually, the Japanese can't pronounce the "V" sound very well, so it comes out as a "BU"
sound. That's as close as they can get. 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".

COMBINATION KATAKANA
Just like with hiragana, you can combine small katakana with big katakana to make new
sounds. It gets a little trickier with katakana though. Let's start with the part you do know
(from the hiragana guide) rst.

キャ、キュ、キョ　→　KYA, KYU, KYO

ギャ、ギュ、ギョ　→　GYA, GYU, GYO
シャ、シュ、ショ　→　SHA, SHU, SHO
ジャ、ジュ、ジョ　→　JYA, JYU, JYO (or JA, JU, JO)
チャ、チュ、チョ　→　CHA, CHU, CHO
ヂャ、ヂュ、ヂョ　→　DZYA, DZYU, DZYO (you'll never see these, pretty much ever)
ニャ、ニュ、ニョ　→　NYA, NYU, NYO
ヒャ、ヒュ、ヒョ　→　HYA, HYU, HYO
ビャ、ビュ、ビョ　→　BYA, BYU, BYO
ピャ、ピュ、ピョ　→　PYA, PYU, PYO
ミャ、ミュ、ミョ　→　MYA, MYU, MYO
リャ、リュ、リョ　→　RYA, RYU, RYO
With katakana, combinations don't stop here. It gets… weird.

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There are many sounds commonly used in non-Japanese languages that katakana needs to
try to account for. The most interesting example of this is the sound "V". The closest thing in
Japanese? Bw~ sounds.

ヴァ　→　 BWA (VA)

ヴィ　→　 BWI (VI)
ヴ　　→　 BU (VU)
ヴェ　→　 BWE (VE)
ヴォ　→　 BWO (VO)
In addition to this, there are "W" sounds that need to be added in as well. 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.
So, we have to make up for the missing wi and we , and then replace the wo .

ウィ　→　 Wi (UI)
ウェ　→　 We (UE)
ウォ　→　 Wo (UO)

You may recognize the ウィ sound from The ニンテンドーウィ (Nintendo Wii).
The third big set is "F" sounds. All that exists in Japanese for "F" sounds is "fu." So you use "fu"
to make all the other "F" sounds you need.

ファ　→　 Fa
フィ　→　 Fi
フェ　→　 Fe
フォ　→　 Fo
Besides these sets, there are also a few more scattered sounds you can make with
combination katakana. The rest are:

シェ　→　 she
ジェ　→　 je
チェ　→　 che
トゥ　→　 to (like "two")
ティ　→　 ty (like "par ty ")
ドゥ　→　 du (like "dew")
ディ　→　 dy (like "fred die ")
ツァ　→　 tsa
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ツィ　→　 tsi
ツェ　→　 tse
ツォ　→　 tso
The most important thing right now is to be able to read these extra combinations and know
they exist. You'll see some of these pretty often, which means that through experience they
will get natural. It's just one of those things you have to use and experience to become
comfortable with it. I think the main problem is that they're foreign… but not completely
foreign. They're based off foreign languages, probably a language that you know, which
means that these sounds (and the rest of katakana) are asking you to break your own
language and speak it incorrectly so that you can speak it "correctly" in Japanese. It's a weird
conundrum.

LONG VOWELS
Unlike hiragana, which deals with long vowels by adding more vowels to things, katakana has
a special vowel extender character. Luckily it's very simple: a dash.

ー
When you see this, you'll just need to extend the vowel that it comes after. For example:

コ　→　 Ko
コ ー 　→ kou
ベコン　→　 becon
ベ ー コン　→　 beecon
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).

You'll see this dash a lot in katakana. 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. With a lot of
experience, mistakes, and even more experience you'll start to understand when and how to
use it. For now, just focus on reading it correctly. That part is much easier, and that is the
part that will give you the experience you need to reproduce it later on.

ADDITIONAL PRACTICE
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Although you can probably read most katakana words now, there's a little more you should
do before going out into the real world. Try to do everything in the "Additional Practice"
section. It's for your own good and it will make katakana reading a lot less overwhelming.

First, I'd like you to go back to our dear friend RealKana. This time, check all the boxes.
The hiragana, the katakana, and all the typefaces. Studying hiragana together with
katakana will help you to be able to use them both together. In Japanese, you'll see
katakana, hiragana, and kanji all in one sentence. Might as well get used to that now.

When you feel comfortable with that, it's time to practice with some worksheets. 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. It's a bit more like real life… with a
nice protective bubble. Don't worry a ton about the meaning, but if you can gure it out
that's extra points for you! It's all in "English" … though it has been converted into Japanese
pronunciation using katakana.

Katakana Practice Worksheet

When you nish this, I bet you'll be feeling pretty special, like some kind of katakana master.
If you don't (or even if you do), here's some more katakana practice that's worth doing.

APPS & OTHER PROGRAMS

There are plenty of apps and resources out there to help you drill as well. Some of them
you've seen already because of this guide, others you have not.

Drag n' Drop Katakana

RealKana
Anki (you'll need to download a katakana deck, or even a katakana-words deck)
Dr. Moku's Katakana Mnemonics (in case our mnemonics aren't doing it for you)

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.

WHAT NEXT AFTER LEARNING KATAKANA?

For most people, becoming comfortable with katakana is a slower process than it was with
hiragana. This is mostly because katakana shows up less frequently compared to hiragana, so
you don't have as much opportunity to practice. Despite not showing up as often, it is still

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very important. 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. It's worth
studying now so that you aren't tripping up later on.

After learning katakana, though, what should you do (besides studying katakana more)?

KANJI
If you haven't started kanji, get started right away. 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.

GRAMMAR
Along with kanji or after you have a foundation in kanji, it's time to learn some Japanese
grammar. There are many resources to help you to do this. We made TextFugu (an online
Japanese textbook) for this, but there are other sites like Tae Kim's Guide To Japanese as
well as textbooks (we like the Genki series).

I hope this guide helped you to learn katakana effectively and quickly! Keep working hard
and you'll continue to get better and better. With katakana you'll be able to read foreign
words, read a lot of menus, onomatopoeia, and much more. Keep it up and soon you'll be
able to read everything!

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