Japanese for All HOW TO WRITE KATAKANA 1. In Japanese,there are three writing system: Hiragana, Katakanaand Kanji. Hiraganaand Katakanaare phonetic and the samesymbol always indicatesthe same sound. Today Katakana is used to representforeign words called 'loanwords' (gairaigo). 2. One katakanarepresentsone syllable and there are five different types of syllables. a. b. c. d. Five basicvowels:[a],[iJ,[ul,[el,[ol Consonantsor semivowels+ vowel: [na],[ki],[yul, etc. Syllabicconsonants:[nl / [mJ Any consonantother than [n] / [m] when followed by anotheridentical consonant:e.g. zasshi,kissaten,etc. e. A contractedsyllable:[ki] + [ya]=[kya],[chi] + [yal=[chal,etc. 3. The stroke orders are usually from left to right and top to bottom. 4. There are three ways to finish a stroke. 'Tome' or 'stop' meansthatthe pen has to make acomplete stop and should be lifted off the paper at the end of the stroke. Hane or 'jump' meansthat you leave a jump mark before the end of the stroke. Lastly, with harai or 'sweeping', you finish the stroke by lifting the pen up gradually. 5. There are46 basic symbols in Katakana. In addition, there are Dakuon 'Handakuon'and'Yoon' (Seepages59, 60, 61, 68, 69 & 70). The table on page73 illustrates33 additionalsyllables. Theseare usedonly to expressforeign words. The soundsthat are representedby thesesyllables do not exist in Japanese. 6. The first five of theseare vowels, [a], [i], [ul, [e], [o]. 7. The secondfive are thesevowels plus the consonantfr. 8. The third are the vowels plus the consonats. Shi is usedfor si becausethe latter sounddoesn'texist. 60 Japanese for All 9. The fourth, the vowels plus the consonant/. Chi and tsu replace ti and tu. 10. The fifth, the vowels plus the consonantn. 11. The sixth, the vowels plus the consonantft.. Fu for hu 12. The seventh,the vowels plus m. 13. The eighth,the vowels plus y. Yi andye don't exist. 14. The ninth, the vowels plus r 'r' can be regardedas the sound between[rl and [l] in The pronounciationof Japanese. 15. The vowel plus w wi,wt,t and we don't exist in modernJapanese. o [E] is usedonly as a particle. 16. Dakuon There are three kinds of dakuon. Three consonantsused for them are lg,zdl. 17. Handakuonis [pa, pi, pu, pe, po]. 18. Yo-on There are three kinds of yoon. 1 . K , N , H , M , R+ Y + A , U , O Eg. K + Y +O=Kyo *-t" 2. SH/ CH + A,(J,O Eg. CH+YA=CHA f+ 3. J +A, (J, O Eg. JA i -y 61 Japanese for All How to write words 19. Double Vowel [o] + [o] When doubteo's occur,the second[o] syllable is written with an [u] in most cases. [o] + [o] * [o] + [u] 2A. Other Double Vowels When you have a long vowel in Katakana,a straightline is usedas follows: 3*?(ko o ra) keto) Ary* I-"(su f *T(te e pu) 2I. Double Consonants Everytime two consonantstake place in a row, the first one is always written with a half-sizedv [tsu]. T a p p uF v J R o k k uf r y F The double consonant[n] is not to be treatedas above. The first [nl is written with ). How to write sentences Don't confusethe particles[wa,o,e] with ordinary [wa,o,e]. 22. 33 additionalsyllables Non-existanceof thesesoundssometimescausestrouble in writing out the 'film' can be possibleclosestsoundsin Katakana. For instance, the word written in the following two possibleways: I .r JI/A 7 4 JbA Both are acceptable. 73. Words of Japaneseorigin Recently, someJapaneseorigin words tend nobe written in Katakara because they are much simpler than out-of-datekanji or the uncorrventionalkatakana emphasizesthosewards. lf,rords of Foreign Origin They are mainly proper nouns such as geographicand personalnames, the majority of which are imported from the Eqglish l4guage. Katakanawords can be quiue often seenin the namesof shops,hrafldsand designersand recipes alrd commencials. 62 Japanese for AII ?4. The voicelessTH soundin Englishis replacedby tf sa, i 7 so. The examplesare as follows. ,/\*Xf* birthday X U * three shi, X su, t se or 25. The Englishwords 'F+vowel', which are not transcribedby 7 fu, have become] Y fa, 7 ,f fi, 7;c fe, 7 t fo. However,they cafl sometimes representedby /\ ha, k tri, ^ he, ,* ho. 7 4 lVl^ film 3*H* Somenf theexamplesare: coffee 2"6. The,words'V+vowel'are expressedUf vil,fl 4 vi, Y r.u, ry:f, ve,f f, oo. They sometirnesbecome/\ ba, H bi, J bu, "\ be, ,* bo. rJ r 4 t U }. {rt4 t t) VJ violin VF i y vitamin 27. The words'T+vowel'such as tea and tick have becomeeither f + or +. team t,l *+ f * teacher f ,t *A {f *A) is often replacedby #. t'f x}Yy Edison Hf Scandinavia Att>jf 28. The other words with 'T+ vowel' becomes*;e [chu]. tube * ** U 'y J tulip f :r *J 'D+vowel' as in due becomeseither :r or !*:e. f 29. The following words are expressedeither in I- [to] or ?[tsul. gentleman F IJ A? A . 'j U *Christmas tree #:c y l- lV?! The English sound [d] is replacedby tr [do]. The following are examples: tr 7 4 J drive l*+ z-lVF U *documentary 30. 7 is employedto show a if a follows i. VT,/piano F4 7t Diana 31. 'Sh + vowel' asin sfre/Jeyorsftarksometimesrequire t i. lt, Ft*+ milkshake i + *F 63 shark insteadof i:c. Japanese for All Je or ge employseither?:n or -H asin: I.?fflL angel J:r U - jelly 32. 'wwh + vowel'is expressed f 4 [u]+[iJ,tx[u]+[o] or ryt[u]+[o]. However,for a propernoun, [his is wrinen * + [wiJ, f :c [w*] or * f [wo]. Properflouns * -t UTAX williams t t-fr* walker Words S:r.*7wase +4X+*whisky 33. The Eqglishsoundsthatincludes #u as in quarter or quick are shown F. AFXT square quartz F+t'*"J Guaasin Guamis writtenby [gul+[alFT FTA Guam trTf??Guatemala 34. When it is necessary to lengthenthe vowel sound,pleaseemploy " * " as in the example. 'tfV* sutnmer ff* car 64