{"id":4131,"date":"2014-10-17T18:56:11","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T18:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=4131"},"modified":"2018-07-25T13:50:18","modified_gmt":"2018-07-25T13:50:18","slug":"all-about-japanese-katakana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/all-about-japanese-katakana\/","title":{"rendered":"All about Japanese Katakana"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

So, you might already know that there are three styles of writing in Japanese. Basic writing is done using what we call, Hiragana (\u5e73\u4eee\u540d\u3001\u3072\u3089\u304c\u306a). We have two other forms of writing called, Katakana (\u30ab\u30bf\u30ab\u30ca\u3001\u304b\u305f\u304b\u306a) & Kanji (\u6f22\u5b57\u3001\u304b\u3093\u3058).<\/p>\n

In today’s article, I would like to give you an overview of what is Japanese Katakana is all about. Read on!<\/p>\n

Japanese Katakana:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each syllable\u00a0in the Japanese language is represented by one character, or kana<\/i>, in each system.<\/p>\n

The following Katakana’s are the ones you need to know.<\/p>\n

Source: Wikipedia<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Goj\u016bon \u2013 Katakana characters with nucleus<\/caption>\n
<\/th>\na<\/i><\/th>\ni<\/i><\/th>\nu<\/i><\/th>\ne<\/i><\/th>\no<\/i><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2205<\/th>\n\u30a2<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30a4<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30a6<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30a8<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30aa<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
K<\/i><\/th>\n\u30ab<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30ad<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30af<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30b1<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30b3<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
S<\/i><\/th>\n\u30b5<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30b7<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30b9<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30bb<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30bd<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
T<\/i><\/th>\n\u30bf<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30c1<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30c4<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30c6<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30c8<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
N<\/i><\/th>\n\u30ca<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30cb<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30cc<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30cd<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30ce<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H<\/i><\/th>\n\u30cf<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30d2<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30d5<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30d8<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30db<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
M<\/i><\/th>\n\u30de<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30df<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30e0<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30e1<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30e2<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Y<\/i><\/th>\n\u30e4<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/td>\n\u30e6<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/td>\n\u30e8<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
R<\/i><\/th>\n\u30e9<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30ea<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30eb<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30ec<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n\u30ed<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
W<\/i><\/th>\n\u30ef<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\u30f2<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/caption>\n
n<\/i><\/th>\n\u30f3<\/a><\/big><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

There are 4 main rules about using Katakana in Japanese.<\/p>\n

1) Sound of Animals:<\/strong><\/p>\n

When expressing sounds of animals, we use Katakana to express it.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

A dog is barking Wan-Wan.<\/p>\n

Wan- Wan is a sound expression in Japanese. (In English, for example,\u00a0 “woof,\u00a0\u00a0woof” is common to use.)<\/p>\n

To write this in Japanese,<\/p>\n

Inu ga wan wan hoeteimasu. -\u72ac\u304c\u30ef\u30f3\u30ef\u30f3\u5420\u3048\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\uff08\u3044\u306c\u304c\u3000\u30ef\u30f3\u30ef\u30f3\u3000\u307b\u3048\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\uff09<\/p>\n

Notice that barking sound “wan wan” is expressed as “\u30ef\u30f3\u30ef\u30f3” in Katakana.<\/p>\n

Besides the sound of dog bark, we also use:<\/p>\n

Chun Chun (\u30c1\u30e5\u30f3\u30c1\u30e5\u30f3) for bird sound<\/p>\n

Nya Nya (\u30cb\u30e3\u30fc\u3000\u30cb\u30e3\u30fc) for cats<\/p>\n

Bu- Bu- (\u30d6\u30fc\u3000\u30d6\u30fc) for pigs<\/p>\n

Mo- (\u30e2\u30fc) for cows<\/p>\n

This is an interesting video showing you how we express animal sounds in Japanese.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dbAcBiGqjKg<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2) Any Type of Sounds<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sound of rain drop, bells, and trains, they are all expressed in Katakana in Japanese.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

Gata goto (\u30ac\u30bf\u30b4\u30c8) – sound of train running<\/p>\n

bochan (\u30dc\u30c1\u30e3\u30f3) – sound of drops, when you drop something into a water<\/p>\n

bari-n (\u30d0\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3) – sound of breaking, when you break a glasses or mirror<\/p>\n

gahan (\u30ac\u30c1\u30e3\u30f3) – sound of closing doors<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3) Foreign words<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we use the words that are foreign origin, we use Katakana rather than Hiragana.<\/p>\n

for example:<\/p>\n

Mafura- (\u30de\u30d5\u30e9\u30fc) – scarf<\/p>\n

Pan (\u30d1\u30f3) – bread<\/p>\n

pasocon (\u30d1\u30bd\u30b3\u30f3) – Personal computer<\/p>\n

sofa-(\u30bd\u30d5\u30a1) – sofa<\/p>\n

orugan (\u30aa\u30eb\u30ac\u30f3) – organ<\/p>\n

piano (\u30d4\u30a2\u30ce) – piano<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4) Name of foreign country, landmarks. Names of foreign people<\/strong><\/p>\n

Name of countries and names of foreigners are all expressed using Katakana.<\/p>\n

for example:<\/p>\n

Mikeru Jackson (\u30de\u30a4\u30b1\u30eb\u3000\u30b8\u30e3\u30af\u30bd\u30f3) – Michael Jackson<\/p>\n

Indo (\u30a4\u30f3\u30c9) – India<\/p>\n

piramiddo (\u30d4\u30e9\u30df\u30c3\u30c9)- Pyramid<\/p>\n

grand canion (\u30b0\u30e9\u30f3\u30c9\u3000\u30ad\u30e3\u30cb\u30aa\u30f3) – Grand Canyon<\/p>\n

rasubegasu (\u30e9\u30b9\u30d9\u30ac\u30b9) – Las Vegas<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So there are the major rules you need to know when using Katakana’s. Hope you got to learn more about Katakana today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, you might already know that there are three styles of writing in Japanese. Basic writing is done using what we call, Hiragana (\u5e73\u4eee\u540d\u3001\u3072\u3089\u304c\u306a). We have two other forms of writing called, Katakana (\u30ab\u30bf\u30ab\u30ca\u3001\u304b\u305f\u304b\u306a) & Kanji (\u6f22\u5b57\u3001\u304b\u3093\u3058). In today’s article, I would like to give you an overview of what is Japanese Katakana is…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4131","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4131"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6083,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4131\/revisions\/6083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}