Katakana

カタカナ
Guidelines on how to
create katakana words accurately
When is Katakana used?
Katakana represents
O borrowed words from foreign languages (mostly English
but also Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, and
some Chinese)
O onomatopoeic words eg. meiow, twinkle, knock knock,
Why is ‘Japanese English’ so
different?
Japanese has a much simpler sound system than English.
Borrowed words need to be adjusted to suit the Japanese
sound system. The result is ‘Japanese English’. Many
words sound completely different to the original borrowed
English word.

Example:
table = テーブル （teeburu）
Consonants
In English words can have up to 3 consonants in a row.
ie. stream. But, in Japanese all consonants are
followed by a vowel (except for ‘n’). Change English words
into Katakana by adding a vowel after consonants:

O Consonants ‘t’ or ‘d’ add ‘o’ = to, do

O Consonant ‘k’ add ‘u’ or ‘i’ = ki, ku
O All other single consonants add ‘u’.= ru, su, bu,mu etc.

Example:
class = クラス (kurasu)
Practice - Consonants
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O club
O home
O cake
O steak

Can you read these:

ジム
ガス
ANSWER - Consonants
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O club クラブ (kurabu)

O home ホーム (hoomu)
O cake ケーキ (keeki)
O steak ステーキ (suteeki)

Can you read these:

ジム jimu (gym)
ガス gasu (gass)
Long vowel sounds
Some English vowels sound longer. ie. live vs leave
Long vowel sounds are changed into Katakana by adding
the symbol “ー”.

Example:
cheese = チーズ (chiizu)
Practice – Long vowel sounds
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O sneaker
O ski
O icecream
O tenis
O piano

Can you read these:

ゲーム
コーヒー
ANSWERS – Long vowel sounds
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O sneaker スニーカー (suniikaa)

O ski スキー (sukii)
O icecream アイスクリーム (aisukuriimu)
O tenis テニス (tenisu)
O piano ピアノ (piano)

Can you read these:

ゲーム geemu (game)
コーヒー koohii (coffee)
Vowel + R
A vowel followed by ‘r’ is written as a long vowel sound in
Katakana. The vowel before the ‘r’ is lengthened by
adding the symbol “ー”.

Example:
girlfriend = ガールフレンド (gaarufurendo)
Practice – Vowel + R
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O course
O circus
O girl

Can you read this:

アパート
ANSWERS – Vowel + R
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O course コース (koosu)

O circus サーカス (saakisu)
O girl ガール (gaaru)

Can you read this:

アパート apaato
(apartment)
Hard consonant sounds
When an English syllable ends with a hard sounding
consonant (p, b, t, d, k, g, s, sh) these are changed into
Katakana by adding a small ‘ッ (tsu) before the hard
consonant. (Remember the
small tsu creates
a pause before
the next sound.)

Example:
truck = トラック (torakku)
Practice – Hard consonant sounds
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O egg
O bed
O high tech
O bag
O bread

Can you read these:

グッドラック
ロボット
ANSWERS – Hard consonant sounds

How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O egg エッグ (eggu)

O bed ベッド (beddo)
O high tech ハイテック (haitekku)
O bag バッグ (baggu)
O bread ブレッド (bureddo)

Can you read these:

グッドラック guddorakku (good luck)
ロボット robotto (robot)
J in Katakana
The ‘j’ sound, when it doesn’t have a vowel sound after
it, changes to ‘シ ji’.

Example:
orange = オレンジ (orenji)
Practice – J in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O challenge
O George

Can you read this:

オレンジジュース
ANSWERS – J in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O challenge チャレンジ (charenji)

O George ジヨージ (jooji)

Can you read this:

オレンジジュース orenjijuusu
(orange juice)
F in Katakana
F by itself or followed by a ‘u’ sound is represented by ‘フ
fu’. F followed by other vowels are written with ‘フ fu’
and small ァa ィi ェe ォo
ie. fa ファ fi フィ fe フェ fo フォ

Example:
family = ファミリー (famirii)
Practice – F in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O France
O football
O dolphin
O ferry

Can you read these:

フィルム
カリフォルニア
ANSWERS – F in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O France フランス (furansu)

O football フットボール (futtobooru)
O dolphin ドルフィン (dorufin)
O ferry フェリー (ferii)

Can you read these:

フィルム firumu (film)
カリフォルニア kariforunia (California)
W in Katakana
The ‘w’ sound in Japanese can occur with ‘a’ and written
in katakana as ‘ワ wa’. For all other vowels after the ‘w’
sound changes the ‘w’ to ‘ウ u’ followed by and small ィ
i ェe ォo
ie. wi ウィ we ウェ wo ウォ

Example:
water = ウォーター (uootaa)
Practice – W in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O week
O west
O square
O whisky

Can you read these:

ウエーター
ホワイト
ANSWERS – W in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O week ウィーク (uiiku)

O west ウェスト (uesuto)
O square スクウェア (sukuuea)
O whisky ウィスキー (uisukii)

Can you read these:

ウエーター ueetaa (waiter)
ホワイト howaito (white)
L and R in Katakana
L and R are written as ‘r’ in Katakana.

Example:
milk = ミルク (miruku)
Practice – L and R in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O cola
O ballpen
O stereo
O trumpet

Can you read these:

ベルト
ルール
ANSWERS – L and R in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O cola コーラ (cora)

O ballpen ボールペン (boorupen)
O stereo ステレオ (sutereo)
O trumpet トランペット (toranpetto)

Can you read these:

ベルト beruto (belt)
ルール ruuru (rules)
Ti, Di, Tu in Katakana
The ‘ti’ sound changes to ‘ティ’ (typed texi)
(or traditionally ‘チ chi’)
The ‘di’ sound changes to ‘ディ’ (typed dexi)
(or traditionally ‘ジ ji’)
The ‘tu’ sound changes to ‘ツ tsu’ or ‘チュ chu’

Example:
party = パーティー (paatii)
radio = ラジオ (rajio)
Practice – Ti, Di and Tu in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O ticket
O music
O candy
O tea
O tulip

Can you read these:

ティシュ
ティアラ
ANSWERS – Ti, Di and Tu in Katakana

How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O ticket チケット (chiketto)

O music ミュージック (myuujikku)
O candy キャンディー (kyandii)
O tea ティー (tii)
O tulip チューリップ (chuurippu)

Can you read these:

ティシュ tishu (tissue)
ティアラ tiara (tiara)
Th in Katakana
The ‘th’ sound usually changes to ‘s’ (soft ‘th’) or ‘z’
(hard ‘th’) sound (sometimes it changes to just a ‘t’
sound)

Example:
theater = シアター (shiataa)
Practice – Th in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O mother
O thank you
O aromatherapy
O leather

Can you read these:

ザ・ビートルズ
ウェサー
ANSWERS – Th in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O mother マザー (mazaa)

O thank you サンキュー (sankyuu)
O aromatherapy アロマテラピー (aromaterapii)
O leather レザー (rezaa)

Can you read these:

ザ・ビートルズ za biitoruzu (the beatles)
ウェザー uezaa (weather)
V in Katakana
The ‘v’ sound usually changes to ‘b’.
(recently katakana ‘u’ with a tenten ‘ヴ vu’ is used)

Example:
valentine’s day = バレンタインデー (barentaindee)
Practice – V in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O ivy
O vegetable
O violin

Can you read these:

ベジャテリアン
ビデオゲーム
ANSWERS – V in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O ivy アイビー (aibii)

O vegetable ベジタブル (bejitaburu)
O violin バイオリン (baiorin)

Can you read these:

ベジャテリアン bejiterian (vegetarian)
ビデオゲーム bideogeemu (video game)
Ye in Katakana
The ‘y’ sound in Japanese only occurs with ‘a, u, o’.
There is no ‘ye’ sound so this is changed into katakana
by writing it as ‘イエ ie’.

Example:
yellow = イェロー (ieroo)
Practice – Ye in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O yes
O Yale
O year

Can you read this:

イエティー
ANSWERS – Ye in Katakana
How would you say/write these words in katakana?

O yes イエス (iesu)

O Yale イエル (ieru)
O year イヤー (iyaa)

Can you read these:

イエティー ietii (Yeti-
abominable snow man)