want to learn japanese anywhere anytime get the innovative language 101 app for free hi everyone welcome to basic japanese writing the fastest easiest and most fun way to master the japanese alphabet you've learned all the 46 hiragana characters from the previous lessons now it's time to move on to katakana in this lesson you learn about katakana how it is different from hiragana and the five katakana vows tatakana is the exact equivalent of hiragana when it comes to pronunciation the main difference is how the characters look and when they are used katakana characters tend to look more angular there is also almost nothing in common with how katakana characters look compared to their hiragana counterparts except for a few characters so why is it that we need to learn two basic writing systems when they both sound exactly the same the main use of katakana is to differentiate and spell out foreign words using the japanese syllabary this makes it easier for japanese people to know how they are approximately pronounced most country names foreign names and all lone words from the modern era are written in katakana katakana is also used to write down onomatopoeia sounds like how you would see sound effects written in japanese manga it is also used to write some technical or scientific words finally katakana is also used for emphasis just like how english uses italics okay it's time to learn your first katakana are you ready here we go this is the katakana calexa ah to remember this character try comparing it with an axe do you say it next up is the katakana collector think of this character as an easel on its side the third one is the katakana actually looks like an angular version of the hiragana here's a special use of the dark den unique to katakana it is added to the character u to signify the letter v however there is no v sound in japanese so most people would pronounce this as a b sound this is the katakana character e try imagining this character as elevator doors now our final character for this lesson to remember or try to think of it as an opera singer unlike hiragana where long vowel sounds are indicated using another vowel character katakana writing makes use of the nova shibo so instead of writing r with two r characters we would write it like this literally nova shibo means stretching ver so when you see it just remember that you have to stretch the vowel of the character that comes before it in order to accommodate more sounds available from foreign words katakana uses the small versions of the var characters to make digraphs outside of those used in japanese for example since japanese doesn't have a character for we or is used to denote those sounds because they are digraphs though they would still be pronounced for the same duration as all the other syllables here are the diagrams you can form using the katakana values alone ye we since most japanese people can't distinguish between the v and b sounds these last four digraphs tend to also be spelled using the b characters i'll be teaching you more katakana diagrams when we encounter the character that the small vowels could be paired up with let's see all the characters again here are the new diagraphs as well yeah we now let's review what you've learned i show you a character or a word and give you time to say them ready so even though we moved to katakana don't forget your hiragana characters it's like an easel on its side remember the cow moo this is what japanese people will say when we realize something like ah i forgot my wallet oh on the other hand is what we say when we are amazed great job remember even if foreign words are adopted by japanese this doesn't mean they are pronounced the same way as the original word you still need to pronounce them using the japanese syllabary in order for japanese people to understand you okay let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned in this lesson you've learned five katakana vowels ah you also learned that the character uh can be modified by a dakten to represent the vu sound and finally some new digraphs 51 japanese characters hi everyone welcome to basic japanese writing the fastest easiest and most fun way to master the japanese alphabet [Music] you've learned these five katakana characters from the previous lesson in this lesson you'll learn five new characters remember the duck then we'll see it again in this lesson the first katakana collector for this lesson is actually looks like a more angular version of hiragana without this stroke just like in the k column of hiragana the k column of katakana can also be changed by the daktan or tenten mark we put it in the upper right corner so now it will be pronounced okay next up is the katakana collector ki ki ki also looks like it's hiragana counterpart but without this part at the bottom just like the katakana ka we could also put a daksan on it ki with dakten is pronounced as the third one is the katakana if hiragana ku is a cuckoo's big then try remembering katakanaku as the cuckoo's tale let's add a jack then to ku as well it's now pronounced as this is the katakana calaxa try looking at it from this angle and you'll see a little k just like the first three characters k can be modified by adak then k with a duct tan is pronounced as and our final character for this lesson is the katakana imagine this character as a road with two corners now do you remember what court sounds like with the daktan it will be let's see all the characters again go now let's review what you've learned i show you a character or a word and give you time to say them ready which one is the katakana okay it's this one just find the sideways k it has zak 10 so it's remember it's a diagraph so don't say this means eco-friendly it's a popular katakana word right now it means gear kakao kakao means kakao this is cake this is the sound crows make this means cool or sexy this is an onomatopoeia for the sound of snoring over stomach grumbling okay as you can guess it means okay great job have you forgotten some hiragana characters many katakana characters look very similar to their hiragana counterparts so it will actually take you less effort to remember if you've mastered all the hiragana already so keep on reviewing the hiragana characters even if we are doing the katakana characters already okay let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned in this lesson you learned you've now mastered 56 japanese characters hi everyone welcome to basic japanese writing the fastest easiest and most fun way to master the japanese alphabet you've learned these 10 katakana characters from the previous lessons in this lesson you'll learn five new katakana characters the first katakana character for this lesson is this one looks like a saddle hiragana and katakana might get you confused so to differentiate the two just look at where the second and third strokes end the ones will set end at the center and the ones and at the size all of the characters in this column can also be altered by a dakten do you remember what sa with the daksan sounds like it's okay next up is the katakana character she try to think of shi as a sinking ship let's add a dukden to shi remember it's not supposed to sound like z she with a duct tan is pronounced as g she is the only japanese character that produces the sh sound and the only original japanese syllable sounds available are sha shu and sho the diagraph shay is then created by adding a small katakana e this enables japanese people to say words like chef and share also since she with the daksan is the only sound in japanese to produce a j sound the same is done to creating the digraph this allows japanese people to say words like jelly or widget the third one is the katakana think of this one as a person skiing let's add a duck tan to sue as well it now becomes this is the katakana character se se katakana is also another character that looks like an angular version of its hiragana counterpart it's also just missing this part on the top right let's modify set with the daksan it is now pronounced as z z and our final character for this lesson is the katakana so so to remember so just imagine it as a soft serve ice cream corn now can you go and say what so sound like with the ductin it will be so so let's see all the characters again now let's review what you've learned i show you a character or a word and give you time to say them ready which one is the katakana set it's this one oh remember the opera singer this refers to the gas in the gas lines and not gasoline or the gas state of mata ajiya this means asia ski ski means skiing don't confuse it with suki meaning to like ski ski this means course sosu it means sauce or sometimes source kasakasa this is the japanese onomatopoeia for wrestling it also means dry whisky this means whiskey japan has a few well-known brands of risky this means to share you can actually find it in the japanese facebook sites great job did you know when you asked for ice in a store you wouldn't actually get ice but ice cream instead japanese people tend to contract popular loan words so it's best to research first before turning english words into katakana words directly ok let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned in this lesson you learned and said so 61 japanese characters hi everyone welcome to basic japanese writing the fastest easiest and most fun way to master the japanese alphabet [Music] you've learned these 15 katakana characters from the previous lessons in this lesson you'll learn the five katakana characters under the t column the first katakana character for this lesson is think of it as a person holding a tablet just like their hiragana counterparts all of the katakana in this column can be altered by a ducting as well ta with the duct okay next up is the katakana character chi try to imagine katakanachi as a chicken now let's add a dukden to chi remember it's not pronounced d actually chi with akten is pronounced as just like its hiragana counterpart g is very rarely used just like shi is the only sh sound in japanese chi is the only one with the ch sound in japanese the only syllables that were originally available are cha chi chu and cho so making the chat diagraph allows japanese people to say long words like chair or ashley the third katakana for this lesson is looks like a tuna fish head this katakana two reminds you of katakanashi they look very similar don't they here's a great way to figure out which one is which just remember the strokes of their hiragana counterpart hiraganashi starts from the top and carves up at the end the two short lines of katakana she aligns with this part and both characters ends by going up hiraganatsu on the other hand starts from the left and carves down at the end the two short lines of katakana two align with this part and both characters end by going down instead okay let's add a dukden to two as well it's pronounced as listen carefully to is also available for katakana as well it serves the same function of lengthening the consonant after it when found at the end of the word the chi saitsu acts like a grotto stop for words spelled using katakana next is the katakana character pe looks like a telephone pole bent at an angle let's modify te with the ductin it is now pronounced as since chi has the c h sound the t column doesn't have a native t syllable sound so for long words that have this sound the t digraph is created and since chi with the daktan is pronounced g a long word with the d syllable on the other hand can be written using the d digraph our final character for this lesson is the katakana looks like a side view of a totem pole what does top sound like with the daktan talk with the dakten is pronounced do remember to do just as there is no native t syllable in japanese there isn't a native two syllable as well in order to say falling names or long words with a two syllable the two digraph is used by adding a duct end to the two diagraph spell out rows with the do syllable let's see all the characters again now let's review what you've learned i show you a character or a word and give you time to say them ready me which one is the katakana too it's this one remember the stroke of their hiragana counterparts and you easily distinguish between these two o thai tai means thailand it's cheese this means romantic date is germany it means switch saka this means sucker or football gold refers to outdoor activities this is what we call roller coasters great job confused about how to properly spend longer in katakana searching in an online dictionary is the best way to go more and more unfolding words are being incorporated into japanese and many even have more than one accepted spelling okay let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned in this lesson you you've now mastered 66 japanese characters hi everyone welcome to basic japanese writing the fastest easiest and most fun way to master the japanese alphabet you've learned these 20 katakana characters in the previous lessons in this lesson you'll learn the five katakana galaxies of the n column the first katakana character for this lesson is na na think of na as a carved knife okay next up is the katakana just remove this part and make the line straight and you get the katakana need the third one is the katakana try to think of it as a noose this is the katakana character think of net as a nest in a tree another final character for this lesson is the katakana no no it's easy to remember this one it's a no sign just like it's ragana counterpart but without the circle let's see all the characters again na ni now let's review what you've learned i show you a character or a word and give you time to say them ready try not to confuse it with chi na it's a tuna fish this is the material or punchline of a joke this actually means notebook shinya this refers to elderly people it means canoe this means the internet this means smiling from ear to ear designer it means designer great job as you can see so many following words end up being translated using the katakana syllabary and you'll be tempted to just translate english words directly all the time however not all lovers can join in japanese make sure to learn more japanese words first okay let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned in this lesson you'll learn the katakana characters 71 japanese characters hi everyone welcome to basic japanese writing the fastest easiest and most fun way to master the japanese alphabet you've learned these 25 katakana characters from the previous lessons in this lesson you'll learn the five katakana characters in the h column we'll be using the dakten and han dakden as well the first katakana character for this lesson is to remember ha imagine it as a roof of a house do you remember how to pronounce hat with a dakten it will be and what will be it sounds if we put a hand acting on it instead do you remember ha with a okay next up is the katakana character he can you see it as a side over here now let's add the dark then to he he with the daktan is pronounced as b and how will it sound with the hand acting it's going to be the third katakana for this lesson is remember it's not who or who but somewhat in between who to remember the katakana try to think of it as the tip of a foot let's try adding a dark ten to four as well what do you think it will sound like it's pronounced as listen carefully now let's try it with the hand action it becomes special as it's the only syllable in japanese to have a sound very close to an f sound you combine with smaller versions of the katakana vowels to make a whole f column take note that you don't combine a small utu since it already ends in an u sound next is the katakana calaxan head looks exactly like its hiragana counterpart with no exceptions let's modify hat with the daktan it is now pronounced as and when hair is modified with the hand name it will be pronounced as our final character for this lesson is you can think of hope as a shining holy cross what does hope sound like with zak then hope with the dakten is pronounced and with the hand acting it will be po let's see all the characters again and the new digraphs now let's review what you've learned i show you a character or a word and give you time to say them ready remember the white swan deep it looks like a knife remember this could mean bass the musical instrument or the vases in baseball it means to slack off kohi this means coffee de pato this refers to department store business business means business party this means party yeah this means shiny or sparkling gobo gobo this is an onomatopoeia for rushing water great job did you know that many long words have become so popular that they even become verbs or adjectives some examples are meaning to share smaato meaning smart looking and saboru meaning to slack off this last one comes from an abbreviation of sabotage okay let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned in this lesson you learned ha 76 japanese characters hi everyone welcome to basic japanese writing the fastest easiest and most fun way to master the japanese alphabet you've learned these sachi katakana characters from the previous lessons in this lesson you learn five new katakana characters the first katakana character for this lesson is ma ma think of ma as a monterey okay next up is the katakana me me to remember me look for the line in the middle the third one is looks like a moosie's antlers could you tell ma from mu here's an easy way to do it just look for the horizontal line if it's above then it's a ma and if it's under then it's a mu this is the katakana character me me just draw a rectangle around it and you got mail and our final character for this lesson is the katakana looks very similar to its hiragana counterpart the only difference is that the third stroke doesn't intersect the first one let's see all the characters again now let's review what you've learned i show you a calaxa or a word and give you time to say them ready me which one is the katakana it's this one it's the first character i told you boo game this means games including icad and video games smart smart is the abbreviation and the more common time to refer to your smartphone in japan memory this means to take a memo or to take note imagine this actually refers to an illustration as opposed to an actual picture it means digital camera here's another abbreviation that means mass communication or media is an eraser it literally means erasing river mexico this means mexico olay great job as i've said before katakana is used to write phony words and names so why don't you try and write your name in the comments using katakana we can also help you with the spelling since it can be tricky sometimes okay let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned in this lesson you learn the katakana characters you've now mastered 81 japanese characters hi everyone welcome to basic japanese writing the fastest easiest and most fun way to master the japanese alphabet [Music] you've learned these 35 katakana characters from the previous lessons in this lesson we are skipping ahead to the r column where you'll learn five new katakana characters the first katakana character for this lesson is try to think of la as a lacking chair next up is the katakana looks exactly like its hiragana counterpart but without the honeypot the third one is the katakana to remember this character think of it as the roots of a tree this is the katakana character think of le as a razor blade and now our final character for this lesson is the katakana lo lo looks like a robot smart let's see all the characters again now let's review what you've learned i show you a character or a word and give you time to say them ready man this means hotel toilet this means the toilet it's best to remember this one if you're going to japan television tv as you can see it's short for television karaoke is the popular japanese pastime karaoke igili is the united kingdom it means part-time work proposal this means to propose marriage credit this means credit card japanese people wouldn't understand if you just say card so make sure to say the whole thing great job do you know what the ultimate flashcard game for reading hiragana and katakana is try doing japanese karaoke you need to read the characters first in order to sing properly i suggest starting with some slow songs first okay let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned in this lesson you learned that just like in the hiragana lesson please take note that we skipped the y column this time so that we could discuss all the japanese digraphs in the next lesson you've now mastered 86 japanese characters hi everyone welcome to basic japanese writing the fastest easiest and most fun way to master the japanese alphabet you've learned these 40 katakana characters from the previous lessons in this lesson you learn three katakana characters in the y column and the rest of the digraphs in katakana the first katakana character for this lesson is ya ya ya actually looks like it's hiragana counterpart but a bit more angular and without this stroke this is the katakana character you you imagine you as a periscope or by you boat underwater our final character for this lesson is the katakana yo it's like a yoke pooled by two oxen just like in hiragana digraphs in katakana are also formed by adenga small or yo to a consonant plus e syllable remember they are set for the same duration as all the previous syllables that you've learned pronounce them by gliding to the y sound and do not pronounce the e sound ka kyo ya let's see all the characters again and the digraphs in katakana now let's review what you've learned i'll show you a character or a word and give you time to say them ready remember the smiling mouth going you this is the timetable for buses and trains menu this means menu juicy it's juice t-shirts it means t-shirt bbq this means bbq chocolato this is chocolate this is a cat's meal in japanese kashukado this refers to a bank card great job as i've said before japanese uses three scripts hiragana katakana and kanji however recently japanese also started to make use of ronald letters just like in t we even have the expression energy which is an abbreviation of no good ok let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned in this lesson you'll learn the katakana characters and old japanese diagrams you've now mastered 89 japanese characters only three left to go hi everyone welcome to basic japanese writing the fastest easiest and most fun way to master the japanese alphabet [Music] you've learned these 43 katakana characters from the previous lessons in this lesson you learned the last three characters in basic japanese writing the first katakana collector for this lesson is this character looks like a wine glass looks similar doesn't it well just remember that wa is wider and ku has more carved lines okay next up is the katakana it is also commonly said as o to remember katakana try to think of it as part of the world's olympic torch our final collector for this lesson is the katakana it looks like a spacecraft entering the artist's atmosphere many people confuse so and because they look very similar one thing that could help distinguish the two is that salt is slimmer just like the hiragana you can never start a world with a katakana it can only be found in the middle or at the end of verse again just like in hiragana the pronunciation of varies a bit depending on the syllable that comes after it it sounds like an um sound when it comes before a b or p sound for example hambaga and kampu it can also sound like an sound when it comes before a g sound like in shin guru let's see all the characters again and finally now let's review what you've learned i show you a character or a word and give you time to say them ready which one is the katakana it's this one just like a tsunami which one is the katakana it's this one the wider one this means convenience store you'll find a lot of them in japan why why this is an onomatopoeia for a noisy crowd this means ac or air conditioning it's ramen it's a famous noodles and soup dish in japan one one this is a dog's bark in japanese present this means a gift contacto this actually refers to contact lenses salaryman this is a general term for men working for a company they are mostly distinguished by their short and neck side attire great job there's actually a very fun word game in japanese called shiritori basically one person says a word and the next person says another word which starts with the last syllable of the word set by the previous person but remember no japanese word starts with so anyone who gives a word ending with it loses okay let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned in this lesson you'll learn the katakana characters you've now mastered all 92 hiragana and katakana characters here are the 46 katakana characters they are the exact equivalent of the 46 hiragana galaxies but i used to write most country names foreign names long words onomatopoeia sounds and technical or scientific words they are also used to indicate emphasis these are the five vowel sounds and the rest are combination of a consonant and a vowel sound except for a long vowel sound in katakana is signified by a nobashibo instead of another vowel character on the other hand the dakten or tenten mark is used the same way in katakana to signify that the consonant of the syllable is voiced it can modify the characters under the k s t and h columns unique to katakana the daktan is also used with the character u in order to signify the letter v the hand akden or malu mark which makes the consonant sound plosive is also used and it's unique to the h column as well there are more unique digraphs in katakana to accommodate the sounds from following words these include d the rest are formed by adding a small you or your to a consonant plus e syllable just like in hiragana pronunciation of katakana characters doesn't change except for the following with alternate pronunciations what is actually more commonly pronounced as o and can sometimes be pronounced depending on the syllable that comes after it congratulations you now know all of the characters making up the japanese basic alphabet the next step now is to start learning kanji to be able to unlock more japanese try watching our kanji series here at japaneseport101.com and you'll pick up on how to use kanji in no time before you go practice writing the following words on your own and to learn more japanese go to japaneseport101.com do you know the top 10 conversational phrases in japanese here's a hint kawaii is not one of them find out the most important words you need in order to have fun fluent conversations with native japanese speakers click the link to get the top 10 conversational places in japanese for free see you in another lesson [Music] what's in it [Music] you