{"id":10542,"date":"2022-08-19T16:08:27","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T07:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/?p=10542"},"modified":"2024-05-13T14:46:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T05:46:06","slug":"why-you-should-learn-katakana-40-useful-words-to-get-you-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/why-you-should-learn-katakana-40-useful-words-to-get-you-started\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Learn Katakana (+ 40 useful words to get you started)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Japanese language has three different alphabets – katakana, hiragana and kanji. They are each used for different things and are all important to learn. Out of the three, the one most often overlooked is katakana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The katakana alphabet consists of 46 characters which each represent a syllable or vowel, with the exception of the character “n” which is a letter of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should memorize these 46 symbols, as well the extra syllables which can be formed by adding a circle or two lines to the top right corner (for example TA becomes DA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why should you learn katakana ASAP?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Katakana is mostly used for writing loan words that originate in other languages, or names and places which do not have a kanji form. This is why katakana is so useful. It is also needed for those studying for the JLPT N5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once you can read katakana, you will already be able to understand many things as many of the words sound just like English. For example – \u30c1\u30e7\u30b3\u30ec\u30fc\u30c8is cho-ko-re-tto, can you guess what that means? If you guessed chocolate, you are correct. And there are so many loan words in the Japanese language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many menus in restaurants have dishes, foods and ingredients written in katakana. If you learn katakana you\u2019ll be able to read the menu, like this \u2013 \u201c\u30b3\u30ab\u30b3\u30fc\u30e9\u201d is ko-ka-koo-ra. Say it aloud and it sounds like what it is, coca cola. When learning katakana, make sure to learn the correct pronunciation as well, as sometimes you need to sound out the word a few times to understand what it is. Like in the case of \u201c\u30cb\u30e5\u30fc\u30b8\u30fc\u30e9\u30f3\u30c9\u201d \u2013 nyu-ji-rando, which is New Zealand but not completely obvious unless you sound it out properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How can you learn katakana?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are many apps that you can play on your phone to learn on the go, while commuting or sitting in a caf\u00e9. Just search for \u201ckatakana\u201d on your app store and try a few. You can also try the more old-school method of making flashcards, which has the added bonus that you have to practice writing them as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, many bookshops or 100-yen stores sell katakana practice books designed for kids, which are just as helpful for us Japanese learners. If you need some help mastering pronunciation or remembering the kana, TLS has a course designed specifically for katakana which can help you https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/hiragana-katakana-kanji\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What can you read once you know katakana?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. \u30b3\u30fc\u30d2\u30fc coffee<\/li>
  2. \u30db\u30c6\u30eb hotel<\/li>
  3. \u30e9\u30a4\u30c8 light<\/li>
  4. \u30c6\u30ec\u30d3 television<\/li>
  5. \u30b4\u30eb\u30d5 golf<\/li>
  6. \u30af\u30ea\u30b9\u30de\u30b9 christmas<\/li>
  7. \u30da\u30f3 pen<\/li>
  8. \u30e9\u30b8\u30aa radio<\/li>
  9. \u30d5\u30e9\u30a4\u30c9\u30dd\u30c6\u30c8 french fries<\/li>
  10. \u30d4\u30b6 pizza<\/li>
  11. \u30cf\u30f3\u30d0\u30fc\u30ac\u30fc hamburger<\/li>
  12. \u30c1\u30e7\u30b3\u30ec\u30fc\u30c8 chocolate<\/li>
  13. \u30d0\u30bf\u30fc butter<\/li>
  14. \u30ab\u30ec\u30fc curry<\/li>
  15. \u30a2\u30a4\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30e0 ice cream<\/li>
  16. \u30b1\u30fc\u30ad cake<\/li>
  17. \u30b5\u30f3\u30c9\u30a4\u30c3\u30c1 sandwich<\/li>
  18. \u30c1\u30fc\u30ba cheese<\/li>
  19. \u30b9\u30d1\u30b2\u30c3\u30c6\u30a3 spaghetti<\/li>
  20. \u30a2\u30e1\u30ea\u30ab America<\/li>
  21. \u30b9\u30fc\u30d1\u30fc\u30de\u30fc\u30b1\u30c3\u30c8 supermarket<\/li>
  22. \u30b3\u30f3\u30d3\u30cb convenience store<\/li>
  23. \u30ec\u30b9\u30c8\u30e9\u30f3 restaurant<\/li>
  24. \u30a2\u30d1\u30fc\u30c8 apartment<\/li>
  25. \u30ab\u30ec\u30f3\u30c0\u30fc calendar<\/li>
  26. \u30c6\u30cb\u30b9 tennis<\/li>
  27. \u30d7\u30fc\u30eb pool<\/li>
  28. \u30bf\u30af\u30b7\u30fc taxi<\/li>
  29. \u30d0\u30b9 bus<\/li>
  30. \u30ab\u30e1\u30e9 camera<\/li>
  31. \u30b9\u30d7\u30fc\u30f3 spoon<\/li>
  32. \u30c9\u30a2 door<\/li>
  33. \u30da\u30c3\u30c8 pet<\/li>
  34. \u30dc\u30bf\u30f3 button<\/li>
  35. \u30c4\u30a2\u30fc tour<\/li>
  36. \u30a2\u30eb\u30b3\u30fc\u30eb alcohol<\/li>
  37. \u30b0\u30e9\u30b9 glass<\/li>
  38. \u30bc\u30ed zero<\/li>
  39. \u30c8\u30a4\u30ec toilet<\/li>
  40. \u30b9\u30dd\u30fc\u30c4 sports<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    How many could you read?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There are many more katakana words based on English. The sooner you learn, the sooner you can understand what you see around you! And if you are studying for the JLPT then you will need to know katakana for the N5 test.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Katakana is mostly used for writing loan words that originate in other languages, or names and places which do not have a kanji form. This is why katakana is so useful. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[19,22,23,24,53],"class_list":["post-10542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learn-japanese","tag-japanese-alphabet","tag-japanese-characters","tag-katakana","tag-learn-japanese","tag-learn-katakana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10542"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10547,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10542\/revisions\/10547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}