While Katakana is used most frequently to represent foreign words, it is often limited in its ability to represent them as they sound in the language in question. This is due to the syllabic nature of the phonemes. This is of no concern to the Japanese, who prefer pronouncing foreign concepts in their own way anyway. For example, to pronounce "McDonald?'s" the name of a popular fast food chain, you would say "ma ku do na ru do". Many English words pronounced in Katakana are indecipherable to native English speakers.
Katakana Characters | |||||||||
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Character | Name | Character | Name | Character | Name | Character | Name | Character | Name |
ァ | Small A | コ | KO | ヅ | DU | プ | PU | ラ | RA |
ア | A | ゴ | GO | テ | TE | ヘ | HE | リ | RI |
ィ | Small I | サ | SA | デ | DE | ベ | BE | ル | RU |
イ | I | ザ | ZA | ト | TO | ペ | PE | レ | RE |
ゥ | Small U | シ | SI | ド | DO | ホ | HO | ロ | RO |
ウ | U | ジ | ZI | ナ | NA | ボ | BO | ヮ | Small WA |
ェ | Small E | ス | SU | ニ | NI | ポ | PO | ワ | WA |
エ | E | ズ | ZU | ヌ | NU | マ | MA | ヰ | WI |
ォ | Small O | セ | SE | ネ | NE | ミ | MI | ヱ | WE |
オ | O | ゼ | ZE | ノ | NO | ム | MU | ヲ | WO |
カ | KA | ソ | SO | ハ | HA | メ | ME | ン | N |
ガ | GA | ゾ | ZO | バ | BA | モ | MO | ヴ | VU |
キ | KI | タ | TA | パ | PA | ャ | Small YA | ヵ | Small KA |
ギ | GI | ダ | DA | ヒ | HI | ヤ | YA | ヶ | Small KE |
ク | KU | チ | TI | ビ | BI | ュ | Small YU | ヷ | VA |
グ | GU | ヂ | DI | ピ | PI | ユ | YU | ヸ | VI |
ケ | KE | ッ | Small TU | フ | HU | ョ | Small YO | ヹ | VE |
ゲ | GE | ツ | TU | ブ | BU | ヨ | YO | ヺ | VO |
Punctuation | |
---|---|
Character | Name |
・ | Katakana Middle Dot |
ー | Katakana-Hiragana Prolonged Sound Mark |
ヽ | Katakana Iteration Mark |
ヾ | Katakana Voiced Iteration Mark |