General Rules for Converting to Katakana

1. Katakana
Everything you’ve always wanted to know about Katakana…
but were afraid to ask
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2. Introduction
 How many Katakana characters are used in Japanese?
 How are Katakana Symbols used in Japanese?
 What is the History of Katakana Symbols?
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3. How many Katakana characters are there?
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4. How are Katakana Symbols used?
 To write foreign words
 To write foreign names
 For emphasis
 For onomatopoeia
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5. What is the History of Katakana Symbols?
 Ural-Altic Family of Languages (Turkish, Mongolian,
Manchu, Korean)
 Imported Writing System from China and Korea
 But, difficult to write Chinese characters!
 Developed to Kana (phonetic)
 9th Century: Students of Buddhism wrote in shorthand to
keep up with lecture notes
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6. Features
1. Sounds are identical to what they were for Hiragana
2. Since wo is only used as a particles and particles are in Hiragana,
there is almost never a need to use ヲ
3. The four characters shi (シ) and tsu (ツ), n (ン) and so (ソ) are
fiendishly similar to each other
4. Also: no (ノ), me (メ) and nu (ヌ); fu (フ), wa (ワ) and u (ウ)
5. Observe correct stroke order and direction
6. [・] is used to denote spaces
7. All long sounds are denoted by a dash
8. New combination for foreign sounds
9. There is no /wu/ sound
10. Foreign words that have become popular keep their original
spelling
11. Not all come from English words
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7. Sounds are identical to Hiragana
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8. There is almost never a need to use ヲ
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9. shi (シ) & tsu (ツ); n (ン) & so (ソ) look alike
Horizontal
Vertical
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10. no (ノ), me (メ) and nu (ヌ);
fu (フ), wa (ワ) and u (ウ)
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11. Observe correct stroke order and direction
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12. [・] is used to denote spaces
マイク・ミラー
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13. All long sounds are denoted by a dash
キュート
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14. New combination for foreign sounds
（ヤ） （イ） （ユ） イェ （ヨ）
（ワ） ウィ （ウ） ウェ ウォ
ヴァ ヴィ ヴ ヴェ ヴォ ヴャ ヴュ ヴョ
クァ クィ クェ クォ
グァ グィ グェ グォ
シェ
ジェ
チェ
ツァ ツィ ツェ ツォ
ティ トゥ テャ テュ テョ
ファ フィ （フ） フェ フォ フャ フュ フョ
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15. There is no /wu/ sound
ウーマン
ウッド
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16. Popularized foreign words retain spelling
ツール
（トゥール）
ツアー
コーヒー
（トゥア）
（コーフィー）
ビアガーデン
（ビール）
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17. Not all come from English words
ガラス
グラス
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18. General Rules for
Converting English Words to Katakana
1. Plurals usually become singular
2. Vowel sounds are generalized
3. Most are based on pronunciation, sometimes spelling
4. For words that contain the rhotic /r/ sound after a vowel, the Katakana words usually just extends the vowel sound
5. The /v/ sound is generally replaced by the /b/
6. When /d/ and /t/ do not have a vowel after them, they are usually replaced by /do/ and /to/
7. When the /j/ sound doesn’t have a vowel after it, it is usually replaced with /j/
8. The other single consonant sounds, when they do not have a vowel after them, are replaced with the corresponding
consonant sounds followed by /u/
9. /l/ and /r/ are both replaced with the characters from the ra-line
10. The [see] sound is generally replaced with /shi/
11. The /tu/ sound is generally replaced with /chu/
12. The soft /th/ sound is replaced with characters from the sa-line
13. The hard /th/ sound is replaced with characters from the za line
14. Since the only /w/ sound is wa, all other /w/ sounds are generally replaced with /u/
15. Words that have a short vowel followed by a consonant will often double the consonant (but not when it is n)
16. The /y/ sound, except when followed by a, o, or u, is usually replaced with I
17. In order to make foreign words sound more like their original, additional character combinations have been introduced
18. Even with the new symbols, most Japanese would still pronounce it the old way
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19. Plurals usually become singular
パジャマ
スリパ バレンタイン・デー
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20. Vowel sounds are generalized
カーラー
カット
カー
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21. Most are based on pronunciation, but…
サラ
モンキー
Buggy
ルーター
ナオミ
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22. For /r/sounds, the vowel is extended
マーク
フォーク
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23. The /v/ sound is replaced by /b/
ビデオ
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24. /d/&/t/ endings are replaced by /do/&/to/
コンテスト
ドレス
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25. /j/ endings are usually replaced by /ji/
オレンジ
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26. In general, consonants are added with /u/
クラス
クラブ
＊ケーキ
＊ステーキ
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27. /l/ and /r/ are replaced with the ra-line
ミルク
ルーム
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28. The [see] sound is replaced by /shi/
シンク
CD
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29. The /tu/ sound is replaced by /chu/
チューブ
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30. The soft /th/ is replaced by the sa-line
サンキュー
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31. The hard /th/ is replaced by the za line
ウェザー
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32. /w/ sounds are replaced by /u/
ウィスキー
ウェートレス
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33. short V+C doubles the consonant
トラック ＊ペン
ペット
ベッド
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34. The /y/ sound is replaced by /i/
＊ユー
イヤー
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35. additional character combinations…
（ヤ） （イ） （ユ） イェ （ヨ）
（ワ） ウィ （ウ） ウェ ウォ
ヴァ ヴィ ヴ ヴェ ヴォ ヴャ ヴュ ヴョ
クァ クィ クェ クォ
グァ グィ グェ グォ
シェ
ジェ
チェ
ツァ ツィ ツェ ツォ
ティ トゥ テャ テュ テョ
ファ フィ （フ） フェ フォ フャ フュ フョ
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36. … but still pronounced the “old” way
フォーク
ホーク
ベンダ
ヴェンダー
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37. SW# : My Katakana name
1. On 1/8 sheet of yellow pad
2. Write your nickname and how it would be written in
Katakana
COLOMA 5月７日
FL102
Mae ＝ メイ
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