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KATAKANA PART 1

So you want to learn Katakana? Great! You will soon notice how similar it is with Hiragana. However there are some important differences. Although you don't have to learn Hiragana before doing this page, I recommend it if you are not living in Japan. Hiragana is used much more in writing. But Katakana is used when writing foreign loanwords and in advertizing. Therefore, Katakana is very useful for the foreigner IN Japan.

Today's lesson will teach you the vowel sounds in Japanese.  These are the SAME SOUNDS as the Hiragana vowels.

Basically, like Spanish, there are 5 vowel sounds.  a, i, u, e, o.  

ア - a    - as in fAther, Ah
イ - i    - as in fEEt
ウ - u    - as in fOOd
エ - e    - as in eh? or hAte
オ - o    - knOw  

These are the first 5 letters in the Katakana alphabet.  Write them out 10 times a day and soon you will get it.  To aid memorization, make silly associations to go with them. You can use the following or you can make your own!

ア - a    - it looks like a capital A leaning over (doing exercises)
イ - i    - It looks like a lowercase i with a hat on instead of a dot
ウ - u    - It looks like a mouth about to eat fOOd
エ - e    - It looks like a capital I but it is really an Eh sound
オ - o    - It looks like someone kicking something "OH OH!"

STOP!!!

Did you write the above katakana 10 times? Did you sound them out as well? Well, do it again! And then take the following test & Javascript quiz...

TEST
How do you read these Katakana characters?  What English words are they?

エア ____________    This means ____________
アイ ____________    This means ____________
イア _____________   This means _____________
オア _____________    This means ______________ (think of a row boat)

Click here to check your answers

NOW TAKE A QUIZ ON THE KATAKANA YOU HAVE LEARNED!
There are 8 questions. Gambatte!

INSTRUCTIONS: I will test your knowledge by giving you a Katakana word in the left box.
Type the correct sounds in roman characters in the box on the right and press TAB to submit your answer.
Nihongo-san will tell you if you were right or wrong.
Use the Tab key or the Continue button to continue. USE ONLY LOWERCASE --> like this


is...

Nihongo-san says:

Note: This fantastic quiz was originally created by Kerri R. Schiller...Homepage
URL: http://www.oocities.org/SiliconValley/7116/jv_quiz.html

Perhaps you can recognize these 5 in just one day of practice.  

　

　

　

　

　

ANSWERS:

　

エア     ea This means AIR
アイ  ai This means EYE
イア    ia This means EAR
オア   oa   This means OAR

　

Click here to take the Quiz