The second part to the katakana lesson, where I quickly explain contracted katakana and provide a link to a webpage which has a vowel pronunciation guide and goes through the basics of the Japanese alphabets.
Contracted Katakana
Just like hiragana, katakana has contracted characters which are made by combining ヤ、 ユ、 ヨ、with the second character (キ、シ、リ ) in every line. Example:
キャ
キュ
キョ
ニャ
ヒュ
リョ
Words
As explained in the first lesson, katakana is mainly used for loan-words from foreign languages, highlighting words and sound-effects. Here are some examples drawn from a busy life:
コンピュータ Kompyuta Computer
コーヒーショップ Kohi shoppu
シャツ Shatsu Shirt
シャワ Shawa Shower
シンプル Shinpuru Simple
Test!
キャビネット Kyabinetto
シャタルバス Shatarubasu
チャレンジ Charenji
ショップ Shoppu
ニュース Nyusu
That’s It?
That lesson was embarrassingly short compared to what I have done previously.
That’s it as far as the basic Japanese alphabets go. Just use the charts and the advice from the four lessons and learn! It’s not as hard as it seems it just requires perseverance and drilling yourself. I’d also suggest a decent soundtrack to drill to.
For further (better written) information and more testing software look back through my Japanese and Japan posts as well as through the links to the right of the page. And here’s a website that gives some advice on Japanese pronunciation:
http://www.timwerx.net/language/bitlang/index.htm#intro
Next Lesson: Genki Jason exposes the depths of his ignorance by attempting Kanji Basics 😮 See you next time!
Answers:
Cabinet
Shuttle-bus
Challenge
Shop
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