What are Hiragana and Katakana?

"私はコーヒーを飲みます。" means "I drink coffee." 
The Japanese use three types of scripts- Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji.

Hiragana – Japanese is a syllable-timed language while English is stress-timed. That means, you can understand how to read any Japanese words once you know how to pronounce each Hiragana character and some pronunciation rules.

On the other hand for English, you need to know the spelling as well as the pronunciation. We never know how to pronounce an English word such as “photo” by just knowing how to read alphabet: a,b,c… 

Japanese pronunciation rule is very systematic, thus, once you know it, it’s much easier for you to study Japanese and get more advanced.

Katakana – Basically, Katakana and Hiragana charts are correspondent to each other. There are 46 basic Katakana, 25 Daku-on, 33 contracted sounds and some special combinations of Katakana to describe foreign words.

For example, TV (terebi) and radio (rajio). In casual writing, Katakana is used when the meaning is emphasized (you’ll see many Katakana in comics). Also katakana is used for a variety of “onomatopoeia – sounds and emotional word” in Japanese. (e.g. “doki-doki” to represent a fast heart beat)

This course will give you enough information and skill to feel comfortable interacting with the Japanese… Imagine the look on the waiter’s face when you order your food in Japanese!

Features of this Katakana Course

Now you can read and write the language of Japan, without months of classes, spending $100’s of dollars or trying to figure out confusing textbooks. Here are the features of this Katakana course:

  • Over 40 pages of worksheets, detailed explanation and exercises

  • Step-by-step writing stroke order tutorial videos for each character

  • Over 150 vocabulary words are introduced

  • Very effective Katakana Flash Cards & Flashcard Videos

  • Identify common mistakes for new learners

  • Shows you how to distinguish between similar-looking characters

  • Pronunciation guides for special usage of certain characters

  • Exercises to reinforce your new Katakana skills with audio

  • Real Japanese signboards to practice your new skills

  • Shows you how to type Katakana on a computer

Course Curriculum

  • 1

    1. Introduction

  • 2

    Sample: Complete Katakana Video Lesson

  • 3

    Complete Katakana Workbook (PDF)

    • Complete Katakana Workbook (Please download and print it out)
  • 4

    2. Katakana Chart

    • Katakana Chart
  • 5

    3. Katakana Writing Video Lesson (No.1-11)

    • 3-1-1. Katakana a i u e o

    • 3-1-2. Katakana ka ki ku ke ko

    • 3-1-3. Katakana sa shi su se so

    • 3-1-4. Katakana ta chi tsu te to

    • 3-1-5. Katakana na ni nu ne no

    • 3-1-6. Katakana ha hi fu he ho

    • 3-1-7. Katakana ma mi mu me mo

    • 3-1-8. Katakana ya yu yo

    • 3-1-9. Katakana ra ri ru re ro

    • 3-1-10. Katakana wa wo n

    • 3-2. Choo-on (long vowel)

    • 3-7. Small Vowels & Special Characters for Katakana
  • 6

    4. More practice on Katakana

    • 4-2. Reading Katakana (Country & City names)

    • 4-3 Dictation practice

  • 7

    5 & 6. Katakana Flashcards & Flash Videos

    • 5. Katakana FlashCards (Please download and print it out)

    • 6-1. Katakana FlashVideo a-to

    • 6-2. Katakana FlashVideo na-yo

    • 6-3. Katakana FlashVideo ra-n

Course Price

(Single course price)