Katakana is literally the same thing— has the same sounds, same rules, and all that jazz. All you need to memorize is the new characters and a few other rules here and there and you're pretty much set for this one.
Here:
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(Diacritics means dakuten and handakuten)
So, what is this for? Why is it here? Well...
- Foreign words and names (usually English) About 20% of all Japanese words are these Japanglish words. I hate them. And you will too.
- onomatopoeia Like "bang" and "crash"
- emphasis "I never said she stole my money.."
- Scientific names Homo sapiens
Miscellaneous:
When you see a ー, this just means to prolong the preceding sound. コンピュータ konpyuuuuuuuta (computer)
"V" is not a sound in Japanese, so to compensate that, it will be replaced with either a B kana, or ウ with a dakuten and shrunken vowel proceeding. ビデオ video ヴォッカ vodka
Any Japanglish word with an F will look like this: ファイト fight フォント font
A ・indicates separate words. Since Japanese sentences do not split up according to individual words, a ・is used as a space marker. ホモ・サピエンス Homo sapiens シタインズ・ゲートStein's Gate
Makes sense?
Practice time!
Can you read these?
リンゴ ビール ゲーム ビデオ ぺコぺコ ピカピカ イギリス レッチェルー カラオケ
Answers:
Ringo - apple Biiru- beer Geemu - game Bideo - video Peko peko - hungry Pika pika - sparkly Igirisu - England Reccheruu - Rachel Karaoke - karaoke
