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Basics

Japanese from the start

Learn to read kana, hear every letter, and read short guides to how Japanese works.

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233Letters to learn
2Charts
35Guides

Katakana

Katakana spells the same sounds as hiragana with straighter, sharper shapes. It writes words taken from other languages, like コーヒー kōhī (coffee), foreign names, sound effects, and words set apart for emphasis, much as italics are in English.

Read the guide: Katakana and loanwords
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Tap a letter to hear it and see how it's written.

Basic

46 letters

The same rows as hiragana. A few letters look almost alike: tap one to see what tells it apart.

aiueo

Dakuten and handakuten

25 letters

The same marks as in hiragana: ゛ voices a consonant and ゜ turns h into p.

aiueo

Combinations (yōon)

33 letters

As in hiragana, a small ャ, ュ or ョ makes one syllable with the letter before it.

yayuyo

Small ッ and the long vowel mark

2 letters

Katakana lengthens a vowel with a dash, ー, which runs down the page in vertical writing.

Sounds for loanwords

15 letters

Small vowels after a letter make sounds Japanese didn't have, for words from other languages: フ + ァ = ファ fa.