To learn katakana is to get your hands on the second Japanese syllabary, the one for words that came from elsewhere: a coffee, a computer, your own name. They map to exactly the same sounds as hiragana, but with sharper, more angular shapes, and a job all their own.
If you already know hiragana, you start with a head start: the grid of sounds is identical. You are not learning a new set of signs from scratch, just a new way of writing the same syllables. The real challenge with katakana is not learning them, it is not forgetting them.
用What is katakana actually for?
Katakana has a precise role. It is reserved for four main cases:
- Loanwords. Everything Japanese has imported from English, French, or elsewhere: コーヒー (kōhī, coffee), パン (pan, bread, from Portuguese), ホテル (hoteru, hotel).
- Foreign names. First names, countries, brands. Your own name is written in katakana when you introduce yourself in Japan.
- Onomatopoeia. Sounds and sensations, very common in manga: ドキドキ (dokidoki, a pounding heart).
- Emphasis. A bit like our italics, to make a word stand out.
In other words, the moment a word "sounds" foreign, there is a good chance it is written in katakana. One question comes up before you even open a chart: which syllabary should you tackle first? We answered it in hiragana or katakana first, and the short version is hiragana. If you have not covered those yet, begin with learning hiragana, then come back here.
表The 46 katakana, row by row
Same grid as hiragana: five vowels, then the combined consonants, always in the order a, i, u, e, o.
- Vowels: ア a · イ i · ウ u · エ e · オ o
- K: カ ka · キ ki · ク ku · ケ ke · コ ko
- S: サ sa · シ shi · ス su · セ se · ソ so
- T: タ ta · チ chi · ツ tsu · テ te · ト to
- N: ナ na · ニ ni · ヌ nu · ネ ne · ノ no
- H: ハ ha · ヒ hi · フ fu · ヘ he · ホ ho
- M: マ ma · ミ mi · ム mu · メ me · モ mo
- Y: ヤ ya · ユ yu · ヨ yo
- R: ラ ra · リ ri · ル ru · レ re · ロ ro
- W: ワ wa · ヲ wo
- Final N: ン n
Dakuten and handakuten work just like in hiragana: カ (ka) becomes ガ (ga), ハ (ha) becomes バ (ba) then パ (pa). The combinations too: キャ (kya), シャ (sha), チョ (cho). Nothing new to memorize, just new shapes for sounds you already know.
外The extended sounds: ファ, ティ, ヴ, and foreign words
Classical Japanese does not have all of our sounds. To render foreign words more faithfully, katakana allows combinations that hiragana never use, by adding a small ア, イ, ウ, エ, or オ.
- ファ fa · フィ fi · フェ fe · フォ fo (for "f" followed by a vowel)
- ティ ti · ディ di · トゥ tu (sounds absent from original Japanese)
- ウィ wi · ウェ we · ウォ wo
- ヴ vu, and ヴァ va · ヴィ vi · ヴェ ve · ヴォ vo (the "v," rare but useful)
No need to learn all of these by heart at the start. Just know they exist: you will recognize them case by case in the words where they appear, like カフェ (kafe, a cafe as a place) or パーティー (pātī, party).
長The long mark ー: the vowel you hold
In katakana, a lengthened vowel is not written by repeating the kana, but with a simple stroke, ー. It signals that you hold the previous sound a little longer.
ケーキ ・ コーヒー
kēki ・ kōhī
cake ・ coffee (the drink)
This stroke is almost exclusive to katakana, and it is one more good clue for spotting a loanword. Note: in vertical writing, it becomes a vertical line.
形Why katakana looks so sharp
If hiragana feel round and flowing, katakana feel sharp and clipped, all straight lines and hard angles. That is no accident. While hiragana grew from cursive, joined-up versions of Chinese characters, katakana came from fragments of those same characters, a single radical or corner lifted out and used as shorthand. The result is a set of signs that look almost geometric.
This matters for you in two practical ways. First, the angular look is itself a signal: when you spot sharp, blocky shapes in a sentence, you are almost certainly looking at a loanword or a name. Second, a few katakana echo their hiragana cousins just enough to help (カ for "ka" rhymes visually with か), while others share nothing at all. Do not force a link where there is none; learn the shape on its own terms when it refuses to map.
忘Why you forget katakana faster (and how to avoid it)
Many beginners know their hiragana cold but stumble on katakana. The reason is simple: you run into hiragana everywhere, in every sentence, whereas katakana shows up in bursts. Less exposure, so less anchoring.
The fix is one word: manufacture the exposure. Rather than reviewing tables, read real katakana words regularly, and let spaced repetition schedule the reviews at the right moment, just before you forget. We explain how this mechanism fits into a daily routine in our guide on learning Japanese by yourself.
Three pairs look very similar and catch almost everyone out: シ (shi) / ツ (tsu) and ソ (so) / ン (n). The difference comes down to the angle of the small strokes and the direction of the final brushstroke. Write them side by side and fix on that one detail.
遊Reading katakana, a mini guessing game
Here is the upside: once the signs are learned, reading katakana becomes a game. Many words are loanwords you decode by ear, by sounding them out slowly. Try these before looking at the answer:
- テレビ (terebi) ・ "telly," short for television.
- レストラン (resutoran) ・ restaurant.
- バス (basu) ・ bus.
- アイスクリーム (aisukurīmu) ・ ice cream.
- サンドイッチ (sandoitchi) ・ sandwich.
The trick: say it out loud, slowly, and let the familiar word emerge from under the Japanese accent. Every word you guess reinforces the signs better than a dozen dry repetitions.
問Common questions about katakana
A few questions come up again and again. Here are short, honest answers.
Should I learn katakana before or after hiragana? After. Hiragana is what you read in almost every sentence, so it pays off first. Once you read hiragana comfortably, katakana takes only a few extra days because the grid of sounds is identical.
How long does katakana take? If hiragana is already in place, plan three to five days of light daily practice to recognize all 46, then a few weeks of casual exposure to make them automatic. The signs are quick; the staying power comes from running into them.
Do I really need katakana? Yes. Menus, station signs, product packaging, and a huge slice of everyday vocabulary lean on it. Skipping katakana means being unable to read words you already know by sound, like your own name.
Should I write katakana by hand? A few traced repetitions help the angular shapes stick, especially the look-alike pairs. But if your goal is reading, recognition matters far more than perfect handwriting.
次Where to go next
Once katakana is readable, you can read just about any menu, sign, or package that mixes Japanese words with imported ones. The ideal place to practice is your first batch of everyday vocabulary, where loanwords show up constantly. Our breakdown of the JLPT N5 vocabulary is a good next target, organized so the words stick.
At Hibi, katakana arrives inside everyday words you actually meet, with spaced repetition built in so they do not fade between two uses. If you are starting from zero, our guide on learning hiragana sets the full order, and you can see what the app is about on the Hibi page. Hibi is launching soon on the App Store. Katakana is quick to learn: what matters is to keep running into it.