Bathrobe's Chinese, Japanese & Vietnamese Writing Systems
unicode encoded

Home > Japanese Writing > Hiragana and Katakana >
|| envelope

 

 

Katakana


Table of Katakana Characters


Table 4: Long Vowels and Double Consonants


VOWEL LENGTHENING Examples
To indicate the long aa sound:

1. In most foreign words, length is shown by adding a length marker

2. In other cases (e.g., katakana renditions of words usually written in characters or hiragana), the symbol a is added to an a-row syllable (rare).

paa 'par (in golf)"
etc.

  aa

To indicate the long ii sound:

1. In most foreign words, length is shown by adding a length marker

2. In other cases (e.g., katakana renditions of words usually written in characters or hiragana), the symbol i is added to a syllable ending in i.

supiido 'speed'
etc.

ii
etc.
To indicate the long uu sound:

1. In most foreign words, length is shown by adding a length marker .

2. In other cases (e.g., katakana renditions of words usually written in characters or hiragana), the symbol u is added to a syllable ending in u.

kyuu 'cue (in billiards)'

kyuu (e.g., 'urgent')
etc.

To indicate the long ee sound:

1. In most foreign words, length is shown by adding a length marker . However, it is also very common to see the symbol i  added to a syllable ending in e (as shown in no. 2).

2. In other cases (e.g., katakana renditions of words usually written in characters or hiragana), the symbol i is added to a syllable ending in e
(Note: Although indicated with an i, ei is actually pronounced as a lengthened e sound.)

 


teema 'theme'
apurikeeshon 'application'
But teiku-auto 'take-out, takeaway'

sei
tei
hei
gei
etc.

To indicate the long oo sound:



1. In most foreign words, length is shown by adding a length marker .

2. In other cases (e.g., katakana renditions of words usually written in characters or hiragana), the symbol u is added to a syllable ending in o.  There are a few exceptional words where the long oo sound is indicated with an o rather than an u.

(Note: This site romanises long o as oo. This runs counter to the recent trend to use ou. The reason for using oo is: (1) there is a distinction between long oo and the true ou sound that needs to be preserved and (2) there is no distinction in pronunciation between the long oo sound indicated with and that indicated with .)


shoo 'show'
Note:
Joozu 'Jaws'
but () joozu 'skilful'

 

koo
soo
goo
joo
byoo
etc.
Long oo using :
tooi
'far'
toori
'road'
ookii
'big, large'
koori
'ice'
etc.

CONSONANT DOUBLING  
Doubling of stop consonants is indicated with a small tsu . In Japanese words, normally only t, k, p, and s are doubled in this way. In foreign words, d b, g, j, h, f, and even v or r can also be doubled.
battari 'with a thud, suddenly, unexpectedly'
baggu 'bag'
baddo 'bad'
bahha 'Bach'
Doubling of nasal consonants is indicated with an n.
hanmaa 'hammer'.

See also....

Table 5: Representation of Foreign Sounds

Back to Top
JavaScript Menu By Milonic