Katakana

If the katakana script is used for foreign words, how are foreign sounds that don’t exist in natural Japanese put into this alphabet? With a few katakana-exclusive rules, which include:

1. “L” sounds are most often replaced with “r” sounds.
   
   For example, “link” becomes “rinku” リンクand “ball” becomes “booru” ボール.
2. “Ti” (“-ty,” “tee”) sounds are either replaced by “chi” チ or are written by adding a small “i”ィ to “te” テ: ティ.
   
   For example, “dramatic” becomes “doramachikku” ドラマチックand “tea” becomes “tii” ティー.
3. “Di” (“-dy,” “dee”) sounds are either replaced by “di” ヂ or are written by adding a small “i”ィ to “de” デ: ディ.
   
   For example, the last name “de Moraes” becomes “di・moraisu” ヂ・モライスand “moody” becomes “muudi” ムーディ.
4. “Si” (“-sy,” “see”) sounds are replaced with “shi” シ.
   
   For example, “fantasy” becomes “fantashii” ファンタシー and “seesaw” becomes “shiisoo” シーソー.
5. “Th” sounds are most often replaced by any of the “s” sounds, depending on the vowel that comes after it. (It’s “su” ス if the “th” comes at the end of a word.) However, “th” followed by an “eh” sound is most often replaced with “te” テ.
   
   For example, “Smith” becomes “sumisu” スミス, “thank you” becomes “sankyuu” サンキュー, and “theme” becomes “teema” テーマ.
6. “F” sounds other than the “fu” フ (also pronounced “hu”) included in the basic alphabet are produced by adding a small “a” ァ, “i” ィ, “e”ェ, or “o” ォ to “fu” フ:
   
   

   fa ファ

   fi フィ

   fu フ

   fe フェ

   fo フォ

   
   

   For example, “fetch” becomes “fetchi” フェッチand “fight” becomes “faito” ファイト.

7. “W” sounds other than the “wa” ワincluded in the basic alphabet are produced by adding a small “i” ィ, “e”ェ, or “o” ォ to “u” ウ, or just using “u” ウ for “wu” (note that “wo” ヲ is most often only used as a particle and not in foreign words):

   wa ワ

   wi ウィ

   wu ウ

   we ウェ

   wo ウォ

   For example, the Japanese game system “Wii” is written ウィー and “wink” becomes “(w)uinku” ウィンク.
8. “V” sounds are more traditionally replaced with “b” sounds.
   
   For example, “Valentine” becomes “barentain” バレンタイン and “revenge” is “ribenji” リベンジ. Sometimes, “v” sounds are actually pronounced as “v” sounds with a special set of characters, made by adding dakuten (two dots) to an “u” ウ, which forms the “vu” sound, or then adding a small “a” ァ, “i” ィ, “e”ェ, or “o” ォ: va ヴァ vi ヴィ vu ヴ ve ヴェ vo ヴォ.
   
   For example, “Viking” becomes “vaikingu” ヴァイキング and “vocal” becomes “vokaru” ヴォカル.

And these are just a few of the special katakana exceptions! Don’t be surprised if you see more strange combinations and variations of katakana characters. Do your best to follow these patterns and sound them out! However, once you’ve mastered these eight special rules, you should be able to read most katakana and figure out the original loan word it represents (if the loan word was English)!