Katakana 2: ハ to ン, with small kana and marks

ソ (so) and ン (n) use the same two strokes, and the only clue is which way they are drawn.

This unit finishes the katakana chart with the last 21 letters. Everything else carries over from hiragana without change: the ten-ten and circle marks, the small ャ, ュ, ョ for combined sounds, and the small ッ for a held consonant. Once these rows are in place you can read almost any katakana word on a menu, including ラーメン (rāmen), ハンバーガー (hanbāgā, hamburger) and ミルク (miruku, milk). The final unit then covers the extra combinations katakana uses for foreign sounds.

Shapes to anchor on

Several letters in this half are easy because they match their hiragana partner: ヘ is the same shape as へ, リ is a straighter り, and モ, ヤ and ホ are close relatives of も, や and ほ. Others are new but simple: ハ is two strokes spreading like a roof, ミ is three short slanting lines, ロ is a square, like the kanji for mouth. ヒ, ム, メ and ユ have no partner and need practice. ヲ is rare, because the object particle is almost always written in hiragana.

ソ and ン, シ and ツ

Now the four famous look-alikes can be learned as one set. ソ (so) and ツ (tsu) are written downward: their short strokes start at the top and the long stroke falls from the top right. ン (n) and シ (shi) end with a stroke that rises from the bottom left toward the top right. In print the angle is the clue. The short stroke of ソ is nearly vertical, while the short stroke of ン is nearly flat, lying toward the top. If the shape is unclear, read the whole word: no Japanese word begins with ン, so the first letter of ソース (sōsu, sauce) must be ソ.

Three more pairs deserve a second look. ワ (wa), ウ (u) and フ (fu) share a hooked top: ウ adds a small stroke above, ワ adds a short stroke down the left, and フ has neither. ル (ru) and レ (re) both end with an upward flick, but ル has two strokes and レ has one. ク (ku) and ケ (ke) and the earlier pair ク and タ are worth one more glance in your flashcards. A good test is to cover the romanization and read a whole menu, because real words give you context that single letters never do.

Small kana and marks in katakana

The rules from units 3 to 5 apply unchanged. Ten-ten gives ガ, ザ, ダ, バ and the circle gives パ: パン (pan, bread), ビール (bīru, beer). Small ャ, ュ, ョ make combined sounds: シャツ (shatsu, shirt), ニュース (nyūsu, news), メニュー (menyū, menu). Small ッ holds the next consonant: ベッド (beddo, bed), ヨーロッパ (Yōroppa, Europe). The one difference is the long vowel, which katakana writes with the bar ー instead of an extra vowel kana: compare hiragana おかあさん with katakana ラーメン.

Katakana also writes many sound words, especially in comics: ワンワン (wanwan) for a dog’s bark, ドキドキ (dokidoki) for a pounding heart, ザーザー (zāzā) for heavy rain. Writing them in katakana makes them jump off the page. The same effect works for emphasis. A word normally written in hiragana or kanji can be switched to katakana to make it stand out, much as English uses italics or capital letters.