Each hiragana symbol has a corresponding katakana
symbol. There are 46 symbols in katakana in total. Each katakana
symbol represents a syllable in Japanese. To pronounce each symbol,
combine the letter at the top of each column with the leftmost letter
on each row. For example, column /k/ and row /a/ yield
the katakana symbol for /ka/ or カ.
Click on each symbol in the chart below to see
how each one is pronounced and written stroke by stroke. Picture-based
mnemonic help is provided. Try to associate the sounds and the
picture with the shape of hiragana.
If you would like to see the entire mnemonic help in one file, click here.
The last symbol ン in the chart is considered as a
syllable by itself and NEVER begins a Japanese word. To write the
sound /na/, /ni/, /nu/, /ne/, and /no/,
the characters ナ, ニ, ヌ, ネ, and ノ ("n" column) must be
used rather than ンア, ンイ, etc. The sequences like ンア or ンイ are considered
as two separate syllables: /nn/ + /a/ or /nn/
+ /i/, etc.
