How to Read Katakana
A Guide for Tourists and New Japanese Learners 16 Apr 2026
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because words derived from English are written in Katakana
How to read katakana: (with one table and 5 rules)
a
i
u
e
o
(vowels are pronounced like spanish)
ア
イ
ウ
エ
オ
←vowels without consonants
k
カ
キ
ク
ケ
コ
s
サ
シ
ス
セ
ソ
special case シ⇨shi
t
タ
チ
ツ
テ
ト
special cases チ⇨chi ツ⇨tsu.
n
ナ
ニ
ヌ
ネ
ノ
h
ハ
ヒ
フ
ヘ
ホ
special case フ⇨fu
m
マ
ミ
ム
メ
モ
y
ヤ
ユ
ヨ
r
ラ
リ
ル
レ
ロ
←soft r like in spanish
w
ワ
for example k-row a-column⇨カ⇨ka
n
ン
(no vowel)
draw out sound for twice as long
ー
① The Dakuten: When katakana are written with extra “tick marks”（゛）
Voicing Mark.
✨ Changes a sound where you don’t vibrate vocal cords to one where you do (unvoiced⇨voiced)
Changes k⇨g s⇨z t⇨d h⇨b
| ガギグゲゴ | pronounced ga gi gu ge go |
| ザジズゼゾ | pronounced za ji zu ze zo (ji is special case) |
| ダヂヅデド | pronounced da ji zu de do (ji and zu are special cases) |
| バビブベボ | pronounced ba bi bu be bo (bu is special case) |
| ヴ | (special case pronounced as v) |
② The HanDakuten: When katakana are written with an extra little circle（゜）
✨ Changes h to p
| パピプペポ | pronounced pa pi pu pe po |
③ When katakana ヤ、ユ、ヨ is written small
✨ drop consonant of preceding kana
| キャ、キュ、キョ | pronounced kya, kyu, kyo |
| シャ、シュ、ショ | pronounced sha, shu, sho |
| リャ、リュ、リョ | pronounced rya, ryu, ryo |
| チャ、チュ、チョ | pronounced cha che cho |
④ When katakana vowels ア、イ、ウ、エ、オ are written small
✨ drop vowel of preceding kana
| ファフィフェフォ | pronounced fa fi fe fo |
| チェ | pronounced che |
| ジェ | pronounced je |
⑤ When ツ is written small
✨ Pronounced as a “glottal stop”. Like the time your breath stops in uh’oh or the native pronunciation of Hawa’ii
(note that in english romanization this is indicated by a duplicated consonant)
⚠︎ Note that ツシソンリ are easy to mix up
due to visual similarity
| ソ | so |
| ン | n |
| リ | ri |
| シ | shi |
| ツ | tsu |
※ Examples:
| コーヒー | ko-hi- | coffee |
| マクドナルド | makudonarudo | macdonalds |
| ホーム | ho-mu | platform (short for purattoho-mu) |
| クラクション | kurakushon | car horn (Klaxon) |
| パン | pan | bread (from portuguese/spanish pan) |
| コンピューター | conpyu-ta- | computer |
| スマホ | sumaho | smartphone(short for sumattoho-n) |
| アメリカ | america | 🇺🇸 |
| カリフォルニア | kariforunia | california |
| パソコン | pasokon | personal computer (short for pa-sonaru konpyu-ta-) |
| コンビニ | conbini | convenience store (short for konbiniensu sutoa) |
| ドンキホーテ | donkiho-te | Don Quixote |
| デニズ | denizu | Dennies |
| カラオケ | karaoke | (short for kara-orchestra i.e. empty orchestra) |
| ラーメン | ra-men | 🍜 |
| パスタ | pasuta | 🍝 |
| トマト | tomato | 🍅 |
| タコス | takosu | 🌮 |
| トースト | to-suto | 🍞 |
| ホテル | hoteru | hotel |
| カレンダー | karenda- | calendar |
| ドライブ | doraibu | drive |
| ゴリラ | gorira | 🦍 |
| パンダ | panda | 🐼 |
| チャット | chatto | chat |
| ケーキ | ke-ki | 🍰 |
| クッキー | kukki- | 🍪 |
| カフェラテ | kaferate | cafè latè |
| ペン | pen | 🖊️ |
| ペンギン | pengin | penguin🐧 |
| ポテト | poteto | potato |
| フライドポテト | furaidopoteto | french fries (fried potato) |
| ハンバーガー | hanba-ga- | hamburger |
| ハンバーグ | hanba-gu | hamburger steak |
| タピオカ | tapioka | tapioca |
| チキン | chikin | chicken |
| タバコ | tabako | 🚬 |
| キャンペーン | kyanpe-n | campaign as in ad-campaign |
| ドル | doru | dollar |
| ドール | do-ru | doll |
| ビル | biru | building (short for birudingu) |
| ボール | bi-ru | 🍺 |
| ワイン | wain | 🍷 |
| レモン | remon | 🍋 |
| アイス | aisu | icecream (not frozen water) |
| ベビーカー | bebi-ka- | stroller/pram (from baby-car) |
| エレベーター | erebe-ta- | elevator |
| エスカレーター | esukare-ta- | escalator |
| タクシー | takushi- | taxi |
| アプリ | apuri | app |
| アメリカンドッグ | amerikandoggu | corn dog (from american-dog) |
| アイスキャンディー | aisukyandi- | popsicle (from ice-candy) |
| スーパー | su-pa- | supermarket |
| ナプキン | napukin | napkin |
| マドラー | madora- | muddler |
| チップス | chippusu | potato chips |
| コンセント | konsento | power socket (old wall sockets were concentric) |
| オフィス | ofisu | office |
| カメラ | kamera | camera |
| カン | kan | can |
| カフェ | kafe | cafe |
| ワンピース | wanpi-su | dress (from one-piece)👗 |
| シャツ | shatu | shirt👔 |
| パーカー | pa-ka- | hoodie (from parka) |
| タオル | taoru | towell |
| メッセージ | messe-ji- | message |
| ワクチン | wakuchin | vaccine💉 |
| メール | me-ru | |
| ペットボトル | pettobotoru | plastic bottle (from PET Bottle) |
| シュークリーム | shu-kuri-mu | chou à la crème |
| バウムクーヘン | baumuku-hen | baumkuchen |
| ボタン | botan | button |
| カツ | katsu | fried cutlet (from cutlet) |
| チョコ | choko | chocolate |
| ラムネ | ramune | soda in a glass with a marble in it (from lemonade) |
| スポーツ | supo-tsu | sports |
| チーム | chi-mu | team |
| ソース | so-su | sauce |
| テンション | tenshon | excitement |
| マンション | manshon | apartment (from mansion) |
| バス | basu | bus |
| サービス | sa-bisu | free of charge (from service) |
| フリーサイズ | furi-saizu | one size fits all (from free-size) |
| キロメートル | kirome-toru | kilometer |
| シャーペン | sha-pen | mechanical pencil |
| ノート | no-to | 🗒️notebook |
| ビデオ | bideo | video |
| ブーム | bu-mu | boom (as in popularity) |
| トイレ | toire | 🚽toilet (bathroom) |
| ヤンキー | yanki- | delinquent youth (from yankee) |
| カタカナ | katakana | katak ana |
（Note that in the second column of this table I am indicating a long sound with a dash instead of the normal way of either leaving it out or writing a line over the elongated sound）（I am using the normal notation of double consonants to transcribe the glottal stop as noted in ⑤）