Questions tagged [katakana]

カタカナ. That form of the Japanese kana syllabary which is not cursive and is most commonly used for (but not restricted to) writing words borrowed from other languages.

That form of the Japanese syllabary which is not cursive and is most commonly used for (but not restricted to) writing words borrowed from other languages.


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Why are katakana preferred over hiragana or kanji sometimes?

I noticed that "dame", which means "not good" or "don't do that", is sometimes written in manga as katakana. I was wondering, is it because katakana is used to express a strong feeling? Sometimes, there are also other words written in katakana. In…
Sarawut Positwinyu
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When is the katakana form of wo (ヲ) used?

I'm pretty new to Japanese, and I've been trying to learn hiragana and katakana. I know that in hiragana, wo (を) is used only for as an object particle, and it is always pronounced like o (お). This made me wonder what the katakana form (ヲ) would be…
Alan C
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Difference between katakana so and n

I am having high confusion between katakana n ン and katakana so ソ. They look very similar even with the different stroke directions, they look very similar. Could anyone suggest how to differentiate between them?
abkds
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Why is the word オタク written in katakana?

Why is the word オタク(otaku) written in katakana? I thought only foreign words are written in katakana. Is this word maybe foreign after all? But it is used in Japanese, so I am confused. Please give me an answer.
tenten
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What "non-standard" katakana are commonly used?

I know about the "standard" special katakana, like ファ fa, ディ di, ヴ vu, etc. However, I keep running into others I can't find on any list, including the ones in What special kana are used to write foreign words? For example, on this Wikipedia page,…
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Why is this written in katakana instead of hiragana?

Why in this image ノ is written in katakana and not in hiragana?
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Why is the term オナニー written in katakana?

I know what the term means, just curious about the katakana spelling.
Jack Bosma
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Why do textbooks and other sources pretend special katakana don't exist?

Take, for example, katakana such as ウェ, ティ, or ジェ. Many, many textbooks and other language sources, when showing a list of katakana, omit these. For example: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Table_katakana.jpg In particular, a…
Panzercrisis
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Katakana - チュウ vs. チュ

I am a beginner to Japanese and playing Pokémon has got me interested. I am learning Katakana and wondering why in Pikachu it is «ピカチュウ» instead of «ピカチュ». Do you have any explanations or links to offer?
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What is the stroke order of the katakana ヒ?

There are 2 strokes. Let's call the short horizontal stroke A and the vertical-curving-to-horizontal stroke B. Some sources suggest the stroke order AB while other sources suggest BA. The katakana ヒ comes from the character 世 which when considering…
Kantura
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Is there any linguistic value behind encircled katakana letters?

Today I've learnt that in Unicode there's a separate block for katakana letters enclosed in a circle - all of them, apart from ン. Then I've realised that the logo of this particular stack is a letter in circle as well My question would be: What is…
shabunc
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What is the purpose of using katakana in these instances?

I'm well aware of how katakana is typically used (borrowed words, onomatopoeia, etc). I'm also aware of it being used in circumstances like demonstrating a distortion in the voice, or if the kanji of a word is complicated to read and/or write. What…
Senevir
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How often will a katakana term have an equivalent kanji spelling?

There's a similar question here: Katakana words with Kanji. How did that happen? Question Some words are written with katakana, but also have kanji. For example: コーヒー 珈琲 ページ 頁 How did this happen? They are loanwords, but no doubt had Japanese …
Mou某
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What does クリンコ mean?

I found this sentence in the wild and I cannot find anything about it on the web appart from a David Bowie album that translates Klinko to クリンコ. But what does that word mean in these sentences?: And another
Thatguy
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Was katakana used in the teaching of Japanese as a foreign language?

The Wikipedia article Japanese language education in Vietnam, says that during the 1940s, Japanese was taught in Vietnam using either romaji or katakana. Is it true that katakana, rather than hiragana, was used? My assumption was that if only one…
Golden Cuy
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