Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HIRAGANA AND KATAKANA
Hiragana
and
katakana
are two phonetic syllabaries represented by the characters shown
below.
Katakana
, the squarer characters in the first table, are used for writing foreign “loan
words”. The rounder characters in the bottom table,
hiragana
, are used for Japanese words, in
combination with, or as substitutes for,
kanji
.
KATAKANA
a
Ξ
i
Π
u
e
Τ
o
Φ
ka
Χ
ki
Ω
ku
Ϋ
ke
έ
ko
ί
sa
α
shi
γ
su
ε
se
η
so
ι
ta
λ
chi
ν
tsu
π
te
ς
to
τ
na
φ
ni
χ
nu
ψ
ne
ω
no
ϊ
ha
ϋ
hi
ώ
full.
ϑ
he
ϔ
ho
ϗ
ma
Ϛ
mi
ϛ
mu
Ϝ
me
ϝ
mo
Ϟ
ya
Ϡ
yu
Ϣ
yo
Ϥ
ra
ϥ
ri
Ϧ
ru
ϧ
re
Ϩ
ro
ϩ
wa
ϫ
wo
Ϯ
n
ϯ
HIRAGANA
a
͋
i
͍
u
͏
e
͑
o
͓
ka
͔
ki
͖
ku
͘
ke
͚
ko
͜
sa
͞
shi
͠
su
͢
se
ͤ
so
ͦ
ta
ͨ
chi
ͪ
tsu
ͭ
te
ͯ
to
ͱ
na
ͳ
ni
ʹ
nu
͵
ne
Ͷ
no
ͷ
ha
hi
ͻ
full.
;
he
ho
΄
ma
·
mi
Έ
mu
Ή
me
Ί
mo
ya
yu
Ώ
yo
Α
ra
Β
ri
Γ
ru
Δ
re
Ε
ro
Ζ
wa
Θ
wo
Λ
n
Μ
The Rough Guide Japanese Phrasebook
includes essential phrases and expressions and a
dictionary section and menu reader.
Pronunciation
Japanese words in this topic have been transliterated into the standard Hepburn system
of romanization, called
rōmaji
. Pronunciation is as follows:
a
as in m
a
d
i
as in macaroni,
i
, or
ee
u
as in p
u
t, or
oo
e
as in b
e
d; e is always pronounced, even at the end
of a word
o
as in in
o
t
ae
as in the two separate sounds,
ah-eh
ai
as in Th
ai
ei
as in w
ei
ght
ie
as in two separate sounds,
ee-eh
ue
as in two separate sounds,
oo-eh
g
, a hard sound as in
g
irl
s
as in ma
ss
(never z)
y
as in
y
et
A bar (macron) over a vowel or “ii” means that the vowel sound is twice as long as a
vowel without a bar. Only where words are well known in English, such as Tokyo, Kyoto,
judo and shogun, have we not used a bar to indicate long vowel sounds. Sometimes,
vowel sounds are shortened or softened; for example, the verb
desu
sounds more like
des
when pronounced, and
sukiyaki
like
skiyaki
. Some syllables are also softened or hardened
by the addition of a small ° or “ above the character; for example,
ka
(
͔
) becomes
ga
(
͕
)
and
ba
(
) becomes
pa
(
ͺ
). Likewise a smaller case ya, yu or yo following a character
alters its sound, such as
kya
(
͖Ό
) and
kyu
(
͖Ύ
). All syllables are evenly stressed and
pronounced in full. For example, Nagano is Na-ga-no, not Na-GA-no.
