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.
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Are there standards for transliteration into Japanese?
There seem to be some inconsistencies, for example, "t" becomes "tsu" in スーツケース, but "to" in メトロ. "eer" becomes "iiru" in ビール, but it seems like in ...
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How does one type archaic kana on the phone using the typical kana keyboard?
It’s not something that happens often, but if I wanted to type on my phone something like ヱビスビール, what would be the best way to do it using the kana keyboard built into the iPhone. Is it impossible ...
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What is the most appropriate way to indicate a long vowel in Katakana?
I know that often, when rendering a long vowel in Katakana, a hyphen is used.
For example, the Katakana rendering of the English word "coat" is often shown as コート .
I have seen both "ko-...
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Can I convey a meaning in a name with only kana? If not, what Kanji should I use for the name "Mimi" to convey "Beautiful Ocean"?
I'm working on a logo design project and was thinking of using the name "Mimi" as I saw somewhere that it might represent "beautiful ocean".
I don't understand much about the ...
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What is the purpose of katakana?
I noticed in words like アメリカ and イギリス are written in katakana, but why is 日本 (にほん) in hiragana if Japan is a country too? I noticed katana is also used in modern stuff (like smartphone, スマホ).
Was ...
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Why is this reading like this?
Why is this reading like this? Looking this up I had to search the radicals individually on Jisho. The furigana reading... is it just flat out wrong? Furthermore, why is the word structured like this? ...
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How does ッ pronounce before b, d, g (バッグ, ベッド)?
For ッ before p, t, k, such as バック, it sounds to be voiceless.
But what happens if it is before b, d, g? This situation rarely occurs in Japanese, but sometimes exists in loanwords. Examples would be ...
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What are rules and limitations for using small katakana vowels? [duplicate]
The textbooks and materials I found on the internet typically provide several examples, but I have never seen a full list of possible combinations.
In particular, can the following combinations be ...
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What is つい doing in the middle of this sentence? [duplicate]
What is the purpose of つい in this sentence?
うんうん、楽しくてついエキサイトして、熱くなっちゃった
And does エキサイトして just mean "getting excited"? For context they were talking about a game they played.
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A bit confused with ボク and too many ね～
I don’t remember where I read this statement, but someone on the internet said that if an anime or web-novel character refers to themself ボク in katakana they are probably a boyish girl.
I should say ...
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Frozen - Why is Anna transliterated as アナ not アンナ?
Frozen's Japanese name is more similar to what Frozen's original name was supposed to be: アナと雪の女王 but not アンナと雪の女王.
I tried looking up about アナ vs アンナ for Frozen, and there are a lot posts, but of ...
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When to use ンネ vs ッネ?
For example, why the correct spelling is トンネル rather than トッネル ?
Is it an arbitrary/historical choice, or is there a rule that explains it? Would the pronunciation differ?
This wiki page says that ッ &...
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Why were early 20th century scientific journals printed in katakana? [duplicate]
I don’t know if this is something specific to botanical journals or scientific journals in general. A lot of the botanical publications in this period use katakana instead of hiragana. The picture ...
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my name is a chinese name, anyi. how would i write the 'yi' part of my name in katakana?
i know there is no "yi" katakana. i know the approximation of ying is イン but in this case it does not work. do any native speakers know how to write yi in katana?
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Why were hiragana and katakana never merged into one system?
I am familiar with the history of why these two writing systems were invented, and my question comes more from a modern practical standpoint.
In my understanding, hiragana and katakana both have same ...
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Katakana Long Vowel Marking (Pokemon Related)
I've been looking at Pokemon names in Japanese and notice that there are some inconsistencies in writing long vowels in their names. For example, ミニリュウ (Dratini) vs ハクリュー (Dragonair). I'm curious as ...
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Why does 'アプリストア’ mean appstore?
I initially expected 'appstore' to be アップストア
I don't see why it's translated as 'apuri-store'
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How to translate English short i sound into katakana
I am wondering how you would translate the short i sound in words like bin, fin, thin into katakana. I am trying to translate my name which contains this sound (with a preceding r). I don't think ...
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Foreign name writing in Katakana
I was trying to figure out how the name "Saoirse" (pronounced as /Sur-sha/) would be written in Katakana characters. I was just a bit confused, although I know that Katakana bases on the ...
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Meaning of ノッて来ん
誰か誘って遊び行こうかとおもったけど、ノッて来んの男のダチばっかりでさぁ…
I can understand the first half of the sentence just fine, but what does the character mean when he refers to his friends as "ノッて来ん"? Is it some form ...
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Why is ゴミ箱 written in katakana usually?
I know katakana can be used for loanwords, onomatopoeia, strange plants, animals, for emphasis, and more. However, I don't understand why ゴミ箱 is written in katakana. Can anyone shed some light on the ...
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How to understand combined characters (kanji) more easily?
A lot of Japanese restaurants, mangas and just paragraphs of texts in general (or not in general, used basically anywhere) use combined characters to make things appear shorter.
And I can’t understand ...
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When writing out my name in katakana, what should I do with the vowels that don't exist
I'm learning how to write my name in katakana and I want to learn to do it without using a translator. I tried making my name by looking at katakana charts but my name being Andrew, I don't know what ...
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What does this double entendre じゃなかったらいいのかよ mean?
「テレビ番組を勝手にアップロードするのは違法だからな」
「10年以下の懲役か1000万円以下の罰金か、その両方だ」
Teacher talking to 3 students:
It's illegal to upload TV programs without permission.
You can get up to 10 years of hard labor... ...10 ...
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When is 大【おお】 and when is 大【だい】?
There was already a discussion here, with examples
Reading of prefix 大
but what about for 大イベント?
I was hoping one could generalize that 大+katakana=【だい】, but at least one word seems to contradict that ...
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Is there a specific reason for there to be three strokes in Katakana "u" versus two strokes?
Getting more serious about learning Japanese and starting over with the syllabaries. In Katakana, "u" is written in three strokes. Is there a reason why strokes two and three can't be ...
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Please explain how this "joke" works, ダーウンロードってかぁ
I have no idea how this joke is even supposed to be a joke.
In this video, 3 kids are laughing at the idea of uploading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qxzVteHto&t=0m12s
「だいたいアップロードってなんだよ？...
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What is the difference between デービッド and デイビット for a name, is it purely the sound?
Many online Katakana generators will create デービッド for the name David but looking at some texts you'll see デイビット. Is there a difference to how the name is being used, e.g. in a sentence, or is it ...
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Was the writing system used in the Empire of Japan (大日本帝国) called 真片仮名?
So, today I encountered the claim on Wikipedia
Shinkatakana (真片仮名, mana and katakana): mixed script including only kanji and katakana.
Wikipedia doesn't list a source for this claim.
This sounds to ...
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What methods are used to teach hiragana and katakana to 6 year olds?
I understand that in Japan children start school at 6 years of age and that they are expected to learn the 46 hiragana and 46 katakana syllables by the end of that year. I'd like to know more about ...
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Looking for website / tool / help in showing what typed Kanji on a keyboard should look like if hand written [duplicate]
Just as the title suggests, tons of Hiragana Katakana & Kanji look different when you type them on a phone compared to how one would learn to write them on pen and paper.
Is there a tool I can ...
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犬 spelled as イッヌ
https://twitter.com/tyomateee2/status/1440691228115230731
イッヌ「ご主人！がんばって！」
In the above dog-related tweet, 犬 seems to be spelled as 'イッヌ' rather than 'イヌ'. Is the presence of 'ッ' a typo or is it a ...
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Need help on translating
I am confused with this, I am new to Japanese and I am still learning it, but isn't this supposed to mean "Tawapon Sanha?" ?, also why is the Sa symbol different from the usual symbol that ...
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Is this character speaking gibberish?
I'm playing a Japanese game and attempting to translate for myself what the characters are saying. I've run into one very odd character who I can't understand at all - I'm not sure if what they're ...
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is it grammatically correct to write ニ as ンイ
I was looking at the list of kana, and I realized something. Say, you wanted to write the syllable “ni”, you would write “ニ”, right? Is it possible to write “n” syllables using “ン” and vowels? For ...
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Popular conventions that Japanese people use the Japanese characters to draw or type Emoji
This question is about the popular conventions that Japanese people use the Japanese characters to draw or type Emoji.
What are some principles and conventions that Japanese people follow?
Here is one ...
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Words half-written in katakana [duplicate]
In the book I'm reading, the main character speaks using katanaka in suffixes, part of the words and some particles, like:
待ってくだサイ
ぶつかりマス
どうしてでカ？
どうして、ロボットの修理しないんでしょうカ？
I know katakana is also used ...
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How often are numbers written in katakana?
I'm working on a program that convert numbers written in kanji into their arabic numbers counterparts and one of the text I've been given to test my program contains numbers written in katakana.
Most ...
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Why are some native Japanese words usually written in katakana? [duplicate]
Like ラク that supposedly means "at ease" (correct me if i'm wrong, i just learned this), why insted of writing it in Hiragana or Kanji they write it in Katakana? This is not the first ...
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Could someone explain this katakana reading of ＜光る葉っぱ＞ from 鹿の王?
In the first page of the novel Shika no Ou by Uehashi Nahoko, this proper noun/kanji is used with some unusual furigana: <光る葉っぱ> read as ピカ・パル.
Since it's a fantasy novel and I know that the ...
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Does Japanese have characters in small size and in capital size?
In English it's normal for the sentence to start with a capital letter. In German also. Additionally, there are classes of words that are written in German with an initial capital letter.
How is it in ...
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Why is this an effective captcha? [closed]
I want to sign up to this website that has an English version, but unfortunately, the captcha for it is Japanese. I can't read Japanese and no online translator seems to be able to make sense of the ...
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Why is Fugu (フグ) spelled in katakana? Isn't it usually only used for english words? [duplicate]
i was doing some research because i have to design a logo for a japanese restaurant. I saw that people usually spell it in katakana even though you only use katakana with english words/names (to my ...
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How should I write my name - Shivam Mukherjee - in Katakana? [closed]
I'm being asked to fill my name in Katakana in an application form for a language school in Japan.
I'm currently going with シワム・ムカージ since:
The ワ sound is closest to the inflection on the -v sound so ...
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Why the movies Space Battleship Yamato title don't use Kanji for Yamato but katakana?
The movies wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Battleship_Yamato
The movies title (宇宙戦艦ヤマト) write Yamato (ヤマト) as katakana. However, Yamato is Japanese word, which is available in Kanji (大和).
大和 ...
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Katakana Surnames
When my son was born, katakana surnames were not permitted.
At some point, this law seems to have been changed, and children born now may be registered with a katakana "western" surname.
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Why is イタリア and not イタリャ? [duplicate]
I'm Italian and while I was studying katakana words such as イタリア I didn't understand why, even though in Japanese there is the specific syllable "rya" (リャ), it's not used in the word イタリア ...
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How to understand usage of ツ in words with a closed syllable?
We have words ペット、ベッド、ファックス、ピクニック.
The symbol ッ usually is indicated for doubling consonants or to indicate a closed syllable.
The question is why the word post (ポスト) was written without ッ before ト?
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Is my Hiragana and Katakana handwriting correct? [closed]
I don't have a teacher and I'm not going to any Japanese classes. I learn Japanese by myself and on the internet. but Content on the Internet is contradictory. I freaking out that I learned all this ...
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What is the meaning of 巻ノ + number next to a book?
What is the meaning of 巻ノ + number next to a book?
I know that
巻 = volume
ノ = ?
七十二 = 72
So it's Volume [?] 72
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