Katakana Chart Hiragana Chart: Learn to read Japanese, Japanese lessons... http://genkienglish.net/genkijapan/katakana.htm

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Talking Katakana

Hiragana Chart

You probably know that Japanese is made difficult because of all the characters. Well, don't worry too much there are someshort cuts! One is to just learn the Katakana alphabet. This isthe one that is used for writing foreign words and also lots offoods. For example, if you can tell that reads as "me nyu" or reads as "a me ri ka" you can probably figure

out they mean "menu" and "America".

It takes an afternoon to learn katakana (yes that's all!!), you just have to set the time aside and just plough your way through the46 symbols. If you don't get everything the first day, try it again,

just set aside a good 3 or 4 hours and you'll have it cracked.

To get the pronunciation right, I've put up on the site this talking katakana page, it's not too difficult. There is also a card

you can print out with the characters. So first drill all the sounds into your head with the table below, then cut out the

symbols on the printed card and test yourself. Not the most fun activity in the world, but if it means you can read menus and

your name it's well worth it!

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Katakana Chart Hiragana Chart: Learn to read Japanese, Japanese lessons... http://genkienglish.net/genkijapan/katakana.htm

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Katakana Chart Hiragana Chart: Learn to read Japanese, Japanese lessons... http://genkienglish.net/genkijapan/katakana.htm

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Now try the Talking Katakana Games!Katakana Game 1 - Katakana Game 2 - Katakana Game 3 - Katakana Game 4

If you speak a little Japanese already, you might want to have a look at the Hiragana Games.

Once you've figured out all the katakana, try some reading practice on this site.

Also be sure to check out the talking "Japanese Words" page and my Hints & Tips page.

Recommended Courses

There are loads of great resources out there, and one of the good ones isthe "Pimsleur" series. They have a "Quick & Simple" starter pack and also a full on "Gold Course". They are well recommended if you want to learn Japanese, in January I used it to learn everyday Spanish in amonth!

Click here for more:

Ready-to-teach Lessons - 100's of ESL lesson plans and over 2000 ESL flashcards. Only $29.99 www.esl-library.com

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Katakana Chart Hiragana Chart: Learn to read Japanese, Japanese lessons... http://genkienglish.net/genkijapan/katakana.htm

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Or for slightly cheaper, but one that requires a bit more work, you can have a look at the Living Language series. Although now I would preferthe Pimsleur course above, I actually used the Living Language seriesmyself when I first learnt Japanese. It's good, but you have to keeprepeating and repeating the same CDs, whereas the Pimsleur makes youthink more, and reviews the language as you go along.

Click for more.

If you teach English in Japan you might be interested in my new Classroom English / Classroom Japanese CD.

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Katakana Chart Hiragana Chart: Learn to read Japanese, Japanese lessons... http://genkienglish.net/genkijapan/katakana.htm

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All the Japanese on this page is suitable for either guys or girls, and is pretty normal,everyday Japanese. This means it's not too formal, but you'll be fine as long as you don'tsay it to anyone too posh!

Also have a look at hints and tips for becoming fluent in Japanese page!

Email me if you have any questions or comments,

Mata ne! Be genki,

Richard

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