Katakana Extra Lesson
Katakana also has Sokuon and Youon. But since the logic is exactly the same as Hiragana, we don't waste our time teaching and learning the same thing. Instead, I want to teach you something new in this lesson.
What does 'ー' mean in Katakana phrases?
This is the symbol for long vowels. For details, go to this lesson. Do not mix it up with the Kanji 一. To type this long vowel symbol, just use the button between 0 and =.
One Katakana is missing in our lessons: ヲ
This Katakana is practically not used in Japan anymore. Some banks don't even allow account holders to have this Katakana in their names. It is because Katakana nowadays are mainly used for transcribing European languages (mostly English), ヲ, whose pronunciation is the same as オ, does not make any contribution in this regard and has thus been phased out. As a result, we don't need to learn this Katakana.
ヲ, however, is used in slangs such as ヲタク (people with obsessive interest on a particular subject).
How do people transcribe English sound elements that do not exist in Japanese?
A lot of sound elements in English are missing in Japanese. Examples are "th", "v", "w" (except wa) and the famous "R" and "L". Solutions made by the Japanese people are as follows:
Katakana Writing:
(Mnemonics & How to pronounce)
NOTE:
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