Easy Katakana (Paperback)

by Tina Wells (Author) "An alphabet that is made up entirely of syllables is called a syllabary..." (more)
Key Phrases: following kana, small tsu, roman spellings, American English, Los Angeles, San Francisco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Beginning This practical text contains 20 lessons on how to read and write katakana, the spelling system used for loan words that originate from languages other than Japanese. More than 1,500 Japanese loan words from English are introduced in lessons that provide plenty of practice in pronouncing and writing katakana.

About the Author
McGraw-Hill authors represent the leading experts in their fields and are dedicated to improving the lives, careers, and interests of readers worldwide

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (January 11, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844285196
• ISBN-13: 978-0844285191
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #831,855 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific book!, July 1, 2002

By A Customer

I think this is a great book for people who are interested in learning Japanese. It also gives you not only the pronounciation, but that pronounciation in an English word. It makes it easy to read and write Katakana. Unlike many books, if you read one or to two lessons it will stick.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book!, October 18, 2008

By	M. Saunders (Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I know everyone says that you should study Hiragana before Katakana, since the former is most often used in writing Japanese. Many instructors or programs place little emphasis on Katakana. However, I have found that it is the perfect starting point for learning to read and write Japanese.

First of all, the thought of learning to write in Japanese is usually very intimidating to most westerners. Katakana gives you a much friendlier introduction to writing Japanese since the characters are so much simpler than Hiragana or (gulp!) Kanji. Only around 4 kana are introduced in each lesson, with special attention given to the correct pronunciation and stroke order (proper stroke order is VERY important when writing Japanese). You are then presented with plenty of opportunities to practice with them. This is where Katakana has the biggest advantage for the beginning student.

Katakana is used for words borrowed from foreign languages, mostly from English. Also, pronouncing Japanese is easy since the sounds never change based on context like they do in English. In fact, the vowel sounds in Japanese are very similar to those in Spanish. So by being able to read a few characters and use simple pronunciation rules, you can usually interpret the words! Some examples are:

kamera: camera
kaa: car (sort of like the Boston accent)
merii: Mary
aian: iron, as in the golf clubs (ai is pronounced like "eye")

Most lessons present dozens of examples of words like these, and there are over 1500 in all. For me, it was very exciting to be able to read and interpret many of these words so quickly. Even a novice can pick out one or two words written in Katakana from a whole page of Hiragana and Kanji and have some understanding of the rest from the context.

Using this text, I was able to become proficient in Katakana after a couple of weeks. I highly recommend it to anyone who is serious about learning to write in Japanese. I also recommend another book in this series, Easy Hiragana, though I wish it were written in the same style as this book. Learning to write nihongo is not easy, but this book makes it a bit easier. Good luck! (Kouun wo inorimasu!)

5.0 out of 5 stars Good layout, August 30, 2008

By	Edward Thompson "euphoriadj" (Northeast Indiana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book gave me a lot more confidence in my writing. Most other book made me feel like I needed to do everything with a brush. This book shows you how to write properly with a pen. Essential for eventual reading of Nihongo.