Reading and Writing Japanese Katakana

This book provides a complete course for beginning students who want to learn the Katakana alphabet!

With plentiful writing and reading practice, this workbook starts with the basic letters and works up to writing words and complete sentences. Divided into two parts, the first part presents the 46 main Katakana letters in their full and contracted forms, with extensive writing spaces provided for writing practice. Recognition and pronunciation of the letters are reinforced through writing and listening exercises.

In the second half of the book, students can apply their knowledge of Katakana in a Writing Practice section that contains sentences related to contexts in which Katakana words are often used, such as food and drinks, social media and tourism. Exercises are graded in difficulty from Writing Drills (from copying to writing from memory) to Dictation Practice (connecting the sounds with the letters) to Writing Exercises (writing answers that fit the situations given).

Features of this language workbook include:

• A thorough overview of the Japanese writing system, explaining when and how Katakana is used

• Handwriting and stroke-order tips along with extensive writing practice sheets

• Online audio recordings speed up the process by reinforcing the pronunciation of the letters through a wide variety of listening and writing exercises

• Mnemonic illustrations for every character

• Printable flashcards available online for download

The Japanese writing system combines three types of letters: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Katakana is used for transcription of foreign language words into Japanese; in the writing of loan words; for emphasis; to represent onomatopoeia; for technical and scientific terms; for names of plants, animals, minerals and often Japanese companies.

About the Author

Emiko Konomi received her PhD in Linguistics from Cornell University. She was a member of the faculty of the School of Business Administration and Department of World Languages and Literature at Portland State University. Dr. Konomi has taught all levels of Japanese including business Japanese, and has extensive experience training Japanese-language instructors at various teacher-training programs in the US. Her dedication to quality teaching earned her the 2011 and 2015 John Eliot Allen Outstanding Teaching Award. Her academic research focuses on Japanese linguistics and pedagogy. She is the author of Easy Japanese.