Here we are finally ! The last course on katakana. We will see in this course the new combinations of kana, a subject not so simple as that, so be brave.
If you think it is necessary to revise the previous courses, do not hesitate to go back in order to refresh your memory.
From now on, I consider that you have mastered all your kana as well as all the basic combinations.
When we katakanize foreign words, we realized that there were sounds that we didn’t necessarily have, that we were using phonetically identical Japanese syllables, more or less, but not quite exact. For example :
Door → ドア
The word above sees the sound [r] disappear, for lack of syllable for this sound.
Power → パワー
The « r » is almost never noticeable by ear, so we lengthen the last syllable.
Hotel → ホテル
Here we took the ル which is very close phonetically to the letter « l ».
Jazz → ジャズ
Here we took the ズ which is very close phonetically to the letter « z ».
Now, if we have the word « Fax » or « Fashion », how are we going to do that ? Because the syllable « fa » does not exist in Japanese. We have the syllable フ but that’s it, and it’s not at all similar. So how are we going to do it ?
We will use new combinations based on the following katakana : ア, イ, エ, オ. We will never use the kana ウ, you can imagine it since we already have the syllable フ. These katakana will be written in smaller in front of the フ to form new sounds.
ファ → Fa
フィ → Fi
フェ → Fe
フォ → Fo
So that you know right now, there is no equivalent in hiraganas for these sounds, except for the kana フ, its equivalent in hiraganas is ふ.
In hiragana, we have the small ゃ, ゅ, ょ and the small っ very present in the extensions. Possibly, we have small versions of the five vowels (ぁ, ぃ, ぅ, ぇ, ぉ) but which are only present in manga when we want to write things that do not exist in the Japanese language, whimsical stuff.
They can also be used, especially in an informal context, to represent sounds that gradually fade (はぁ, ねぇ).
I will give you some examples. Let’s start with the line of F.
ファ → Fa
Fighter → ファイター
Fashion → ファッション
Fax → ファックス
フィ → Fi
Figurine → フィギュア
フ → Fu
フェ → Fe
Café (the place) → カフェ
Faerytale → フェアリーテイル
Fork → フォーク
We will now see the line of V. We saw in a previous course that the Japanese had great difficulty in pronouncing this letter and that they replaced the sounds in V by the sounds of the line of B.
For the little reminder, the word « Vitamin » was written in katakana « ビタミン » with the katakana ビ. A fairly basic alternative… But words including [v] sound, there are many in foreign languages and the Japanese had to resolve to find a more convenient alternative. So one day, they took the katakana ウ. They added a dakuten : ヴ. And they decided that this new kana would be pronounced [vu]. Above all do not ask yourself questions, it was the Japanese who decided this way – there was however a desire to remain logical in relation to the line of F with the kana フ which also works on its own –. With that, let’s see some examples below :
ヴァ → Va
Viking → ヴァイキング
ヴィ → Vi
Vegan → ヴィガン
Victor Hugo → ヴィクトル・ユーゴー
Leonardo Da Vinci → レオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチ
ヴ → Vu
Octave → オクターヴ
ヴェ → Ve
Beethoven → ベートーヴェン
Versailles → ヴェルサイユ
ヴォ → Vo
Wolfgang → ヴォルフガング
So, we just saw the line of V. All of this is fine, but what are we going to do with all the foreign words with the sound [v] as « vitamin » ? Well, you should know that these new kana combinations were created about 60 years ago. So proper names must be written in katakana according to the new combinations while common names like « vitamin » can always be written with the kana ビ.
New combinations : the W. We already have the syllable ワ and the syllable ヲ. Which you will probably never have to use – we will see why below – but for the sounds [wi], [we] and [wu] ? Let’s see right away below :
ワ → Wa (already exists)
ウィ → Wi
Whisky → ウィスキー
WU (doesn’t exist in Japanese)
ウェ → We
Website → ウェブサイト
ヲ /ウォ → Wo
Walking → ウォーキング
For the last syllable ヲ, although they already have a syllable to say [wo], the Japanese, probably for the sake of logic and simplicity, have decided to create a new combination to say [wo]. So much so that writing ヲ is no longer used at all.
Things will now go a little faster. We are going to three series of sounds : the line of SH, of J and CH.
The line of SH :シャ, シ, シュ, シェ, ショ
→ シェフ → Chef (cook)
The combination was invented by taking the シ and the little ェ to create the sound [ʃe].
The line of J :ジャ, ジ, ジュ, ジェ, ジョ
→ プロジェクト → Project
The combination was invented by taking the ジ and the little ェ to create the sound [ʒe].
The line of CH :チャ, チ, チュ, チェ, チョ
→ チェス → Chess
The combination was invented by taking the チ and the little ェ to create the sound [tch].
Then, the new combinations make it possible to pronounce certain syllables better. Remember that at the beginning, I told you that the new kana combinations were created to reproduce the sounds of foreign languages as faithfully as possible. We already saw some of them in the very first lesson on katakana, including the sounds « ti », « di », « tu » and « du », and we found that, well... the first combinations were approaching a little but not perfectly faithful to the original pronunciation.
Now it’s time to see how the Japanese katakanize these sounds according to the new combinations below :
ティ → Ti
Tiramisu → ティラミス
ディ → Di
Disney → ディズニー
Zinedine Zidane → ジネディーヌ・ジダン
トゥ → Tu
Bluetooth → ブルートゥース
ドゥ → Du
Voodoo → ブードゥー
That said, I can reassure you right away. The words we saw as examples in the first course on katakana in the eighth part « Modified sounds » are perfectly correct. I remind you that these new combinations that you are studying at the moment are very recent and appeared at most 60 years ago. It is still common, for example, to find the English word « ticket » written « チケット » with a チ. This is completely normal.
To continue with the new combinations, we are going to see some of them specific to the transcription of certain sounds unique to certain languages, notably German. All of the examples below are German words and proper names.
ツァ → Tsa
Mozart → モーツァルト
ツィ → Tsi
Zigeuner → ツィゴイネル
ツ → Tsu (already exists)
ツェ → Tse
Rapunzel → ラプンツェル
ツォ → Tso
Zollverein → ツォルフェライン
More new combinations, the latest !
スィ → Si
Merci → メルスィ (« Merci » is a French word, it means « thank you » in English)
ズィ → Zi
Troisième → トラワズィエム (« Troisième » is a French word, it means « third » in English)
テュ → Tyu
Tulipe → テューリップ
デュ → Dyu
Producer → プロデューサー
クォ → Kwo
Quartz → クォーツ
Phew ! This is a lot to learn but we are finally done with the katakana.
At the end of this part, you now know how to :
– Read, write and understand all combinations of kana.
– Transcribe any foreign proper names respecting the phonetics of the proper name in its country of origin.
– Transcribe any foreign words in katakana respecting the phonetics of the word according to its original language.
You may have the impression that a good number of foreign words have been adapted into katakana more or less anyway with this concern of wanting to stay as close as possible to the original pronunciation; you will probably also find at least two scriptures in katakana for the same foreign word – this is the case for words like « tulip » and « ticket » for example –, although these cases remain quite rare.
However, I want to reassure you, I will never use complex foreign words in the sentences I will give you as examples. Most often, these will be Western proper names - notably French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, rarely German - that you will find in katakana in the sentences. You will sometimes find foreign common nouns, mainly English, but again, these words will not be very complicated to understand. Since we are talking about it, here I give you a non-exhaustive list of the most common foreign words in the Japanese language :
– Video → ビデオ
– Game → ゲーム
– Video Game → ビデオゲーム
– Television → テレビ (abreviatura)
– Swimming Pool → プール
– Café (the place) → カフェ
– Coffee → コーヒー
– Beer → ビール
– Maid → メイド
– Bar → バー
– Power → パワー
– Super Power → スーパーパワー
– Hotel → ホテル
– Coktail → カクテル
– Zombie → ゾンビ
– Shampoo → シャンプー
– Door → ドア
– Taxi → タクシー
– Radio → タクシー
– Taxi → ラジオ
– Test → テスト
– Bed → ベッド
– Hit → ヒット
– Rock → ロック
– Rockband → ロックバンド
– Jazz → ジャズ
– Jazzband → ジャズバンド
Finish ! This list is really non-exhaustive, there are hundreds of foreign words, and especially English, which have integrated the Japanese language and it is impossible to list them all here. Almost all the names of sports and certain culinary dishes from the West have also integrated the Japanese language, without forgetting the names of breeds of dogs and cats, various other animals and even names of places... The list is absolutely extensive but don’t worry, we will see it all bit by bit in vocabulary courses throughout the program.
Before you start the next part on studying kanji, you have to learn two vocabulary courses. The first on domestic animals and the second on dog breeds. A good opportunity to learn a few more kanji, most of which you will find in the next part, as well as to revise everything you learned about katakana.
First re-read the lesson to incorporate all these new things that you have just learned and once it is done, you will be able to start more serenely on the vocabulary courses.
Also, as usual, you have exercises to do. In the first, I give you proper names in katakana and of course including the new combinations, and you have to find out what these proper names are. In the second, I give you foreign proper names to katakanize including, again, the new combinations.
This course is now over, thank you for reading. Continue to be diligent in your work and you will make progress, I guarantee it.
I wish you to revise your course well and see you next time.
Introduction