How to learn katakana

Learn katakana the way you learned hiragana, row by row and from memory, but practise it on real words from the start: most katakana words are loanwords you can guess, like コーヒー (kōhī, coffee). If you already know hiragana, the 46 basic katakana take one to two weeks.

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Why katakana feels harder

The sounds are the same as in hiragana, but the characters turn up less often, because they mostly write foreign words and names. So they slip away more easily if you don't review them. The shapes are simple and angular, which also means some look very alike.

How to learn it

1. Follow the hiragana plan. One row a day, in the same order of rows.
2. Pair each kana with its twin. カ and か are the same sound, so you are learning a shape, not a sound.
3. Read loanwords. テレビ is a television, パン is bread. The word tells you that you read it right, and the kana sticks.
4. Review more often at first. In everyday Japanese text you'll see katakana less often than hiragana.

Kana that look alike

• シ and ツ: the strokes of シ lie flatter and its long stroke sweeps up from the bottom; those of ツ stand taller and its long stroke sweeps down from the top.
• ソ and ン: the same rule. The short stroke of ソ stands taller, that of ン lies flatter.
• ク, ケ and タ: タ is ク with one more stroke inside. In ケ the long stroke drops from the middle of the top bar, not from its end.
• ウ, ワ and フ: ウ has a mark on top, ワ a short stroke on the left, and フ neither.
• ナ and メ: ナ has a flat horizontal stroke, メ a short slanting one.

What is different from hiragana

Long vowels are written with a dash, ー, not another vowel (small っ and long vowels). Foreign sounds have extra combinations too, like ティ and ファ (extended katakana).

Frequently asked questions

Last updated 1 November 2026