In the Part 1, we discussed about the basic katakana table.


　ア(a)　イ(i)　ウ(u)　エ(e)　オ(o)

　カ(ka)　キ(ki)　ク(ku)　ケ(ke)　コ(ko)

　サ(sa)　シ(shi)　ス(su)　セ(se)　ソ(so)

　タ(ta)　チ(chi)　ツ(tsu)　テ(te)　ト(to)

　ナ(na)　ニ(ni)　ヌ(nu)　ネ(ne)　ノ(no)

　ハ(ha)　ヒ(hi)　フ(fu)　ヘ(he)　ホ(ho)

　マ(ma)　ミ(mi)　ム(mu)　メ(me)　モ(mo)

　ヤ(ya)　　　　　ユ(yu)　　　　　ヨ(yo)

　ラ(ra)　リ(ri)　ル(ru)　レ(re)　ロ(ro)

　ワ(wa)　　　　　　　　　　　　　ヲ(wo)

　ン(nn)

And in the Part 2, we discussed about the additional table with Dakuten (濁点, cloudy tone mark).

　ガ(ga)　ギ(gi)　グ(gu)　ゲ(ge)　ゴ(go)

　ザ(za)　ジ(ji)　ズ(zu)　ゼ(ze)　ゾ(zo)

　ダ(da)　ヂ(ji)　ヅ(zu)　デ(de)　ド(do)

　バ(ba)　ビ(bi)　ブ(bu)　ベ(be)　ボ(bo)

Following the table above, you can spell following words in Japanese.

English words Japanese pronunciation Katakana

America Amerika アメリカ

France Furansu フランス

Canada Kanada カナダ

Babylonia Babironia バビロニア

Today, let's discuss about another Japanese diacritical marks, 半濁点.

半濁点 is pronounced as Han-Dakuten, which means Half Cloudy Tone Mark.

It looks as small circle ゜.

You can attach Han-Dakuten only to following 5 letters.

　ハ(ha)　ヒ(hi)　フ(fu)　ヘ(he)　ホ(ho)

After you attach Han-Dakuten to the letters above, they will be as follows.

　パ(pa)　ピ(pi)　プ(pu)　ペ(pe)　ポ(po)

Let's discuss the difference between the letters with Dakuten, Han-Dakuten and without both.

The word "hill" is pronounced by Japanese as hiru and written in Katakana as ヒル.

The name "Bill" is pronounced by Japanese as Biru and written in Katakana as ビル.

The word "pill" is pronounced by Japanese as Piru and written in Katakana as ピル.

Note that the syllable "hi" is written as "ヒ", "bi" is written as "ビ", and "pi" is written as "ピ".
Japanese notice バ is "cloudy" sound of ハ so they use Dakuten to create バ from ハ.
Japanese notice パ is "half-cloudy" sound of ハ so they use Half-Dakuten to create パ from ハ.

Let's discuss about the long tone mark (ー) the next time.
(Two weeks lator.)
Bye for now!