Katakana

Katakana is the wey that some o the wirds is written in Japanese. It is mair easier tae read nor the kanji (the seestem based on Cheenese chairacters) whilk maun be learnt wird bi wird, acause ance the 46 katakana seembols haes been learnt, the reader kens whit wey tae pronounce them.

Katakana an hiragana is baith syllabaries. In Scots we uise the letters o the alphabet. In maist wirds ilka letter staunds for a bittie soond (a phoneme). In a seelabary, ilka seembol staunds for a seelable. For example: in Scots we write “Wagamama”: ilka ane o the aicht letters staudns for a soond: “W-a-g-a-m-a-m-a”. Bit gin the wird “Wagamama” is dividit intae seelables there is anerly fower syllables (blocks o soond): Wa-ga-ma-ma. In Katakana it is written wi fower seembols: ワガママ.

Hiragana wirks in the same wey, but the seembols isna the same. Katakana is mibbes a puckle easier tae learn nor Hiragana acause the seembols is mair semple an mair “squared aff”. Katakana an Hiragana the gither is cried “Kana”.