In words that contain an r sound after a vowel, the katakana word usually just extends the vowel sound.

Ex: mark -> ma-ku (The - in these examples represents the chouon, above.)
Ex: fork -> fo-ku
The v sound is generally replaced by the b sound.
Ex: video -> bideo
D and t, when they do not have a vowel after them, are usually replaced with do and to, respectively.
Ex: dress -> doresu
Ex: contest -> kontesuto
The "j" sound, when it doesn't have a vowel after it, is usually replaced with ji.
Ex: orange -> orenji
The other single consonant sounds, when they do not have a vowel after them, are usually replaced with the
appropriate consonant followed by u. (Some notable exceptions to this are the words cake and steak, which
turn into ke-ki and sute-ki.)
Ex: class -> kurasu
Ex: club -> kurabu
Ex: home -> ho-mu
L and r are both replaced with characters from the ra ri ru re ro line of the katakana table.
Ex: milk -> miruku
Ex: room -> ru-mu
The "see" sound is generally replaced with shi. (The newer combination of a se or su character followed by a
half-sized u is used in some words.)
Ex: sink -> shinku
The tu sound is generally replaced with chu. (The newer combination of the to character followed by a halfsized u is used in some words.)
Ex: tube -> chu-bu
The soft "th" sound is replaced with characters from the sa shi su se so row of the katakana table.
Ex: thank you -> sankyu-
Ex: bath -> basu
The hard "th" sound is replaced with characters from the za ji zu ze zo row of the katakana table.
Ex: weather -> ueza-
Since the only w sound in Japanese is wa, all other w sounds are generally replaced with u.
Ex: wine -> wain
Ex: waiter -> ue-ta-
Ex: whisky -> uisuki-
Words that have a short vowel followed by a consonant will often double the consonant. (This is not the case
when the consonant is n.)
Ex: truck -> torakku
Ex: bed -> beddo
Ex: pet -> petto
Ex: pen -> pen
The "y" sound, except when followed by a, o, or u, is usually replaced with i.
Ex: you -> yu-
Ex: year -> iya-
In order to make foreign words sound more like their originals, additional character combinations have been
introduced. These new combinations represent fa, fi, fe, fo, si, ti, tu, di, du, wi, we, wo, va, vi, vu, ve, vo, tsa,

tsi, tse, tso, che, she, and je. This means that words that came into the language earlier will sometimes
follow different spelling rules than words that have been introduced more recently.

Writing of the Characters

1) General Rules of Stroke Orders

Both kana (hiragana and katakana) and Kanji have the same general rules of stroke orders.
a. Write from top to bottom, and left to right
b. Horizontal before vertical
When horizontal and vertical lines cross, horizontal lines are usually written before vertical
lines.

c. Character-spanning strokes last

Vertical line that pass through other strokes are written after the strokes passed through
are written.

Hiragana with Diacritical Marks

You can create 23 additional sounds by adding diacritical marks. With short parallel lines,
the unvoiced consonants [k], [s], [t], and [h] become voiced consonants [g], [z], [d], and [b]
respectively. Additionally, by adding a small circle to [h], the sound changes to [p].

Transcribing Contracted Sounds

When small are added to the letters in the column except for
, it transcribe contracted sounds. Contracted sounds are single syllable.

Transcribing Double Consonants

By using small , you can transcribe double consonants.

gakki semester; term
kittepostage stamp
zasshimagazine
tottoriTottori Prefecture (one of Japan's 43 prefectures)
Double consonant 'n' is transcribe with .
a n na iguide
sa n ni n three people
Other Rules
1) Long Vowels
[aa] - add to the step hiraganao ka a sa n)'mother' (someone
else's, not your own)
[ii] - add to the step hiraganao ni i sa n) 'older brother'
(someone else's, not your own)
[uu] - add to the step hiraganaku u ki'air'
[ee] - add to the step hiraganao ne e sa n) 'older sister'
(someone else's, not your own)
[oo] - addto the step hiraganaho o ri tsu)'law'
* However, there are words that is added instead of .
o o ki i)
to o ) 'ten' in Japanese numeral
o o sa ka) Osaka Prefecture
ko o ri) 'ice'
to o ri'street'
2) Vowels to be Dropped
When vowel [i] and [u] are placed between voiceless consonants ([k], [s], [t], [p], [h]) or at
the end of the sentence proceeded by voiceless consonants, they are sometimes omitted.
su ki ya ki de su s ki ya ki de sIt is 'sukiyaki', the beef dish.)