KATAKANA
Katakana is used when writing down foreign names, places, and words of foreign origin (If you are not from Japan,your name can be written in katakana). Without knowing katakana, one might find it almost impossible to order fast food in Japan, or read billboards on the street. This is because Japan uses so many words borrowed from other languages.
The structure of katakana is similar to hiragana(if you know one the other is easy to learn). The main difference between the two is katakana is composed of straight lines, where hiragana uses curved lines.
This week I will show you some countries as large as Japan with their katakana spellings.
Japan's land area is approximately 378,000 km². It is often said that Japan is a small country. However, the archipelago stretches some 3,500 km from the northernmost end to the southernmost end, which means that climate and scenery vary gre
atly from region to region. A fact that is not very well known is that Japan is smaller than California in the United States, which has a land area of about 411,000 km².
| Doitsu (Germany) ドイツ | 357,000 km² |
| Furansu (France) フランス | 547,000 km² |
| Igirisu (United Kingdom) イギリス | 244,000 km² |
| Itaria (Italy) イタリア | 301,000 km² |
| Nyuujiirando (New Zealand) ニュージーランド | 269,000 km² |
| Betonamu (Viet Nam) ベトナム | 330,000 km² |
They didn't exist until relatively recently. Nowadays the Japanese use many borrowed words from English and other foreign languages (please refer the previous article "Borrowed Words" and "Borrowed English"). Since it is hard to express all sounds by the basic 46 characters or their regular combinations, the Japanese have developed new combinations that are formed by adding a small "a, i, u, e, o" for several foreign syllables.
sample words ::
| amerika アメリカ | America |
| igirisu イギリス | United Kingdom |
| ukuraina ウクライナ | Ukraine |
| ejiputo エジプト | Egypt |
| oranda オランダ | Holland |
| kanada カナダ | Canada |
| kyanpu キャンプ | camp |
| kuizu クイズ | quiz |
| kenia ケニア | Kenya |
| koohii コーヒー | coffee |
| sakkaa サッカー | soccer |
| shawaa シャワー | shower |
| suisu スイス | Switzerland |
| seetaa セーター | sweater |
| sofaa ソファー | sofa |
| takushii タクシー | taxi |
| chesu チェス | chess |
| tsuaa ツアー | tour |
| tenisu テニス | tennis |
| tomato トマト | tomato |
| naifu ナイフ | knife |
| nyuusu ニュース | news |
| nugaa ヌガー | nougat |
| nekutai ネクタイ | tie |
| noruuee ノルウェー | Norway |
| haapu ハープ | harp |
| hinto ヒント | hint |
| furansu フランス | France |
| heburai ヘブライ | Hebrew |
| hoteru ホテル | hotel |
| mareeshia マレーシア | Malaysia |
| myuujikaru ミュージカル | musical |
| muudo ムード | mood |
| mekishiko メキシコ | Mexico |
| monako モナコ | Monaco |
| yankii ヤンキー | Yankee |
| yudaya ユダヤ | Judea |
| yooroppa ヨーロッパ | Europe |
| rajio ラジオ | radio |
| riigu リーグ | league |
| rubii ルビー | ruby |
| rebanon レバノン | Lebanon |
| roketto ロケット | rocket |
| wain ワイン | wine |
| rondon ロンドン | London |
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