Katakana Chart: All 104 Characters with Hiragana Readings

Katakana is the second Japanese syllabary. It has the same sounds as hiragana but different shapes, and it is used mostly for words borrowed from other languages (コーヒー, coffee), names, and emphasis. This is the full Japanese Katakana deck: 104 cards covering the basic characters, the voiced forms (ガ ga, パ pa) and the combined sounds (キャ kya).

The readings are given in hiragana rather than romaji, so the deck assumes you already know hiragana. If you don't, start with the hiragana chart.

How to learn katakana

• Learn it after hiragana. Every katakana character maps to a hiragana one, so the deck is really teaching a second set of shapes for sounds you already know.
• Watch the look-alikes. シ (shi) and ツ (tsu), and ソ (so) and ン (n), are the classic pairs. Their strokes slope differently; seeing them side by side on cards is the fastest way to stop mixing them up.
• Read loanwords. Menus and signs are full of katakana. Sounding out a word like テレビ (terebi, TV) is good practice and reveals the English word underneath.