What are the most ridiculous words you know in English? I’m sure these words are even weirder. So sit back, relax, and control your gag reflex.

Related Videos:

1. Strange Katakana 9: Shortening Words
2. Strange Katakana 8: Two Words Become One
3. Strange Katakana 7: Emphasizing with Katakana

Besides shortening your words, what are some other things you can do to save time in your Japanese learning?

• Find yourself an online Japanese teacher.
• Find yourself some online flashcards.
• Learn how you can get hundreds of language exchange partners.
• Install a hard drive into your brain.

What are ways you save time when speaking Japanese, besides shortening Japanese words? Katakana is just so ridiculous that way.

Related Videos:

1. Strange Katakana 8: Two Words Become One
2. Strange Katakana 10: Ridiculous Katakana Words
3. Strange Katakana 4: Foreign Barbarians

The Japanese take this concept a step further, and katakana is the way to get it done. What kinds of words are combo words in Japanese? Check out the video above to find out.

Related Videos:

1. Strange Katakana 9: Shortening Words
2. Strange Katakana 4: Foreign Barbarians
3. Strange Katakana 10: Ridiculous Katakana Words

In Japanese, to emphasize words or phrases, you don’t use italics or underline (for the most part), you use katakana instead. Here are some great words that will give you an idea on how to emphasize words katakana.

Related Videos:

1. Strange Katakana 9: Shortening Words
2. Strange Katakana 3: What is Katakana?
3. Strange Katakana 8: Two Words Become One

Those are examples of onomotopia, something the Japanese love. I’ve had plenty of people say that once you learn Japanese onomotopia, and once you can use them fluently, you will sound like a native Japanese. Onomotopia are used in daily life all the time. Can you imagine?

“Ugh, my stomach is feeling grumble grumble”

“Oh no, that rock is rumble rumbling!”

“Oof, my head is bzzzzzzzz.”

Onomotopia make the Japanese really interesting, and definitely a way to sound really fluent in Japanese! Try it and learn it!

Related Videos:

1. Strange Katakana 4: Foreign Barbarians
2. Sound Fluent in Japanese with Katakana: Introduction
3. Strange Katakana 2: What are the Japanese Alphabets?

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Related Videos:

1. Strange Katakana 10: Ridiculous Katakana Words
2. Strange Katakana 7: Emphasizing with Katakana
3. Strange Katakana 3: What is Katakana?

In this list you’ll learn about all kinds of interesting words originally conceived in other countries. It’s cool how they sound different once they are made into the Japanese language.

What? You love learning Japanese?

Related Videos:

1. Strange Katakana 2: What are the Japanese Alphabets?
2. Strange Katakana 8: Two Words Become One
3. Strange Katakana 9: Shortening Words

It’s a beautiful, mysterious thing. One of those things you don’t want to live with, but you can’t live without. Here’s what Wikipedia says about Katakana:

In modern Japanese, katakana are most often used for transcription of words from foreign languages[4] (called gairaigo). For example, “television” is written terebi (テレビ?). Similarly, katakana is usually used for country names, foreign places, and personal names. For example, America is written アメリカ Amerika (America also has its own kanji (ateji) Amerika (亜米利加?) or for short, Beikoku (米国?), which literally means “Rice Country”).

Katakana are also used for onomatopoeia,[4] words used to represent sounds. For example, pinpon (ピンポン?), the “ding-dong” sound of a doorbell, would usually be written in katakana. Also, katakana is used for words the writer wishes to emphasize.[4]

Technical and scientific terms, such as the names of animal and plant species and minerals, are also commonly written in katakana. Homo sapiens (ホモ・サピエンス?), as a species, is written hito (ヒト?), rather than its kanji 人.

Katakana are also often, but not always, used for transcription of Japanese company names. For example Suzuki is written スズキ, and Toyota is written トヨタ. Katakana are also used for emphasis, especially on signs, advertisements, and hoardings (i.e., billboards). For example, it is common to see ココ koko (”here”), ゴミ gomi (”trash”) or メガネ megane (”glasses”), and words to be emphasized in a sentence are also sometimes written in katakana, mirroring the European usage of italics.

Pre-World War II official documents mix katakana and kanji in the same way that hiragana and kanji are mixed in modern Japanese texts, that is, katakana were used for okurigana and particles such as wa or o.

Katakana were also used for telegrams in Japan before 1988, and for computer systems—before the introduction of multibyte characters—in the 1980s. Most computers in that era used katakana instead of kanji or hiragana for output.

Although words borrowed from ancient Chinese are usually written in kanji, loanwords from modern Chinese dialects which are borrowed directly rather than using the Sino-Japanese on’yomi readings, are often written in katakana. Examples include:

What a boring explanation, though! I want to watch the video, because I’m illiterate!

Related Videos:

1. Strange Katakana 2: What are the Japanese Alphabets?
2. Strange Katakana 8: Two Words Become One
3. Strange Katakana 9: Shortening Words

What is Romaji?

Romaji is the romanization of Japanese (the use of the Latin Alphabet to write Japanese language, like writing “sumo” or “sake”). Romaji is used by those who don’t know the Japanese writing systems, things like passports, and in other various places. Our recommendation: Skip it.

What is Kanji?

Kanji are “Chinese characters” used in modern Japanese along with hiragana (see below) and katakana. There are a lot of kanji, and it takes a long time to learn them. Study hard, friends!

What is Hiragana?

Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary (like katakana) and is part of the “kana” system, where one character represents one mora. In the case of hiragana (or katakana), most kana consist of a consonant and a vowel (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, for example), though there are exceptions to this, like the a, i, u, e, o column and the “n” sound as well.

What is Katakana?

Katakana is also a Japanese syllabary, also using the kana system. “Katakana” means “fragmentary kana” and are derived from components of more complex kanji. Katakana usually makes up foreign words that are retrofitted to be used in the Japanese language. Really cool, and it’s what this entire lesson is about (be sure to check out the other videos on katakana).

Related Videos:

1. Sound Fluent in Japanese with Katakana: Introduction
2. Strange Katakana 3: What is Katakana?
3. Strange Katakana 4: Foreign Barbarians

In this session, we learn why katakana is so important when learning Japanese (or why it’s not important?), and it will serve as an introduction into the other lessons which cover various aspects of katakana and the other Japanese alphabets.

Related Videos:

1. Strange Katakana 2: What are the Japanese Alphabets?
2. Strange Katakana 9: Shortening Words
3. Strange Katakana 3: What is Katakana?