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Katakana
Katakana is a phonetic writing system which is used on official documents, and words that have a foreign origin like names, places, objects, etc.
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Consonants sounds the same as the consonants in the English language. Except "r" which is a sound between l and r, pronounced with the tip of the tongue and is never rolled.
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Short vowels are single vowels like "a" or the "i" in "ki". The way to pronounce the short vowels are: "a" is like the a in father "e" is like the e in red "i" is like the ey in key "o" is like the o in no "u" is like the ue in blue "u" isn't usually pronounced unless it is the initial syllable
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Long vowels sound the same as short vowels except they are twice as long when pronounced. Long vowels are when there is two of the same vowel like "aa" or "ii". |
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The following vowel combinations are pronounced as said: "au" is like the ou in out "ei" is like the ay in day "ou" is like the oa in boat
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Sometimes an "n" will sound like an "m" and is writen as such. This happens if the "n" is before a "b", "m", or "p". For example if you have the word "anma" you would pronounce it and write it as "amma". |
 -a |  -i |  -u |  -e |  -o |  -a |  -i |  -u |  -e |  -o | |
 -ka |  -ki |  -ku |  -ke |  -ko |
 -ga |  -gi |  -gu |  -ge |  -go | |
 -sa |  -shi |  -su |  -se |  -so |
 -za |  -ji |  -zu |  -ze |  -zo | |
 -ta |  -chi |  -tsu |  -te |  -to |
 -da |  -ji |  -(d)zu |  -de |  -do | |
 -na |  -ni |  -nu |  -ne |  -no |
 -ma |  -mi |  -mu |  -me |  -mo | |
 -ha |  -hi |  -fu |  -he |  -ho |
 -ba |  -bi |  -bu |  -be |  -bo | |
 -pa |  -pi |  -pu |  -pe |  -po |
 -ra |  -ri |  -ru |  -re |  -ro | |
 -ya | -i |  -yu | -e |  -yo |
 -wa | -i | -u | -e |  -o | |
 -ya | -i |  -yu | -el |  -yo |
 -n |  -(*note1*) |  -(*note2*) | |||
| -sha | -shu | -she | -sho | -cha | -chu | -che | -cho | |
| -fa | -fi | -fe | -fo |
-ja | -ju | -je | -jo |
| -kya | -kyu | -kyo | -gya | -gyu | -gyo | |
| -nya | -nyu | -nyo |
-hya | -hyu | -hyo | |
| -bya | -byu | -byo |
-pya | -pyu | -pyo | |
| -rya | -ryu | -ryo |
-mya | -myu | -myo |
*note1*-(example-
-ppa)symbol seems to be what the next consonant is.*note2*-(example-
-kii)symbol seems to be what the previous vowel is.(in other words it makes the vowel before it into long vowel)
*note3*-there are no l's or v's in the Japanese phonetic system, instead they are replaced by similar sounds and this sometimes leads to mistakes in translations. The "l" is replaced by "r" and "v" is replaced by "b".
*note4*-There is one symbol I found that is rare to see, it is 
. This symbol seems to be just the letter "v" because I've only seen it used when it is meant to be translated as a "v" and not a "b". I am not sure about this because I haven't found any mention of it in my dictionaries.
| -va | -vi | -vu | -ve | -vo |