What Is Katakana Anyway?

     Katakana, like hiragana, is another writing system comprised of sounds without meaning.  It is used to spell out non-native words.



     If you speak English then you already have a head start.  The Japanese love to emulate English.  They also love to slap emulated words all over food products.  You'll find it all over the place.  If you try out some listening practice on Japanese talk shows or something and you think you heard something in English, then you probably did.

     Sometimes though it does get a bit difficult to understand a butchered English word and reinterpret what it means, even though it should be native to me.  That's often one of the things that gets me a bit bothered.  I try to sound it out but it just doesn't click on what English word it is.  Katakana isn't always fool proof.  It's not always going to try to emulate English.  It works for other languages too.  I don't worry too much about it for now.  Besides, I saw a Japanese weather reporter trying to read the Spanish word "arroz" in katakana the other day...  She had no idea what she was reading.

ポテトチップス!          コーラ!

Potato Chips!   Cola!