Why Does Everybody Forget Katakana?
/I'll let you into a secret. I used to hate katakana.
Students of Japanese tend to start with its two phonetic alphabets. We start with hiragana, the loopy, flowing letters that make up all the sounds of Japanese.
Then we move on to katakana - all the same sounds, but in angular blocky font.
Hiragana seems fairly straightforward, I think. And when you start learning Japanese everything you read is written in hiragana, so by reading you constantly reinforce and remember.
Katakana? Not so much.
The katakana "alphabet" is used extensively on signs in Japan - if you're looking for カラオケ (karaoke) or ラーメン (ramen noodles) you'll need katakana.
But if you're outside Japan, then beyond the letters in foreign names, you probably don't get a lot of exposure to katakana.
I think that's why a lot of beginning students really struggle to remember katakana.
Here are a couple of suggestions:
1) Use mnemonics
I learned katakana using mnemonics. For example, I still think katakana ウ (u) and ワ (wa) look super similar - I remember that ウ has a dash on the top, just like hiragana う (u) .
2) Practice, practice, practice
I'm not a huge fan of having you simply copy letters over and over again, but there is something to be said for "writing things out". By writing letters down, you activate muscle memory, which helps you remember. So get writing katakana!
3) Start learning kanji
It might feel like running before you can walk, but starting to read and write kanji (Chinese characters) before your katakana is completely perfect can be a good option.
Kanji textbooks have the Chinese readings of the characters in katakana, so learning kanji is also really good katakana practice.
And maybe, just maybe, you'll turn into a katakana lover?
Updated 23rd Oct 2020
Like many people in the UK, I studied French in school. I liked French. I thought it was really fun to speak another language, to talk with people, and to try and listen to what was going on in a new country. (Still do!)
When I was 14 we went on a school exchange to the city of Reims, in northeastern France. I was paired with a boy, which I’m sure some 14-year-olds would find very exciting but which I found unbearably awkward. He was very sweet and we completely ignored each other.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and I didn’t learn or use any more French until, at some point in lockdown, I decided on a whim to take some one-to-one lessons with online teachers. Here are some things I learned about French, about language learning, and about myself.