Lesson 1: ア イ ウ エ オ

Writing

How to Write

ア [a]

	[1] and [2] are just touching, should not be crossed. End [1] at the right place. [2] is slightly curved.

イ [i]

	Mind the tilt angle of [1]. [1] and [2] are just touching, should not be crossed. Start [2] at the right place. (near the middle of [1])

ウ [u]

	[1] and [3] are just touching, should not be crossed. [1] and [2] are about the same length. Second half of [3] is slightly curved.

エ [e]

	Lines are just touching, should not be crossed. [1] and [3] are parallel. [3] is clearly longer than [1].

オ [o]

	Start [2] at the right place (shifted from the center of X-axis). Short extention at the end of [2] should not be too long.

It is important to write in correct stroke order. It is natural and efficient.

Wrong stroke order often results improper shape of the character.

The tilt angle of lines should be correct. Do not write in Italic.

 

Writing Practice

Nowadays, there aren't so much opportunities for handwriting. But the writing practice improves your character recognition ability.

We recommend to do some handwriting practice. You can download and print the writing practice sheet (pdf) at Katakana Writing Practice page.

Quiz

How to Do

1. Have a pen and a paper. (Blank Writing Practice Sheet can be used.)
2. Listen to audio and write it down in Katakana.
3. Repeat the practice till you can write most letters correctly.

At first, some voice recordings may be difficult for you to recognize or too fast.

Even so, just write down what you heard and check if you wrote the letter correctly.

We tried to make the voice recordings clear and natural, not too slow. Because that's what you will hear when you talk with Japanese.

You will get used to the Japanese sound as you repeat the practice.

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Go to the Typing section.