There are not one but three writing systems that work together in the Japanese alphabet system: namely Hiragana, Katakana & Kanji. Here’s an in-depth guide.

Katakana is today considered Japan’s second native script, to be learned after hiragana.It is usually studied in the first grade of elementary school, although some children master it before then.

Go ahead, I dare you! I double dare you!") to an almost passive acceptance that, ... Katakana is the Japanese alphabet used for words that are foreign in origin.

Words and phrases in katakana may appear to be easily recognizable to non-native speakers of Japanese, but they are often fiendishly difficult. This generally comes as a surprise to Japanese, who ...

Now, some might wonder why hiragana was not used in place of katakana when naming these girls, since hiragana is also a phonetic alphabet and closely associated with words of Japanese origin. It is ...

While there may be plenty of arguments against katakana, bear in mind that in the late 1800s the Japanese used "ateji", kanji characters which "sound" like the foreign word. I personally think ...