What is Katakana?

The complete KATAKANA syllabary consists of 48 characters.

In contrast to the hiragana syllabary, which is used for Japanese words not covered by kanji and for grammatical inflections, the katakana syllabary usage is mainly for:

1. Transcription of foreign words into Japanese

2. Garaigo: Writing of loan words

3. Onomatopoeia

4. Technical and scientific terms

5. Names of plants, animals, mineral

6. Some Japanese companies

The Katakana chart can be seen below: