                   INTRODUCTION TO KATAKANA
                   ------------------------

        There are three kinds of writing used in Japan today; 
        Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Kanji originated in China 
        and is a kind of pictogram writing that westerners find 
        very difficult to learn. Each character must be memorized 
        and they number in the thousands. Hiragana is composed of 
        letters, not unlike our own alphabet. It evolved from 
        Kanji, and is the dominant system in use in Modern Japan. 
        Katakana is a third system of characters that has become 
        extremely popular. Originally it was reserved for words 
        that were taken from foreign languages, but has come to be 
        used for emphasis, even with Japanese words.  Because most 
        of the words that are written in Katakana are based on 
        English, and the other European languages, Katakana is the 
        most important to learn if you are planning to visit or 
        stay in Japan.

        Learning the letters is only half of the battle. It takes 
        practice to be able to figure what the message in the 
        Katakana word is. For example, the word <sports> is 
        spelled su-po-tsu. It is extremely helpful when traveling 
        in Japan to understand how to make an English word into 
        one that a Japanese will understand. Once you get the hang 
        of it, it is real easy, even fun.


                        Pronounciation
                        --------------
        Pronounciation in Japanese is straight-forward.
        The letter a, like in the Japanese syllable ka, rhymes 
        with the old Iranian leader's title of the shah. The letter 
        i is pronounced as a long vowel. An example is the ki, 
        pronounced like the english word key. The Japanese 
        syllable ke rhymes with the english words bed and fed. If 
        you see the syllable du you should pronounce it like the 
        word due, which rhymes with clue. The syllable ko, rhymes 
        with show. Use these examples whenever you are in doubt
        about the  pronounciation. Unlike English, Japanese 
        doesn't have many exceptions, at least in pronounciation.   

        The Japanese often end words in vowels ie. address becomes 
        a-de-re-su. This will become second nature when you start 
        to use the word section of this program.
        
        In Katakana there are five basic vowels; a, i, u, e, and 
        o. All of the letters that you will learn are composed of 
        these letters and and a consonant. There are 8 basic 
        consonant-vowel combinations that you will learn.
        
        First, we have the k's. They are ka, ki, ku, ke, and ko. 
        Say each of these out loud once or twice to get a feel for 
        them. Next we have the s's: sa, shi <an exception>, su, 
        se, and so. Next comes the t's: ta, chi <an exception>, 
        tsu <another exception>, te, and to. Then come the n's: 
        na, ni, nu, ne, and no. Followed by the h's: ha, hi, fu 
        <an exception>, he, and ho. Next the well behaved m's: ma, mi 
        mu, me, and mo. Then come the y's: ya, yu, and yo <only 
        three of them>. They are followed by the r's: ra, ri, ru 
        re, and ro. There is also a wa and the single consonant n.
        Don't worry if you can't remember these, thats why we 
        wrote this program; to help you to remember them.  

        At any time during the program <but not now> you can view 
        the total list of characters, and they're combinations by 
        pressing help.

        So far, so good....Now comes the interesting part. If any 
        of the letters are followed by the character " they become 
        what is called a gutoral. That means that the letter % or 
        ka, if followed by " becomes the letter ga. % is ka and %" 
        is ga. Don't worry, you will get plenty of practice on this 
        point. Letters that start with h, when followed by the " 
        now start with b's. T's followed by " become d's. S's, 
        when followed by " become z's.

        In a similair way, the letters that start with and h, when 
        followed by a ! , become p's. For example & is ha , but &! 
        is pa. 

        Next, the three letters, ( , ) , and * give the letters in 
        front of them a special meaning. When one of these letters 
        follows a another letter, the pronounciatin of the 
        syllable changes in this way; we just keep the begining 
        consonant of the first letter, and use the second letter's 
        sound. For example % or ka when followed by ( becomes kya.
        When ka is followed by * like in %* the group is 
        pronounced kyo. %) is spoken kyu. Again, the practice 
        sessions will teach you everything that you will need to 
        know.

        The character # means that you should hold the syllable 
        longer.

        Finally, one of the most common characters that you will 
        see is the $, or tsu. When tsu is in the middle of a word, 
        it means that the letter that follows it is a double 
        letter is like the d in the word mid-dle or the t in the 
        word let-ter. The tsu tells us that the letter following 
        it belongs to both the  letter before the tsu, and the 
        letter after the tsu. You will see it constantly, so be 
        aware of it.
        
        Try some of the practice sessions now. Use the letter 
        practice first, and when you feel that you know most of 
        the letters, try the test. Remember, to switch from 
        practice to test mode, place the star in the main menu to 
        the proper entry, and hit the space bar. Next try the 
        practice mode for the combinations of letters, and when 
        you are good, try the test mode for them. In practice mode 
        hit the space bar once to see the answer, and again 
        to make it disappear. Finally, try the word practice.

        Good Luck
                                 
        
