katakana
syllabary used to represent foreign words (non-Japanese words)
The katakana is most often used for transcription of words from foreign languages, especially English. Moreover is it normally used for foreign countries, places and names. For example would my name "Morten" be written as "モルテン" meaning "Moruten".
I would recommend to use the same learning method as mentioned under "Hiragana".
If one takes a closer look at the katakana, you can see that some of the signs look like their hiragana equivalents.
A nice way to learn the kana is to use the LearnKana! applet I've developed at this site for beginners who want to learn hiragana and katakana.
The katakana is most often used for transcription of words from foreign languages, especially English. Moreover is it normally used for foreign countries, places and names. For example would my name "Morten" be written as "モルテン" meaning "Moruten".
I would recommend to use the same learning method as mentioned under "Hiragana".
If one takes a closer look at the katakana, you can see that some of the signs look like their hiragana equivalents.
A nice way to learn the kana is to use the LearnKana! applet I've developed at this site for beginners who want to learn hiragana and katakana.