LinguaNew combinations for sounds Japanese did not have
Japanese has no ti, no fa, no she as separate syllables – so katakana built them out of what it had, using a small vowel after a sign that already ends in the right consonant. テ plus a small ィ gives ti; フ plus a small ァ gives fa; シ plus a small ェ gives she. These combinations exist only in katakana, and only because loanwords needed them.
| Written | Sound | Word |
|---|---|---|
| ティ | ti | パーティー |
| ディ | di | ディスク |
| ファ | fa | ファイル |
| フィ | fi | フィルム |
| フェ | fe | カフェ |
| シェ | she | シェフ |
| ジェ | je | ジェット |
| ウィ | wi | ウィーン |
Every consonant gets a vowel
A Japanese syllable cannot end in a consonant except ン, so a borrowed word is rebuilt: every stray consonant is given a vowel, usually u, and t and d take o instead. Strike becomes ストライク, five beats where English has one. This is why a loanword often sounds unrecognisable at first: the sounds are all there, but the rhythm has been rewritten.
えきまえのカフェでコーヒーをのみますI drink coffee at the cafe in front of the station.
ドイツとフランスとイタリアGermany, France and Italy
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| パーティー | party | たのしいパーティー a fun party |
| ファイル | file | しごとのファイル a work file |
| カフェ | cafe | えきまえのカフェ the cafe in front of the station |
| ウイスキー | whisky | ウイスキーとビール whisky and beer |
| フランス | France | フランスのりょうり French cooking |
| ドイツ | Germany | ドイツのビール German beer |
| イタリア | Italy | イタリアのパスタ Italian pasta |
| ロシア | Russia | ロシアのふゆ the Russian winter |
| アメリカ | America | アメリカのともだち a friend in America |
| インターネット | the internet | インターネットのニュース news on the internet |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 2
- translate the sentence: 1
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which spelling gives the syllable *ti*, as in the word for a party?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.