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Compound unvoiced katakana
The next batch of katakana you need to learn are composed entirely of characters you're already seen - and if you know hiragana, then there's doubly nothing to fear - so don't panic. As with the hiragana, each of the following syllables is written with a full-sized katakana (ending in an i vowel sound, such as ki, shi, chi, etc) followed by a small ya, yu or yo. Again, move your mouse over the characters to see the romanized form, and all should become clear.


kya sha cha nya hya mya rya
kyu shu chu nyu hyu myu ryu
kyo sho cho nyo hyo myo ryo

[click here for pop-up]
[click here for pop-up to compare hiragana]

 

So, as you can see, hi plus a small ya is not hiya (two syllables, sounds like it should be a kung-fu shout) but actually hya, a single syllable. Shi plus small yu is shu, not shiyu; chi plus small yo is cho, not chiyo, and so on. Get really good at recognising ya, yu and yo, and these syllables will be easy to pick up.