While you are now familiar with all the katakana characters, mora like kya, kyu or kyo have not been covered. To pronounce the kya sound, for instance, first say ki and then ya; now, say both sounds more quickly; kya is a contraction of ki and ya. By the same token, kyu is a contraction of ki and yu, and kyo of ki and yo.

To produce this set of mora, combination of キ and a small-sized ヤ, ユ or ヨ is used, making キャ, キュ and キョ, respectively. If you use a computer, these characters are obtained by spelling kya, kyu and kyo. 

When ギ is used instead of キ, making ギャ, ギュ and ギョ, they are then romanized as gya, gyu and gyo, respectively.

Try reading the following words and compare with the recording:

Now, write the words above on your PC.　　



Your PC should support Japanese characters.

In the same manner, combinations of シ and ャ, ュ and ョ ( i.e. シャ, シュ and ショ ) represent the sya, syu and syo sounds. These sounds, however, are spelled sha, shu and sho in Hepburn-style romanization, because of the [sh] sound in English. Using a computer, either spelling will produce the same Japanese characters.

When you use ジ instead of シ, the characters ( ジャ, ジュ and ジョ ) represent zya, zyu and zyo, which are spelled ja, ju and jo in the Hepburn-style as this looks more familiar to English natives. Again, either spelling will get you the same Japanese characters on a computer.  

チャ チュ チョ cha chu cho

By now, you should probably be able to guess what sounds チャ, チュ and チョ represent with ease. These are tya, tyu and tyo in the Nihon-style, or cha, chu and cho in the Hepburn-style. Again, either spelling will produce the same Japanese characters on a computer. 

Now, try reading the following words and listen to the recording: 

ヂ is pronounced ji, which is generally written ジ, so there is no point in using ヂ to write the ji sound. Accordingly, ヂャ, ヂュ and ヂョ are virtually never used. These sounds are written ジャ, ジュ and ジョ, respectively. (Should you need to get the characters ヂャ, ヂュ and ヂョ on the computer for whatever reason, spell "dya", "dyu" and "dyo", respectively.) 

ニャ ニュ ニョ nya nyu nyo

Now, it should not be hard to recognize what sounds ニャ, ニュ and  ニョ represent. 
Yes, these are nya, nyu and nyo, respectively. 

Try  reading  the following words and listen to the recording: 

Try writing the words above on your PC.



Your PC should support Japanese characters.

Now you can tell what sounds ミャ, ミュ and ミョ stand for: mya, myu and myo, respectively. 

Can you guess the names of the following places? 

Now, write the words above, on your PC.



Your PC should support Japanese characters.