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Japanese is a notoriously difficult language to learn, particularly for those only used to the Latin alphabet. There are also three different types of writing systems to grapple with: Katakana, Kanji and Hiragana. The eloquent squiggles and stripes might appear alien, but one of these Japanese writing systems, Katakana, is essentially phonetic.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.To make it a bit easier to learn, British design consultancy johnson banks has developed a typographic style that incorporates both English language and Japanese script – which they call Phonetikana. They have created a typography incorporating phonetic sounds with the Katakana letterforms.
As such, it makes it a little easier to remember what each of the 48 characters in Katakana script sound like.
Check out some of the examples below and see what you think. Sayōnara!
Image credit: johnson banks
Image credit: johnson banks
Image credit: johnson banks
