Expanded Katakana List

[Coffeesan]

Sooo I seem to be forgetting my Katakana a little... As someone who doesnt have to live or work in a Japanese enviroment I find I almost never use it which is why I think its fading away a little.

Anyways I've heard refrences to an ''expanded'' Katakana list which has ''special'' characters etc for representing foreign sounds I heard there was a character for ''Ti'' and ''Wu'' amongst other things.. So was wondering should I look into the expanded list if there is such a thing? Far as I can see most foreign words are just written using the regular Katakana set even if they dont physically sound anything like the word.

 

[dimitri_can]

Not sure if you are looking for this?

Search for Expanded Katakana Chart in Yahoo.
Sorry, i don't have enough posts to post links yet.

 

[Coffeesan]

Not sure if you are looking for this?

Search for Expanded Katakana Chart in Yahoo.
Sorry, i don't have enough posts to post links yet.

Yeaah I've found various versions but I'm wondering if theres any point learning it. I read somewhere that they are almost never used out of convienience etc

 

[dimitri_can]

True... not much...

 

[Toritoribe]

I read somewhere that they are almost never used out of convienience etc

What you are talking about is about ヰ and ヱ. These are historical kana usage, and indeed no longer used. But extended katakana is another thing. They are often used in these days. You should learn them, but it's enough to remember orange and blue shading ones in the table in wiki. (クィ クェ グィ グェ in blue shading are relatively less common, though.)

Katakana - Wikipedia