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According to the 'Genki' textbook, katakana for 'wo' can be written in two
ways;

  * Contracted using the 'o'-katakana; ウォ 
  * Non-contracted using just the 'wo'-katakana; ヲ

What are the differences between the two? Is one of the two used more
reguarly? It feels, intuitively, liken the 'single-letter' katakana is easier
to deal with as it's just one instead of a contraction between two.
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2017-09-20T04:03:45.103
53366
2017-09-20T05:08:23.560
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question
katakana contractions
Two different katakana for 'wo' in the Genki textbook
It's worth reading the accepted answer to [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/15119/what-special-
kana-are-used-to-write-foreign-words), but to specifically answer you:

「ヲ」 is not really "wo", at least in the sense you expect it to be. It's the
same as 「を」, which is typically pronounced "o" and used as a particle to mark
the object of a clause. It is sometimes, depending on the dialect or even just
the individual, pronounced as "wo", but you'll find that the "w" isn't
necessarily a strong sound - just like how "ra" is only an approximate
pronunciation for 「ら」, or "fu" for 「ふ」, if you try to pronounce "wo" like
Keanu Reeves says "woah" then you're doing something wrong.

So using 「ワォ」 for "wo" helps get across a little more of that meaning, and for
the transliteration of foreign words you will exclusively see this rather than
「ヲ」 (which, outside of its particle use, mostly only shows up in names like
「カヲル」 for semi-historical reasons).
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2017-09-20T05:08:23.560
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2017-09-20T05:08:23.560
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