The main reason why people tend not to learn katakana at the same level as hiragana is because katakana characters are much less used, so you can reach a good level of Japanese withouth practicing much katakana. On the other hand, hiragana are everywhere, so they there isn't such a problem with them.

If you have a word processor with Japanese support (you can get OpenOffice for free [url=]here[/url]) you can use the "Change case" option and turn all hiragana in a text into katakana.

You can then read any text (including transcriptions of audiobooks or podcasts) or even take your favorite music lyrics and follow them along reading the katakanized version.

Of course, such a practice wouldn't be "natural" and if you've been slacking with your katakana studies it could feel unconfortable, but I grant you with some practice you'll be reading katakana just as if it where your well known hiragana.

Here you can see an example.

レインbyシド　(normal)

Quote:雨は　いつか止むのでしょうか　ずいぶん長い間　冷たい
雨は　どうして僕を選ぶの　逃げ場のない　僕を選ぶの

やっと見つけた　新しい朝は　月日が邪魔をする
向かう先は　「次」じゃなくて　「過」ばかり追いかけた

レインbyシド　(katakanized)

Quote:雨ハ　イツカ止ムノデショウカ　ズイブン長イ間　冷タイ
雨ハ　ドウシテ僕ヲ選ブノ　逃ゲ場ノナイ　僕ヲ選ブノ

ヤット見ツケタ　新シイ朝ハ　月日ガ邪魔ヲスル
向カウ先ハ　「次」ジャナクテ　「過」バカリ追イカケタ

If you can't read both of them with the same ease, probably this tip would work for you.

Sebastian Wrote:turn all hiragana in a text into katakana

...for that authentic pre-war experience!

(also, clearly what we need is a twitter-to-Japanese-telegram-format converter :-))