The Greatest Hiragana & Katakana Studying Sources

Hiragana and katakana are actually the ABCs of Japanese. They’re essentially the most primary forms of Japanese characters and important components of the Japanese language. Studying these two forms of characters is commonly the very first step to studying Japanese, too.

With the ability to learn hiragana and katakana is wonderful as a result of it is such an instantly sensible talent. You see them in all places in Japan. The surroundings of Japan, and even your neighborhood Asian grocery retailer might begin to look completely different as soon as hiragana and katakana.

Fortunately, they’re pretty straightforward to grasp, too. No, you do not want a photographic reminiscence or superpower to memorize all of them. All you want is the precise technique and instruments to check successfully and effectively.

There are 46 hiragana characters for hiragana and katakana respectively. Memorizing 92 characters with unfamiliar shapes would possibly sound intimidating now, however belief me. Folks have discovered them in a pair weeks, just a few days, or perhaps a few hours with these efficient strategies.

If you wish to examine hiragana and katakana pretty rapidly, and always remember them, you have come to the precise place. I am going to discuss how you are able to do it, and introduce a number of the greatest kana studying assets you need to use for a profitable kana studying expertise.

How To Be taught Hiragana & Katakana

First, let me undergo the three key factors for profitable kana studying.

1. Use reminiscence hints aka “mnemonics”

Reminiscence hints, aka mnemonics, are actually the sport changer in remembering international characters like hiragana, katakana, and even kanji. Utilizing mnemonics, you’ll be able to simply affiliate the form of kana with the studying.
Curious how mnemonics truly work? Here is an instance to recollect hiragana “ki” (き). This one is fairly easy. Simply consider a key! 🔑

Remembering a bunch of unfamiliar shapes all of a sudden sounds doable, proper? Mnemonics make issues straightforward to recollect, recall, and never neglect. It truly is a robust software for kana studying.

2. Prioritize “studying” over “writing”

Deal with studying first. Not writing. I do know, it isn’t the standard approach kids study their characters. However, studying to learn is extra vital as the commonest type of “writing” these days is typing. (If you happen to can learn kana, you’ll be able to sort them.)

With the ability to handwrite hiragana from reminiscence is a good talent to have too, however it takes much more time to grasp and has fewer real-life advantages. I like to recommend you reserve it for later. Handwriting or tracing over the characters together with your fingers could be a good way to spend time observing the shapes carefully, however all the time remember the “studying” precedence moderately than having the ability to handwrite out of your reminiscence. At the very least, for now.

3. Follow recalling

When you turn out to be aware of the kana, apply studying repeatedly. Be certain that to overview gadgets you have discovered and stick with it. And if you overview, focus in your recall. The extra effort you set into recalling one thing, the stronger reminiscence your mind will find yourself constructing.

The Greatest Sources for Studying Hiragana/Katakana

So now that we have talked in regards to the three key factors for profitable kana studying, chances are you’ll be pondering, “What instruments can I exploit to study hiragana and katakana?”

I obtained you — I put collectively an inventory of a number of the greatest kana studying assets. They, after all, have small variations, however all of them function mnemonics and studying apply, that are the important thing factors for profitable kana studying.

Now, let’s take a better take a look at every useful resource.

Tofugu’s Be taught Hiragana/Katakana Books

Earlier than something, let me discuss Tofugu’s personal merchandise — our Be taught Hiragana/Katakana Guide collection. This can be a shameless plug as I’m very pleased with all of the learners who efficiently discovered kana with our books and proved them to be efficient. They’re additionally accessible without spending a dime, so nothing to lose for those who give them a attempt.

Tofugu’s Be taught Hiragana/Katakana Guide collection consists of two PDF workbooks, so you’ll be able to print or use them in your machine offline. The workbooks cowl all the things it is advisable to find out about hiragana and katakana. You may discover ways to pronounce, and easy methods to bear in mind every character with mnemonics and writing apply sheets. There are additionally studying apply workouts that can assist you overview what you have simply discovered by filling in romaji. The quiz makes use of precise phrases constructed from the characters you have discovered, making a rewarding second that hopefully makes you go “Woah, I can learn Japanese phrases!” and motivates you to maintain going.

Greater than something, the last word focus of our content material is the standard of mnemonics. We have been updating and bettering our mnemonics ever since we first printed them, and that is what makes our kana content material particular. For instance, to clarify the pronunciation of every kana, we use an English phrase that makes use of the identical or very related sound in order that precisely easy methods to pronounce it. And, when attainable, we use the English key phrase for mnemonics too. For instance, the hiragana い sounds identical to “e” as in “eel.” And that can assist you affiliate the sound and the form of the characters, we use the identical key phrase “eel,” and say い appears like two eels hanging out. One other widespread mnemonic for い is that it appears just like the quantity eleven as in 11 (which, it completely does!) however we select “eels” for the extra correct pronunciation. We imagine that studying kana can also be about studying the sounds of the Japanese language and the fundamentals of Japanese pronunciation, so we hope these key phrases provide help to bear in mind the right pronunciation.

We additionally maintain our mnemonic artwork easy in a approach that makes it straightforward to see the unique form of the character. Not many mnemonics on the market have this high quality, and it is typically laborious to acknowledge the unique form within the mnemonic artwork.

In case you are in search of a one-stop resolution for kana studying, you will not be upset with Tofugu’s Be taught Hiragana/Katakana Books.

For many who need to have the ability to hearken to the pronunciation of every kana…

we have now net web page variations too — Be taught Hiragana: The Final Information and Be taught Katakana: The Final Information. Whereas these do not include writing sheets, you’ll be able to play the audio, which is all the time a bonus.

So there you have got it. We even have extra kana studying instruments in numerous codecs and for various functions, so take a look at the record under to seek out one thing that fits your desire and wishes. You possibly can combine and match too — they’re all free!

• Net Pages
  They arrive with audio so you’ll be able to hear how every character is pronounced.
• YouTube Video Classes
• Mnemonic Charts
  A fast reference chart of our mnemonics.
• Quiz/Evaluate

HIRAGANA/KATAKANA Reminiscence Trace

HIRAGANA Reminiscence Trace and KATAKANA Reminiscence Trace are cellular apps that can assist you study kana with reminiscence hints (aka mnemonics). Developed by The Japan Basis Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai, each apps can be found without spending a dime.
The apps are divided into two components: Reminiscence Hints and Quiz.

The reminiscence hints are general useful and intuitive, they usually all include cute illustrations. If something, the distinctive artwork model makes it a bit laborious to acknowledge the unique characters within the illustration. Most of the illustrations form of modify the shapes to make sense of the visible mnemonics (or no less than, many look lots completely different from generic font textual content). So for those who ever use these apps, maintain that in thoughts, and ensure to check the illustration to what the character truly appears like. There are a pair choices within the app that provide help to with this; one to see the mnemonic illustration and the unique aspect by aspect, and one other to play an animation of the illustration steadily fading out and the unique character showing after that.

If you happen to go to the Quiz display, there are 4 forms of quizzes you’ll be able to choose from. Along with the standard apply of selecting the corresponding romaji studying for every kana, the choices embrace Pay attention & Select, the place you hear a sound and select a corresponding kana out of three selections, and Related Hiragana / Related Katakana, the place you see a sound written in romaji and select a corresponding character out of two or three kana choices that look alike, reminiscent of あ, め, and ぬ.

One other good factor in regards to the quiz function is that you would be able to slender down the characters you need to apply by choosing a gaggle(s) of kana. Every group incorporates two kana rows of eight to 10 characters. Not many individuals cram all of the kana in a single sitting, so it is good to have the ability to choose and apply the kana you simply grew to become aware of, earlier than shifting ahead to check extra.

Nonetheless, it is price noting these quizzes are all in multiple-choice format. In comparison with typing or writing, it is a much less strict technique of testing your data, or working towards your recall. However for those who want easing into kana with a extra relaxed strategy, this may very well be an excellent possibility. No matter your reply being right or not, you may be proven the mnemonic illustration of the reply proper after you reply every query. It is a good gesture for individuals who had a tough time recalling many of the characters, however this feels redundant if you attempt to get via the session as rapidly as attainable or if you’re already assured and need not see them. Quiz periods are timed to encourage individuals to undergo rapidly, so being proven the mnemonic picture can really feel extraneous.

General, regardless of minor particulars that you could be want to change, HIRAGANA/KATAKANA Reminiscence Trace is a authentic choice to study kana with the assistance of mnemonics. And it is free!

As a aspect word… As of reviewing the apps (February, 2023), the audio was sadly not working in any respect on my iPhone 13 mini. Audio play buttons to test the pronunciation of every character does not work, and the Pay attention & Select quiz does not play the audio both.

Be taught Languages with Dr. Moku (Hiragana & Katakana)

Be taught Languages with Dr. Moku is a cellular app that makes use of the ability of mnemonics to assist visible learners examine the characters of international languages, together with Japanese — hiragana, katakana, and even primary kanji.
Of their hiragana and katakana programs, you may be offered with mnemonic illustrations and a brief phrase or two that can assist you affiliate the form of the character with the way it’s pronounced.

Upon tapping the mnemonic picture, it performs an animated model of the visible mnemonic (You may hear Dr. Moku studying the mnemonic aloud for you!), then an animation exhibiting how the character is written following its stroke order. Many mnemonics are intelligent, however simply remember that there are some popular culture references used within the mnemonics, reminiscent of Mr. T or Ed Sheeran, which will not be relatable to everybody.

Following mnemonics is an audio play button to listen to the pronunciation together with some helpful details about every character — easy methods to pronounce it or the place you would possibly see the character. It additionally reveals just a few phrases the place the character is used.

After studying a set of characters, you may be prompted with quizzes to overview what you have simply discovered. It gives numerous codecs of quizzes, reminiscent of typing in romaji, and choosing a personality comparable to the sound you hear. It quizzes you with not solely single characters but in addition typically phrases which can be made out of a number of characters.

The app general has a terrific design and high quality illustrations and animations, however it’s important to pay for what you get — it isn’t free to study all of the kana. You should use it without spending a dime to check eleven hiragana and eight katakana, however after that, you may need to make a one-time in-app buy to improve to the total kana protection. Every kana bundle prices $5.99, however there is a Japanese Bundle bundle for $7.99, which incorporates each kana in addition to primary kanji and a phrase e book.

The improve additionally unlocks some bonus options, together with a apply software the place you are able to do additional quizzes, however this apply function will not actually be helpful till you are already aware of the entire set of 46 primary kana plus variation characters. You possibly can select what number of questions you need to undergo in a session, however it does not think about what kana you have already discovered on the app, nor does it let you choose kana you are already aware of and need to quiz.

Be taught ALL Hiragana/Katakana in 1 Hour – Easy methods to Write and Learn Japanese (JapanesePod101.com)

Be taught ALL Hiragana/Katakana in 1 Hour is a collection of two video classes accessible without spending a dime on YouTube. Every video is an hour lengthy, specializing in both an entire set of hiragana or katakana.
The video offers an outline of hiragana and katakana utilizing graphics and charts, then goes via every character that can assist you bear in mind easy methods to write and skim them. Every character is launched with the stroke order of the character, and what the character appears like in numerous sorts of fonts. Additionally they present an illustration mnemonic for every character to make it straightforward to recollect. You may additionally hear a short clarification of the place you would possibly see the character in Japanese grammar. Once they introduce a brand new kana that has an analogous form to the one you have already discovered, they take the time to check and clarify the variations.

As soon as every column (a set of three to 5 characters) is launched, they do a fast quiz to overview, exhibiting you the characters you have simply discovered whereas supplying you with a second to recall how they’re pronounced. Some quizzes use precise phrases the place the character seems.

The host of the video classes, Risa, is a local speaker of Japanese, so that you get to listen to her genuine pronunciation of every character. Nonetheless, remember there’s typically a spot between the precise Japanese sound and the English key phrases they use of their mnemonics. For instance, they encourage you to think about the form of an apple to recollect a hiragana あ (a). Nonetheless, あ is nearer to the sound of “ah” (ɑ), not “apple” (æ). This will journey you up, so attempt specializing in how the host reads the character, moderately than the mnemonic key phrases for correct pronunciation.

They do cowl all of the kana in an easy-to-understand approach utilizing illustrations and animations. Nonetheless, an hour lengthy video lesson is lots to pack in. If you happen to’re thinking about utilizing this video lesson collection for studying kana, do not pressure your self to undergo it multi function sitting.

The collection is created by JapanesePod101.com, who’re identified for providing an enormous quantity of Japanese studying content material. Nonetheless, on the identical time, their content material group tends to be troublesome to navigate. For instance, these YouTube movies do not have timestamps, so chances are you’ll discover it laborious to maintain coming again to the place you left off.

If you happen to want a group of bite-size classes, you’ll be able to take a look at the 10-Day Hiragana Problem and 10-Day Katakna Problem playlists. Every of the 2 movies from the Be taught ALL Hiragana/Katakana in 1 Hour collection are divided into ten components with movies simply a number of minutes lengthy. The draw back of this 10-Day Problem collection although is that it consists of extra ads for JapanesePod101.com merchandise.

For Further Quiz Follow and Opinions

The assets that I’ve talked about thus far are all one-stop options that provide help to bear in mind kana with mnemonics and overview and apply via quizzes. As I’ve talked about, kana is in all places. When you begin learning different features of the Japanese language, you may see them consistently. So in a approach, you may be naturally reinforcing your kana data shifting ahead. That stated, you may need to first apply lots and ensure you solidify your kana data.

You will get some apply in with the assets above, however I additionally wished to introduce you to a few different instruments particularly designed to quiz your kana data for additional apply. One standout function is that they allow you to truly sort in romaji for the kana readings as a substitute of simply providing you a number of selection solutions. This implies they’re a greater evaluation of your true kana data, and will help you establish what kana you may be struggling to recollect.

Tofugu’s Be taught Kana Quiz

That is one other shameless plug (okay okay, I promise this would be the final).

Tofugu’s Be taught Kana Quiz is an online app initially designed to be a quiz software that can assist you solidify the kana data from our kana merchandise, such because the workbooks and net pages I launched earlier. Nonetheless, it will be a terrific companion for actually any type of kana-learning useful resource as what it does is let you apply no matter kana you need, as many occasions as you need. It additionally lets you establish the characters you continue to have a tough time with.

The best way it really works is straightforward. On the principle web page, you get to decide on the kana you need to apply by column (a set of three to 5 characters). You possibly can test all hiragana or all katakana with a single button too, for those who’re already aware of all of the kana listed.

Through the quiz, you may be prompted with a set of the chosen hiragana characters and requested to sort within the readings for every one. You possibly can select to skip gadgets so it can save you those you have got a tough time recalling and circle again on these later. We imagine the act of recalling is vital, so in contrast to another quiz instruments, we truly will not inform you the right reply even if you get issues fallacious. (We deliberately make it laborious to cheat, and it is all for you!) Nonetheless, you’ll be able to attempt answering the identical merchandise till you sort in the precise reply so you’ll be able to take a look at your recall again and again.

Then, if you end a session, the outcomes present you what number of failed makes an attempt you had with the characters you could not reply appropriately on the first go. This may provide help to establish what kana characters aren’t nonetheless sticking in your reminiscence so you are able to do one thing about them — revisiting the mnemonics, inventing new mnemonics, or tracing the characters — no matter you gotta do to lastly bear in mind them!

Actual Kana

So that is it! Hope you discovered one thing that you just need to give a attempt on this article. Once more, having the ability to learn kana is a giant first step, and it isn’t as laborious as you suppose. I hope the strategies and assets that I talked about offers you a terrific head begin in your Japanese studying journey! Blissful Kana Studying!