The Greatest Hiragana & Katakana Studying Sources

Hiragana and katakana are actually the ABCs of Japanese. They’re essentially the most fundamental 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 all over the place in Japan. The surroundings of Japan, and even your neighborhood Asian grocery retailer might begin to look totally different as soon as you realize 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 best 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 realized them in a pair weeks, just a few days, or perhaps a few hours with these efficient strategies.

If you wish to research hiragana and katakana pretty shortly, and always remember them, you have come to the best place. I am going to speak about how you are able to do it, and introduce among the greatest kana studying sources you need to use for a profitable kana studying expertise.

How To Study 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 truthfully the sport changer in remembering overseas characters like hiragana, katakana, and even kanji. Utilizing mnemonics, you may 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 the sudden sounds doable, proper? Mnemonics make issues straightforward to recollect, recall, and never overlook. It truly is a robust instrument for kana studying.

2. Prioritize “studying” over “writing”

Concentrate on studying first. Not writing. I do know, it is not the normal method kids study their characters. However, studying to learn is extra necessary as the commonest type of “writing” these days is typing. (When you can learn kana, you may sort them.)

With the ability to handwrite hiragana from reminiscence is a superb talent to have too, nevertheless it takes much more time to grasp and has fewer real-life advantages. I like to recommend you put it aside for later. Handwriting or tracing over the characters along with your fingers might be a good way to spend time observing the shapes carefully, however at all times bear in mind the “studying” precedence somewhat than with the ability to handwrite out of your reminiscence. At the least, for now.

3. Apply recalling

When you turn out to be conversant in the kana, observe studying repeatedly. Make certain to evaluate gadgets you have realized and stick with it. And whenever you evaluate, 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 concerning the three key factors for profitable kana studying, chances are you’ll be pondering, “What instruments can I take advantage of to study hiragana and katakana?”

I received you — I put collectively a listing of among the greatest kana studying sources. They, in fact, have small variations, however all of them characteristic mnemonics and studying observe, 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 Study Hiragana/Katakana Books

Earlier than something, let me speak about Tofugu’s personal merchandise — our Study Hiragana/Katakana E-book collection. This can be a shameless plug as I’m very pleased with all of the learners who efficiently realized kana with our books and proved them to be efficient. They’re additionally accessible without spending a dime, so nothing to lose in the event you give them a strive.

Tofugu’s Study Hiragana/Katakana E-book collection consists of two PDF workbooks, so you may print or use them in your system offline. The workbooks cowl all the things it’s essential to learn about hiragana and katakana. You will learn to pronounce, and the right way to bear in mind every character with mnemonics and writing observe sheets. There are additionally studying observe workout routines that will help you evaluate what you have simply realized by filling in romaji. The quiz makes use of precise phrases constructed from the characters you have realized, 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 enhancing our mnemonics ever since we first printed them, and that is what makes our kana content material particular. For instance, to elucidate the pronunciation of every kana, we use an English phrase that makes use of the identical or very related sound in order that you realize precisely the right way 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 will help 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 frequent 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 consider that studying kana can be about studying the sounds of the Japanese language and the fundamentals of Japanese pronunciation, so we hope these key phrases make it easier to bear in mind the proper pronunciation.

We additionally hold our mnemonic artwork easy in a method 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 onerous 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 disillusioned with Tofugu’s Study Hiragana/Katakana Books.

For individuals who need to have the ability to take heed to the pronunciation of every kana…

we’ve net web page variations too — Study Hiragana: The Final Information and Study Katakana: The Final Information. Whereas these do not include writing sheets, you may play the audio, which is at all times a bonus.

So there you’ve gotten it. We even have extra kana studying instruments in numerous codecs and for various functions, so take a look at the record under to search out one thing that fits your choice and desires. You’ll be able to combine and match too — they’re all free!

• Net Pages
  They arrive with audio so you may hear how every character is pronounced.
• YouTube Video Classes
• Mnemonic Charts
  A fast reference chart of our mnemonics.
• Quiz/Assessment

HIRAGANA/KATAKANA Reminiscence Trace

HIRAGANA Reminiscence Trace and KATAKANA Reminiscence Trace are cell apps that will help 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 total useful and intuitive, they usually all include cute illustrations. If something, the distinctive artwork type makes it a bit onerous to acknowledge the unique characters within the illustration. Lots of the illustrations form of modify the shapes to make sense of the visible mnemonics (or at the least, many look so much totally different from generic font textual content). So in the event you ever use these apps, hold 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 make it easier to with this; one to see the mnemonic illustration and the unique facet by facet, and one other to play an animation of the illustration regularly fading out and the unique character showing after that.

When you go to the Quiz display screen, there are 4 forms of quizzes you may choose from. Along with the standard observe of selecting the corresponding romaji studying for every kana, the choices embrace Hear & 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, resembling あ, め, and ぬ.

One other good factor concerning the quiz characteristic is you can slim down the characters you need to observe by deciding on 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 observe the kana you simply grew to become conversant in, earlier than transferring ahead to check extra.

Nevertheless, 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 training your recall. However in the event you want easing into kana with a extra relaxed strategy, this could possibly 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 whenever you attempt to get by means of the session as shortly as attainable or whenever you’re already assured and needn’t see them. Quiz classes are timed to encourage folks to undergo shortly, so being proven the mnemonic picture can really feel extraneous.

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

As a facet 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 Hear & Select quiz does not play the audio both.

Study Languages with Dr. Moku (Hiragana & Katakana)

Study Languages with Dr. Moku is a cell app that makes use of the ability of mnemonics to assist visible learners research the characters of overseas languages, together with Japanese — hiragana, katakana, and even fundamental kanji.
Of their hiragana and katakana programs, you may be offered with mnemonic illustrations and a brief phrase or two that will help 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 will hear Dr. Moku studying the mnemonic aloud for you!), then an animation displaying 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, resembling Mr. T or Ed Sheeran, which is probably not relatable to everybody.

Following mnemonics is an audio play button to listen to the pronunciation together with some helpful details about every character — the right way 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 evaluate what you have simply realized. It presents numerous codecs of quizzes, resembling typing in romaji, and deciding on a personality equivalent 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 total has a terrific design and high quality illustrations and animations, however you need to pay for what you get — it is not free to study all of the kana. You need to use it without spending a dime to check eleven hiragana and eight katakana, however after that, you may must make a one-time in-app buy to improve to the complete 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 fundamental kanji and a phrase e book.

The improve additionally unlocks some bonus options, together with a observe instrument the place you are able to do additional quizzes, however this observe characteristic will not actually be helpful till you are already conversant in the entire set of 46 fundamental kana plus variation characters. You’ll be able to select what number of questions you need to undergo in a session, nevertheless it does not think about what kana you have already realized on the app, nor does it let you choose kana you are already conversant in and need to quiz.

Study ALL Hiragana/Katakana in 1 Hour – The right way to Write and Learn Japanese (JapanesePod101.com)

Study 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 a complete set of hiragana or katakana.
The video provides an summary of hiragana and katakana utilizing graphics and charts, then goes by means of every character that will help you bear in mind the right way 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 will additionally hear a quick rationalization of the place you would possibly see the character in Japanese grammar. Once they introduce a brand new kana that has the same form to the one you have already realized, 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 evaluate, displaying you the characters you have simply realized whereas providing 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. Nevertheless, bear in mind there’s typically a niche 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). Nevertheless, あ is nearer to the sound of “ah” (ɑ), not “apple” (æ). This will journey you up, so strive specializing in how the host reads the character, somewhat than the mnemonic key phrases for correct pronunciation.

They do cowl all of the kana in an easy-to-understand method utilizing illustrations and animations. Nevertheless, an hour lengthy video lesson is so much to pack in. When you’re thinking about utilizing this video lesson collection for studying kana, do not power 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. Nevertheless, on the identical time, their content material group tends to be troublesome to navigate. For instance, these YouTube movies haven’t got timestamps, so chances are you’ll discover it onerous to maintain coming again to the place you left off.

When you want a set of bite-size classes, you may take a look at the 10-Day Hiragana Problem and 10-Day Katakna Problem playlists. Every of the 2 movies from the Study 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 commercials for JapanesePod101.com merchandise.

For Further Quiz Apply and Critiques

The sources that I’ve talked about up to now are all one-stop options that make it easier to bear in mind kana with mnemonics and evaluate and observe by means of quizzes. As I’ve talked about, kana is all over the place. When you begin learning different features of the Japanese language, you may see them consistently. So in a method, you may be naturally reinforcing your kana data transferring ahead. That mentioned, you may need to first observe so much and ensure you solidify your kana data.

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

Tofugu’s Study Kana Quiz

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

Tofugu’s Study Kana Quiz is an online app initially designed to be a quiz instrument that will help you solidify the kana data from our kana merchandise, such because the workbooks and net pages I launched earlier. Nevertheless, it might be a terrific companion for actually any form of kana-learning useful resource as what it does is let you observe no matter kana you need, as many instances as you need. It additionally lets you establish the characters you continue to have a tough time with.

The way in which it really works is straightforward. On the primary web page, you get to decide on the kana you need to observe by column (a set of three to 5 characters). You’ll be able to test all hiragana or all katakana with a single button too, in the event you’re already conversant in all of the kana listed.

Throughout the quiz, you may be prompted with a set of the chosen hiragana characters and requested to sort within the readings for each. You’ll be able to select to skip gadgets so it can save you those you’ve gotten a tough time recalling and circle again on these later. We consider the act of recalling is necessary, so in contrast to some other quiz instruments, we truly will not let you know the proper reply even whenever you get issues fallacious. (We deliberately make it onerous to cheat, and it is all for you!) Nevertheless, you may strive answering the identical merchandise till you sort in the best reply so you may take a look at your recall time and again.

Then, whenever 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 make it easier to establish what kana characters are usually not 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 strive on this article. Once more, with the ability to learn kana is an enormous first step, and it is not as onerous as you assume. I hope the strategies and sources that I talked about gives you a terrific head begin in your Japanese studying journey! Blissful Kana Studying!