Best Way to Learn Japanese Hiragana and Katakana
How to Learn Japanese Kana
Kana Flashcards
This is the most efficient way to learn the kana.
Start with the hiragana: these are used most and these are what Japanese children learn first.
- Begin with the 5 cards for the 5 vowels: look at each kana and say or write the corresponding
English syllable.
- Continue with each small group of syllables.
- Test yourself with larger groups until you can recognize all the kana effortlessly.
- Test yourself looking at the English word and write or identify the kana.
Then go through a similar process with the cards for the katakana.
Highlights:
- One flashcard per hiragana.
- One flashcard per katakana.
- For each kana card:
- Stroke-by-stroke diagrams showing sequence and direction of strokes.
- A visual and verbal mnemonic.
- Five basic Japanese words using the kana on the card.
- An audio pronunciation guide available on-line at whiterabbitpress.com.
Japanese for Busy People: Kana Workbook (Vol 1) (1996)
Highlights:
- Separate sections on hiragana and katakana.
- Grids for writing practice (with increasing independence of the grids).
- Reading exercises.
- Writing exercises.
- A prequel to Kodansha's Japanese For Busy People texts.
Reading Japanese
by Professor Eleanor Harz Jorden (Author), Hamako Ito Chaplin (Author)
Also see A Japanese Reader: Graded Lessons
for Mastering the Written Language (1962)
by Roy Andrew Miller
An oldie-but-goodie:
- Part One: Introductory. 17 lessons on reading hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
- Part Two: Elementary. 13 lessons that require fluency in Part One in order to read the sentences here.
- Part Three: Intermediate. 17 lessons that require fluency in Part Two as a foundation to read these folk tale-type
brief pieces.
- Part Four: Advanced Fiction. 12 lessons that require fluency in Part Three in order to read these extracts from
Japanese literature.
- Part Five: Advanced Non-fiction. 16 lessons that require fluency in Part Three in order to read these extracts from
Japanese non-fiction.
Japanese Hiragana for the five basic vowels
Hiragana:
Books to Help you Learn Japanese
Japanese Step By Step
Advantages:
- Fast-paced introduction to writing and grammar.
- Organized methodically by an ex-IBM engineer.
Its approach to teaching kana is one of the best.
Its exercises are particularly helpful; you should take care to do them and repeat them!
Berlitz Japanese Resources
Pimsleur Japanese Resources: Basic
Pimsleur Language Program:
Audio-only progam.
Advantages:
- Learn Japanese by hearing and speaking it.
- And you're hearing it at the brisk rate spoken by native Japanese speakers.
- Conversational sentences are built up from carefully introduced vocabulary.
- Each word is broken down to its sound units and the student is led through repetitions in order to internalize the sounds.
- Lots of repetition greatly helps to keep you upright on the roller skates of learning Japanese.
- Re-listen to each lesson a couple of times before you go on to the next one.
- Small booklet offers a paragraph on background for each lesson.
Suggestions:
- Re-listen to each lesson a couple of times before you go on to the next one.
- If you're primarily a visual learner, this will be especially challenging. To help you:
- Read the small booklet section before each lesson, to get some background grammar and words for each lesson.
- Write down some of the words as you hear and say them.
- After the lesson, check the words in a dictionary, particularly:
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