How to Learn Japanese - Hiragana
Master one of the Japanese alphabets
If you have been studying Japanese for more than five minutes, then you undoubtedly have come across the Hiragana. Hiragana is one of two Japanese syllabaries, Katakana is the other one. You need to know both Hiragana and Katakana as well as Kanji to be able to read regular Japanese. Regular in the sense that is how the Japanese reads it and not in cryptic romaji.
Now there is nothing really wrong with romaji per say, but a lot of people tend to become reliant on it and what used to be a crutch in order to start learning Japanese suddenly becomes a very strong handicap later. The Hiragana consists of 46 characters along with some marks that give you a few extra sounds. Now learning this can either be a pain in the ass or pretty much a breeze depending on how you approach it.
The normal and insane way
The normal and insane way is to use rote memorization, which is basically write it over and over until it sticks. Now we are all familiar with this as this is the predominant way anything is taught in school systems around the world. This is even how the Japanese learn it themselves, but they don’t have any other options because they were too young. That and they are immersed in the writing system daily that part of it is learned through osmosis and repetitive exposure to the characters.
We don’t have that luxury. Because most of us learn Japanese as a hobby, something we do on the side when we have free time and we don’t live in Japan. Therefore the insane way is not for us. If you don’t believe me, try to learn it the normal way and see how it is. It usually goes something like this:
- You memorize 10 characters
- A few days later, you review and realize you forgot 3-5 characters
- So you try to memorize those again and a few more
- A few days later, you review and realize you forgot 6-8 characters
- After a while, you go insane as you keep forgetting
The unique and sane way
Now there is one other option available to us and that is to use mnemonics. Mnemonics is just a visual way of memorizing information. People use it for all sorts of things, like memorizing thousands of numbers, people, cards, and information in general. It is a great way to take something abstract like Hiragana and connect it to something else that we already know.
Mnemonics in a nutshell works like this, you take abstract things like lines and connect them to an image. Then you take that image and combine it with other images along with the sound of the Hiragana into a story. So when you remember the story, you will know exactly how to write or read the Hiragana.
This makes the Hiragana more concrete as they are anchored into our minds through visual representation rather than tiring our hands out writing what seems at first to be a bunch of random scribbles. Now you could do this yourself or you can use a system that has already been set up and save yourself the time. Remembering the Kana claims that it can teach your the Hiragana in 3 hours and I have put it to the test. It really does work. I used years ago when I got tired of forgetting everything.
Mnemonics does not mean no work
Mnemonics just means less work. Do not confuse this with magic, it still requires work. In comparison to rote memorization, mnemonics actually requires you to use your head. It calls for concentrated study and not passive rote memorization. You also need to review it, especially if you are not exposed to enough Hiragana in your studies. It is important at this point to not use romaji at all in order to solidify what you learned.
Over time reading the Hiragana will become so fluid that you will forget the stories and not need them any longer. It becomes second nature so to speak.
Resources
Nihongo o Narau has some useful practice paper that you can print out in order to practice writing the Hiragana. Nothing can replace actual writing in order to learn how to write. I use this in combination with going over the story in order to create a more solid link into my memory. This boxes make it easy to write correctly.
Smart.fm has the audio for each kana organized very well so you can get the correct pronunciation of each kana down.
Youtube has some interesting videos with sound to help you with pronunciation as well. It never hurts to have more points of references, who knows it might help you.
Realkana lets you practice and review what you learned in an online format.
