tofugu.com - the ultimate guide to learning hiragana

8/10/2019 Tofugu.com - The Ultimate Guide to Learning Hiragana

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The Ultimate Guide To Learning Hiragana

tofugu.com /guides/learn-hiragana/

Koichi

Learning to read hiragana can seem like a daunting task, but weve made it easy for you, laying out the

steps you need to take to go from being able to read zero hiragana to being able to read all of it. Follow

the steps, do what they say, and youll be pooped out the other end a omnipotent hiragana being.

Basically, youll be able to read the hiragana alphabet at a moderate pace (getting faster and better is

up to you from there on out). The speed at which I get you to this level of expertise, however, is very

fast. In order to do that, we employ a few important methods:

1. Mnemonics:Due to hiraganas relative simplicity, image-based mnemonics are perfect! Using a

picture to go along with each kana you are able to store the information in your brain very easily

(if you dont believe me just give it a try it works quite well). From there the drills and practice

make you recall the information so that you learn each item and are able to recall it more

naturally as the guide progresses. At the end you should be able to recall everything.

2. No Writing:WHAT? NO WRITING? you scream. I know what youre thinking. Thats stupid!

But think about it for a moment. Whens the last time you actually wrote something by hand?

Probably the last time you had to sign your name on a receipt at a restaurant. The need to write

by hand is going down, down, down. Typing is the wave of the future. Plus, if you spend all the

time needed to learn how to read AND write youre doubling or tripling the amount of total timeneeded to learn hiragana. This guide will teach you how to read hiragana very quickly, but writing

will need to come later. Its a lot faster to learn writing once youre able to read well, anyways.

3. Exercises:As I mentioned earlier, there are some carefully thought out exercises that Ill ask

you to do. If you do them, and you dont cheat, etc., etc., youll learn the kana. Do your best to
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force yourself to recall things even when you dont think you can come up with it. The act of

trying to remember something thats difficult to remember actually will help you to build a

stronger memory (if you are able to recall it eventually, that is).

4. Hiragana Chart:Well also use a hiragana chart. Please download this hiragana chartif you

dont already have one.

So shall we get started? Ive heard of some people finishing this guide in a couple hours. Others take a

few days. Some a week. However long it takes you, remember: there is no limits. You can learn the

hiragana on this page as quickly (or slowly) as you want. So if you want to be able to read hiragana in

a few hours, I bet you can do it. Lets start those timers!

A, I, U, E, O

This is the first (and most important!) column in hiragana. It sets the pronunciation of every other

column coming after it, because every other column is basically just the a-i-u-e-o column with

consonants attached to them. The same basic sound repeats over and over and over, with a consonant

plus these five vowel sounds, so make sure you have the right pronunciation for these five right from

the start.

Shall we? No, thats okay, after you.

is pronounced like the a in car or the a in awful.

To remember this kana, find the capital A inside of it. This A will tell you that this kana is also a aka

. There is another similar kana, , but that one doesnt have an A in it, which is how you can

differentiate them.
http://tofugu.com/resources/hiragana-chart/


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is pronounced like the ee in eel.

To remember this kana, just think of a couple of eels (i) hanging out. Theyre upright because theyre

trying to mimic the letter i which also stands upright and also happens to be the way you spell out this

character in romaji.

is pronounced like the oo in oooo ahhh! when youre watching fireworks. It also sounds like the

ou in You.

To remember this kana, notice the U shape right in it! Its sideways but its there, telling you what this

kana is.


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is pronounced like the e in exotic or the e in egg.

To remember this kana, think of it like an exotic bird. The big feathery thing on its head gives it away

that its exotic and not normal. It also lays exotic eggs, because its an exotic bird, after all.

is pronounced like youre saying oh. It also sounds like the o in original.

Can you see the letter o in here, two times? This one looks similar to , except for its one key

difference: there are two letter o symbols visible in there. Make sure you use this to differentiate this

kana () and that similar kana (). This is one area where a lot of people trip up, but by using this

mnemonic you will be able to figure them out every time.

Tasks

Now that youve put these kana into your brain (at least somewhat shakily) its time to pull them out.

Recall is the foundation of memory, and youre going to start doing just that. For each tasks section

make sure you follow along perfectly. Skipping these steps may cause you to fail later on in the future.

Having a strong base to build off of is important with each section.


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1. Head over to the website Drag n Drop Hiragana. All I want you to do is to find the five kana

youjust learned(a-i-u-e-o) and drag them to their correct spot. Thats it! Its an exercise in

recognizing the kana you learned as well as matching them to the correct sounds. When youve

done it once hit the refresh button and do it again and again until youre able to get it done in 10

seconds.

2. Print out, copy, or download this worksheet. Youll need to go through it, filling in the boxes with

the romaji for the kana. Try your best not to cheat even if you spend a while trying to

remember a kana it will be beneficial to your memory (as long as youre able to recall it on yourown). Looking up the answer doesnt help your memory at all, but struggle (with

accomplishment) tells your brain that this is a thing worth remembering. Try using the

mnemonics when you need to recall something you cant figure out right away.

This should be fairly easy with only five kana (and maybe a little boring too), but when youre done

move on to the next five hiragana.

KA, KI, KU, KE, KO

The next set of hiragana is from the k-column. This is just the k sound plus the vowel sounds you

learned above, making it ka-ki-ku-ke-ko. There are no weird exceptions in this column either, so enjoyit while you can.

is just the K sound plus , making a ka sound.

To remember this, think of someone whos doing the Can-Can (ka) dance. Thekana even looks

like someone doing the Can-Can.

Cannn, can you do the can can, can you do the can can
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1muxTHS0NqIzKPUStedahoTRbvQRlUlQi0J3XMPi-DJE/edit?usp=sharinghttp://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html


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is just the K sound plus , making a ki sound. In fact, it sounds just like the word key which isthe mnemonic we end up using.

To remember this, notice how much it resembles a key(ki).

is just the K sound plus , making a ku sound.

To remember this, think of this kana being the mouth of a coo-coo/cuckoo(ku) bird popping out

saying ku ku, ku ku!


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is just the K sound plus , making a ke sound.

Youll have to use your imagination here, but this kana looks a lot like a keg. The three dimensional

shape that it makes is somewhat keg-like, right?

is just the K sound plus , making a ko sound.

Kois a couple of co-habitation (ko) worms. Theyre so happy together, co-habitating the same area!

Alternatively, you could imagine a couple of short cords laying on the ground next to each other.

Tasks

More tasks! This time well include the column along with this K-column you just learned.

1. Using Drag n Drop Hiragana, find theandhiragana and drag them to

their correct spots. How quickly can you identify and place these ten hiragana characters? When

you can do it in under 25 seconds, or youve completed this task at least five times, move on to

the next step.
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html


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2. Print out, copy, or download this worksheet. Complete it by filling in the blanks with the romaji

for each of the kana. This time it will be both of the columns that youve learned (so far) so it

should be a little more interesting (and half familiar).

Once again, when you get stuck just think back to the mnemonic before you cheat. When youre done

you can move on to the next group.

SA, SHI, SU, SE, SO

Now that you have the K-column under your belt its time for the S-column. There is one weird

exception in this row, and thats for si aka shi. Its pronounced just like the word she in English,

and doesnt quite follow the pattern youve seen up until now. Youll want to use sa-shi-su-se-so for

this column.

is just the S sound plus , making a sa sound.

This kana looks like a weird sign (where the si of sign is pronounced like sa) stuck in the ground.

Focus on the pronunciation, not the spelling, from this mnemonic.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/164N1iT19YGaMpmImySONvLntsi8gehmQZU0GJLHC_q8/edit?usp=sharing


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is just the Sh sound plus , making a shi sound. Take note that this is the first exception kana

where it doesnt follow the patterns that show up everywhere else. Instead of being si its shi (though

you willsee it written both ways when dealing with romaji. One more reason why you ought to just

learn hiragana already).

This kana looks like a giant hook youre dipping into the water. What do you catch? A poor seal ( shi).

is just the S sound plus , making a su sound.

See the swing (su) doing a loop-dee-loop throwing that poor kid off of it? Imagine him screaming IM

GONNA SUESOMEBODY FOR THIIIIIiiiissss as he flies off into the distance.

is just the S sound plus , making a se sound.

This kana looks like a mouth with a big fang in it. What would someone like this say(se)? How sexy is

that tooth, btw?


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is just the T sound plus , making a ta sound.

This looks just like the romaji that spells it out: ta

is just the Ch sound plus , making a chi sound.

This is the second exception hiragana. Instead of a ti sound, it is a chi sound. Try not to forget

this.

This kana looks like a mans face except its missing something: the chin!


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is just the Ts sound plus, making a tsu sound.

This is another exception hiragana. Instead of saying tu you say tsu. Try not to forget this.

Do you remember the kana? Its a hook thats dipped straight down into the water. This didnt work

very well (you caught a poor seal!), so now youre trying a new strategy: pulling the line behind you in a

boat. This way the hook is facing sideways. It works, too! You pull up your line and you have two(tsu)

fish!

is just the T sound plus , making a te sound.

This kana looks like the uppercase letter T where T is for Ten. How many kana can you learn at

one time? I bet at least ten of them (lets start with the next set!)


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is just the T sound plus , making a to sound.

This kana looks just like someones toe(to) with a little nail or splinter in it. Imagine how much this

would hurt if it was your toe!

Exercises

Now that we have a few kana under our belt well be adding a third resource to our arsenal. Still, well

start with something familiar. Just follow along.

1. With Drag n Drop Hiragana, complete the four columns that you know (,,,). When

you are able to do this fairly quickly (lets say 40 seconds) or youve done it 5 times, move on tothe next step.

2. Time for the new resource. Now go to RealKana. Check off the first four columns (the ones

youve learned). Uncheck any columns in the katakana tab (you dont know any of these yet).

Now click on the options tab. Choose all the typefaces. Just like in English, sometimes there

are slightly different ways to write things, and its good to know what those differences are so

you dont get confused later on (when you read someones handwriting and its a bit different).

For example, in English the letter a can be written in a couple of different ways. I dont imagine

you write your lowercase a the way you see it when typed out usually, right? Same with

Japanese.and, for example, often dont have that little round line in the bottom left

connected to the main part theres a space in there. Youll start to see these differences byusing RealKana. When youve drilled the four columns for 5-10 minutes move on to the

worksheet.

3. Copy, download, or print out this worksheet. Fill in all the blanks with romaji. Pay special

attention to exception kana, like,, andand write them out the way I showed you above

to make sure that you know the proper reading. Not all romaji-styles will write these kana like

this (youll see si, ti, and tu too), but for now write shi, chi, and tsu just for the sake of

associating the correct pronunciation with each of these particular kana.

When youve completed everything and feel like you can recall all 20 of these kana, move on to the next

section. Now its time to try 10 at a time. Youre getting better at this, after all!

NA, NI, NU, NE, NO

This is your first more than 5 things to learn group. In fact, its a whole ten things! But youll be just
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12IIGe4lP212Twq3DSnhNzf6u8mVwYWoXLAEuG1DH1Js/edit?usp=sharinghttp://www.realkana.com/hiragana/http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html


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is just the N sound plus , making a nu sound.

This kana looks like some noodles (nu). There are several other kana that are similar to this one (,

,,) but you know this one is noodles because there are no sharp sides in it. Its 100% smooth

and bendable, like noodles! It even has an extra loop at the back, because it is a noodle.

is just the N sound plus , making a ne sound.

This is Nelly the cat. There are other kana very similar to this one (,,,) but you know this is

different because it has a loop at the end for the tail and its not super bendable like(noodles) is

(see those sharp corners on the left?).

To top thins off, Nelly is a necromancer. Why? I have no idea, youd have to ask her. It must have

something to do with the undead cat army shes creating.

Also, if you know the word neko (Japanese for cat) you can use that too. This is a .


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is just the N sound plus , making a no sound.

See the big pig nose (no) there? You can also think of this as a Nosmoking sign (the ones with the

cigarette and the big red circle and slash through it). Pick the one that sticks with you the best.

Ha, Hi, Hu/Fu, He, Ho

Now lets look at the next five in this set. If youre feeling really shaky you can jump over to RealKana or

Drag n Drop Hiragana to practice, but you dont have to (yet)!

is just the H sound plus , making a ha sound.

This kana looks like the uppercase letter H plus the lowercase letter a. What does that spell? Ha!

Why are you laughing? Stop that. Make sure you can see the H+a in the kana.


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is just the H sound plus , making a hi sound.

He(hi) has a big nose. See that big nose? Now say it out loud. Hehas a big nose.

is just the F/H sound plus , making a fu/hu sound.

Usually this kana is pronounced with an f (fu) in hiragana, so were going to go with that. However,

this kana does look a lot like a hula dancer too, so keep the hu in mind as well. If you want, you can

think of this hula dancer as a fu-reaky hula dancer to remember the fu.


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is just the H sound plus , making a he sound.

Do you know the famous mountain Mt. Saint Helens? This kana isnt totally flat like Helens is, but its

pretty squat looking. Thats why this one is Helens.

is just the H sound plus , making a ho sound.

The left side line is a chimney. The right side is a mutated Santa Claus. He has four arms, a snake tail,

and no head. Out of his neck hes uttering ho ho ho ho ho ho

Hopefully he doesnt come down your chimney.

Exercises

Time to practice ten at a time! Its a lot, but youre getting better at learning these things, right?

1. Using Drag n Drop Hiragana, find the hiragana from the,,,,, andcolumns and

place them in their correct spots. When youre completed this five times, or when youre able to

complete this fairly quickly (lets say in ~1 minute), move on to the next task.
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html


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is just the M sound plus , making a mi sound.

Looks like lucky number 21. Who just hit the blackjack? Me (mi)! Who just turned 21 as well? Me (mi)!!

is just the M sound plus , making a mu sound.

Moooooo (mu), says the cow. MOOOOOOO.

is just the M sound plus , making a me sound.

Look at that beautiful eye! Its so beautiful because of the makeup (me) on it. Gotta look pretty in those

eyes!

If you also happen to know the word for eye in Japanese, that will help too. The word for eye in

Japanese is just(me).


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is just the M sound plus , making a mo sound.

You want to catch more fish so you add more worms to your hook. This is the third hook one, so

make sure you can differentiate the mnemonics in your head:,, and now.

YA, YU, YO

This column is a little strange. There are only three items in here, and ye and yi are seemingly

missing. Actually, they used to exist but now they dont (instead people use or, because it sounds

pretty similar). Because of that, you only have to learn three kana for this section!

is just the Y sound plus , making a ya sound.

Do you see the yak in this kana?


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katakana columns, and choosing all the typefaces, drill the kana for 10-15 minutes.

3. Using this worksheet, copy, print out, or download it and write in all the boxes.

When youre all done, its time to tackle the last main hiragana section. Youre almost there! Not so

hard, right?

RA, RI, RU, RE, RO

Welcome to the last main set! Its only eight characters just like the last set, so hopefully its not too

bad. It does include the infamous ra-ri-ru-re-ro column though, which does tend to give some people

trouble pronunciation-wise. Please be sure to check out our how to pronounce the Japanese R

(coming soon!) guide for more information on this.

is just the R sound plus , making a ra sound.

The rapper is rapping at the DJ table.

is just the R sound plus , making a ri sound.
http://www.tofugu.com/guides/learn-hiragana/#https://docs.google.com/document/d/1235hPLUNyaiyPf--_1jkrv9wpcVXLwnPw3ACx4KBIRQ/edit?usp=sharing


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The reeds (ri) are swaying in the wind.

This kana can also be written without the connection in the middle, too, which makes it more reedlike in

that case (I wanted to present the more difficult of the two versions here, though).

is just the R sound plus , making a ru sound.

The is like(youll learn it in a second) except it has a loop at the end. is a crazier route (ru).

There is a loop (ru) at the end. Are there no rules on this road?

is just the R sound plus , making a re sound.

This looks like a guy kneeling on the ground, retching up his dinner.

This kana is similar to ,,, and. What makes this one different is the curve at the back. You

can identify this as the guys knees bending, which makes it so you know hes keeled over retching his

guts out.


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is just the R sound plus , making a ro sound.

This is the counterpart to , except this one doesnt have a loop at the end (there are rules here!). So,

this kana is just a plain old road (ro).

WA, WO, N

And finally, the last group. This is a weird one. It includes(which is quite normal),(which is

pronounced just like, but is primarily used as a particle), and (which is the only consonant-only

character in all the kanaa). Lets go through them one by one.

is just the W sound plus , making a wa sound.

This kana looks like a wasp flying straight up.

It looks similar to,,, and. It looks especially similar to. You knowis Nelly the cat

because of the curl of a tail on the end. So, you can imagine the cat chasing this wasp, which is why its

flying straight up to get away. Its but is also a straight sharp line. This is its stinger.


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is just the W sound plus , though it sounds more like oh than it does wo.

The w is pretty silent, though its still a tiny bit there. You can pretty much just pronounce it like .

Whoa! (wo) yells the guy with no chin (). Someone threw a boomerang into his mouth, so of course

hes going to yell something. WHOA!

is just the N sound, thats it. Its the only kana that consists of a single consonant.

This kana looks just like the lowercase n in English. They happen to be the same sounds, as well.

How convenient! nnn.

Exercises

This is the last of the main hiragana. The exercises will now cover quite a bit (you know quite a bit!), so

make sure you understand and know everything before moving on.

1. Using RealKana, choose all of the columns up through. Drill for 10-15 minutes until you feel

like you can recall pretty much everything.
http://realkana.com/


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2. Using Drag n Drop Hiragana, drag the all of the kana into their spots. Try to be able to finish it in

three minutes. If thats too easy try two minutes. Two minutes should be difficult but more than

doable.

3. Using this worksheet, fill in all the blanks. You know the drill!

That will finish out all the main hiragana. From here on out its just combinations of kana or variations

on kana you already know, which makes things both easier and harder. Lets start with the variation

hiragana, also known as

Dakuten

Dakuten takes hiragana you already know and adds an additional symbol to it to change their

pronunciation. Usually this symbol is something that looks like a quotation mark, though in one

instance youll see this mark as a small circle. Here they are:

GA ZA DA BA PA

Luckily for you, there are only five rows of dakuten kana to learn, and all you have to learn is what the

sound changes to (since you know the kana already). Lets go over each of those dakutentransformations.

Every kana in thecolumn can have dakuten. When this happens, the K sound becomes a G

sound.

(ga) (gi) (gu) (ge) (go)

Because you know thecolumn already, all you really need to remember is that K G. Think of it

this way:

The car () runs into the guard () rail.

Before you move on, make sure you know that ka ga, ki gi, etc.

When something from thecolumn gets dakuten, it changes to a Z sound, with the exception of

(which is already an exception, so this makes sense!).

(za) (ji) (zu) (ze) (zo)

All you have to remember is that S Z, except in the case of, which goes to. Exceptions will

breed exceptions, so make sure you keep this in mind. To remember the S Z part, though, consider

the following mnemonic:

My saw () just zapped () me when I tried to use it. (imagine yourself trying to use a saw/and

getting zapped/).

Do you remember what the K-column converts to? Do you remember what the S-column converts to?

What is the exception in the S-column? When youre able to answer all that, move on to the next

dakuten set.

The T-column kana change to D sounds, except for the exceptions (which are and). Remember:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fKOrg5X5UkyZ6EhOMRa0qlr2jtVwrLQSHYk1iL9-ovQ/edit?usp=sharinghttp://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html


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Exception breeds exception!

(da) (dzi) (dzu) (de) (do)

The two exceptions (and) very rarely show up, which is lucky for you. They mostlysound like

and, but not quite. Youll get by pronouncing it like that if you must, but the correct pronunciation is

more like whats written above a combination of the D + Z sounds. Everything else is pretty normal.

To remember that thecolumn changes to become thecolumn, think of it this way:

Changing these kana to the dakuten versions is a bit like magic TADA! (ta & da)

Do you remember what the K-column changes to? Do you remember what the S-column changes to?

What about the T-column? Do you remember the three exceptions weve run into so far? If you can

answer all of those questions its time to move on to the last dakuten set, which is really two sets in

one.

,

The H-column is a bit strange. It has twodifferent kinds of dakuten that can be applied to it. One is that

quotes symbol youve seen so far, the other is a little circle.

(ba),(pa) (bi),(pi) (bu),(pu) (be),(pe)

(bo),(po)

You have to remember that the H-column goes to both a B and a P sound. What a pain. Think of it

this way:

Youre saying hahaha at the bar, because youve been drinking too much.

You say hahaha so much at the bar that somebody punches you.

Imagine through that story with you being the one saying hahaha (i.e. youre laughing) a couple of

times, trying to get the details as vivid as possible (especially the details that have to do with laughing,

the bar, and getting punched).

To help you a little more, you can remember that the P-column is the one that uses the little circle.

Why? Because that little circle is like a little fist thats about to punch you.

Before moving on, try to recall the mnemonics we used for the following (and remember what each

converts to):

When youre able to do and recall everything, its time to practice and see how good you really are!

Dakuten Practice

This practice will mainly focus on dakuten but also include all the kana youve learned up until this

point.

1. Using RealKana, select onlythe dakuten kana and drill those for 5-10 minutes until you feel

somewhat comfortable.

2. Now, add in all the other kana, mixed in with the dakuten kana.

3. Using this worksheet, fill in all the blanks.

When youre all done with that you should know all the kana fairly well, some better than others. I
http://realkana.com/


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imagine there will be a few nagging difficult kana for you (it will depend on each individual which kana

these are), but over time as you use hiragana and read more everything will get easier and easier. The

whole point of this guide is to help you to get you reading, making it so you can use various other

resources to continue your Japanese study.

Combination Hiragana

Theres only one more section to complete. Youre not really learning much thats new here, but you are

going to learn how to combine different types of kana together to make some new sounds. Mainly,were going to focus on what small,, andcan do to kana from the row (that includes,,

,, etc). First lets take a quick look at the size difference. Its hard to see when theyre not next to

each other!

To use these, youll need to combine them with something from thecolumn. When you do this,

youre essentially combining the first (English) letter of the -kana with the small,,sound. For

example:

+ KIYA KYA

+ JIYO JYO

See how the i gets dropped and it just becomes one syllable of sound? Heres a list of them all:

KYA, KYU, KYO GYA, GYU, GYO

SHA, SHU, SHO JYA, JYU, JYO (or JA, JU, JO)

CHA, CHU, CHO DZYA, DZYU, DZYO (youll never see these,

pretty much ever) NYA, NYU, NYO HYA, HYU,

HYO BYA, BYU, BYO PYA, PYU, PYO

MYA, MYU, MYO RYA, RYU, RYO

As you may have noticed, theres nosound and theres no combination kana for the Y-column.

The first kana has to be a sound with a strong consonant in it, and both i and yi dont fit the bill. Also,

yi doesnt exist in modern Japanese.

Combination Hiragana Practice

With this knowledge its time to practice. Ive made a worksheetthat covers these combination kana.

Go through it and fill in all the blanks.

When youre done, you should be able to read almost everything that hiragana throws at you.

Everything except one little thing

Small Tsu ()

The small tsu is a weird little thing but well make sense of it. The easiest way to think of it, I think, is to

call it a double consonant. Basically, by adding a small to something, you are making the (English)

letter that follows it double into two consonants. Luckily, you wont see a small tsu before any of the

kana, so that never becomes an issue. Lets take a look at how the following hiragana

converts to romaji.

ita itta

kekou kekkou

See how that worked?is just plain ita without the small . But when you add it in, it becomes
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itta. The smallthat comes before the ta causes the consonant to double, making it itta. Make sure

you understand how that works with kekou/kekkou too.

In terms of pronunciation, this is different as well. Its almost as if you add a small stop where the small

exists, with one of the double consonants on either side.

it_ta

kek_kou

You will hear both of the consonants as separate sounds. One that ends the first part of the word, and

one that starts the second half (with the small ) showing you where that half point is.

For a while it will probably be difficult to distinguish a small and a large, especially in handwriting.

After you get more experience and read a lot more youll be able to make this distinction quite easily.

Additional Practice

Although you could probably go out into the real world and practice hiragana on your own, I thought Id

provide for you some ways to practice your newfound skills. I wouldnt recommend doing everything

here all at once but instead spread it out over the course of a couple weeks. Spacing your practice is

very important if you want to get better at something more quickly. Doing all this at one time wont be all

that effective. Luckily you can always start working on other parts of Japanese in the meantime while

you continue to practice hiragana.

Worksheets

We made a couple more worksheets for you to download/copy/print out. Theyre a little different from

before though. This time theyre real sentences and were not keeping track of what kana were using,

so its a bit more like real life. Youll still want to put the romaji above the kana and read each kana out

loud. Dont worry too much about meaning, thats not what were learning right now and it will definitely

be way above your ability level.

Hiragana Practice #1

Hiragana Practice #2

When you finish those, I bet youll be feeling pretty special, like some kind of hiragana master. If you

dont, theres always more ways to practice.

Apps & Other Programs

There are plenty of apps and resources out there to help you drill as well. Some of them youve seen

already because of this guide, others you have not.

Im sure there are plenty of other resources out there as well, but this should be good enough to get

you to that level where you can start using the hiragana with other resources.

Real Life Practice

Of course, if youd like to practice more there are plenty of real life ways to practice hiragana. Just go

to any Japanese website and read all the hiragana that you can find. If anything it will teach you to

differentiate between kanji, katakana, and hiragana, which is a nice skill to have. Try the YomiuriOnline, or any of these beginner Japanese reading resources.

Moving On Practice
http://www.tofugu.com/2012/08/28/japanese-reading-practice-for-beginners/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oihMWqHCbUnMkSc3HevuxGHmktZ2QY2yTcUqnUWQ81w/edit?usp=sharinghttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1_NzKK3N6l5owqEWkmOaKTRzxiRhO11MVjcharOluSW8/edit?usp=sharing


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After learning hiragana to a moderately slow level, you dont have to keep drilling it until its fast. In fact,

you can just move on to something else. Hiragana will keep popping up just about everywhere, so by

learning something new youre actually reviewing the hiragana at the same time!

What Next?

Hiragana is only the start of things to come. You have so much more to do and hiragana will help you to

get there. Although the answer to the question whats next is going to be somewhat vague /

dependent on the individual, here are some suggestions to move you along your way.

Kanji

I do highly recommend that you get started on kanji right away. A lot of people think they should wait

until they have a higher level of Japanese but that is usually a terrible idea. Being good at kanji speeds

up just about every other facet of learning the Japanese language, from grammar to reading to

speaking to listening. If youre weak at kanji youll be weaker at everything else. Many people think

kanji is difficult, but we made WaniKanito show that its not as hard as people think.

Katakana

At the same time as kanji its worth learning katakana. Katakana wont come up nearly as much

especially at a really early stage of Japanese, but its not rare enough to ignore. Were working on a

similar guide for katakana which should be out in the near-ish future. In the meantime, a similar

strategy to hiragana can be employed on your own.

Grammar

Along with kanji or after you have a foundation in kanji, its time to learn some Japanese grammar.

There are many resources to help you to do this. We made TextFugu(an online Japanese textbook) for

this, but there are other sites like Tae Kims Guide To Japaneseas well as textbooks (we like the Genkiseries).

I hope this guide helped you to learn hiragana effectively and quickly! Keep working hard and youll

continue to get better and better. With hiragana you have the tools to start your Japanese studies no

matter what resource or textbook you end up choosing, so try a lot of things and see what works for

you. Fell free to check out some of our reviews on Japanese resourcesas well as resources that weve

madewhile youre in the Japanese-learning-mood!

P.S. Were working on adding videos to this guide, so check back occasionally if youre having trouble

with pronunciation (because videos will help a lot with that!).
http://tofugu.com/resources/http://tofugu.com/reviews/http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/http://textfugu.com/http://tofugu.com/resources/wanikani/

tofugu.com - the ultimate guide to learning hiragana

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