If you’re at the beginning of your journey into the Japanese language, the first thing you’ll need is a hiragana self study routine! Hiragana is the first set of characters you will learn to begin reading Japanese and you can teach yourself in just a few days.
The key points to learning hiragana without a teacher are: good resources, good study routines and determination. The routine you set up now will either help or hinder your entire Japanese journey so I’ll show you how to get into good habits early.
Unless you’re still in education you probably don’t have a regular study routine currently. Self study has some major obstacles so it’s important to know what to focus on. You’re probably excited to get started, so let’s jump in.
Before you start the hiragana self study routine.
A good place to store your writing is in a notebook! Who would have thought?
There are a couple of things you need to think about to decide if self study is right for you. I’ll be writing a post on that soon but for now, I’ll assume you’ve thought it over and come to the conclusion that you would prefer to study alone!
Decide what your Japanese focus and goals are.
You can’t study effectively if you don’t know what you’re working towards. Hiragana is important to any form of Japanese reading so your overall goals won’t effect the plan too much in this routine but it’s still important to consider them so you can tailor your study plan. Later on you might decide that you have no interest in reading and concentrate only on listening and speaking. But if your aim is to read manga then you will definitely want to get as quick as possible at recognising characters.
Don’t get overwhelmed by jumping in too fast.
Timing is key to learning. Some people jump in head first and try to memorise every hiragana character in a day. Later they find they can’t recall anything well at all! Learning too much at once is just not effective. While it’s exciting to get started, if you commit to just doing a little bit every day and you will get much better results long term.
Set aside time every day.
The most important part of a study routine is constancy. A little bit every day is better than 1 long session once a week. Your brain will get fatigued with too much new information at once and not take any of it in. Personally I find that I learn best first thing in the morning so I do my study right after breakfast while I have a cup of coffee. Find what time learning works best for you. If you can, also get some music that you only listen to during study time so it sets the mood and primes your brain to learn.
This study plan aims for around 30 minutes a day but you can adjust that around your own learning speeds.
Consider your budget for resources.
If you don’t plan to go further than kana, you might want to splash out on the higher priced resources I recommend in this guide. If not then I recommend keeping your budget tight for hiragana and splurging further down the line when you start kanji.
Before you start studying hiragana you will need:
An iPhone or Android to download learning apps
Access to a printer and paper
A pen
Now let’s get to the first day!
Hiragana Self Study Routine
If your desk looks like this then you probably aren’t getting much learning done.
Day 1 – Getting comfortable with vowels and sounds.
There are 46 characters in basic hiragana and it almost doubles when you add in modifiers. We’re going to learn the base 46 over the next 5 days then tackle the modified characters on days 6 and 7.
As it’s the first day we’re only going to deal with the 5 vowels so you can get a feel of how Japanese actually sounds.
Key study points:
Download your study resources. In this guide I will be assuming that you are using the apps I’ve recommended in my hiragana app guide. Specifically I am recommending Hiragana Memory Hint and Kana School for this course but you can substitute any of the other apps so long as you have a “learning app” and a “revision app”. The learning app should have an easy way for you to learn eg. mnemonics and the revision app should have a fast paced multiple choice test where you can select which characters to include.
Go ahead and install those apps and then print out several hiragana practice sheets for later use.
Pronunciation The most important thing to take away from today’s study session is how the vowels are pronounced. The vowel sounds effect how all of the other Japanese characters sound so they are important to get right. Listen to the guides in your apps and try to say them out loud. Make sure that you are matching the Japanese pronunciation rather than your native language.
Study time break down:
Download your study apps – 5min
Learn the 5 vowel characters (A, I, U, E, O) in your study app – 10min
Study pronunciation of the characters and say them out loud – 10min
Revise the characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 2 – K and S characters
Remember that just highlighting English text will not improve your hiragana knowledge.
Today is our second day learning, so the first thing we need to do is revise the characters we learned yesterday. You only know the 5 vowels so far, so it should just take a few minutes to do your revision at the beginning of the study session.
Key study points:
Revising from yesterday Revision will become an important part of your study routine so it’s good to get in the habit now. Start each session directly revising what you covered the day before. It doesn’t have to be in depth, don’t spend ages re-reading, just skim over the characters/mnemonics and run a round of the multiple choice quiz.
Understanding the sound table After learning the next group of characters you should spend a little time looking over the rest of the hiragana chart to understand how the vowels interact with the table to make sounds. You can find a nice hiragana chart print out which includes stroke order or here’s one which includes all of the modifiers.
Study time break down:
Revise yesterday’s vowels – 5min
Learn the K characters (Ka, Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko) and S characters (Sa, Shi, Su Se, So) in your study app – 15min
Look over the hiragana table to understand how the character sounds interact – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 3 – T and N characters with writing practice
Karen wondered why it was taking her so long to learn today’s 10 characters and then she realised this was all a dream, she was studying French and her name was Anne.
You don’t want to get bogged down so today we’re going to break things up so it’s a bit more interesting. After you’ve done your revisions and learned your new characters you will start to give writing a try.
By the end of today’s session you will know 25 characters, you’re more than half way there!
Key study points:
Revision tips Today’s first revision should include all of the characters you’ve learned so far. Don’t spend any extra time on this, just try to answer as many questions as you can. It’s not important to revise every single character every day, just get a general gauge of how you’re doing.
The T’s Keep a sharp eye out for the sounds of the T characters, so far most of the sounds have followed the table with their vowels. Chi and Tsu are a little bit different so watch the pronunciation.
Writing Today we’re going to give writing a try. You should have already printed out your hiragana practice sheets so grab them and start writing. These days with computers and phones, people don’t write much in their every day lives. It’s much less important than it used to be to have perfect writing. Rather than learning to writing fluently, our practice aims to give your brain another way to remember the hiragana. This is particularly effective for characters you’re having trouble remembering so start with those.
Try to match your stroke order with the examples given and see how fast you can produce the characters accurately. I find it helps a surprising amount to say the character out loud as you go too.
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 T characters (Ta, Chi, Tsu, Te, To) and 5 N characters (Na, Ni, Nu, Ne, No) in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few of the characters – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 4 – H and M characters and mini revisions
Janine started practicing her hiragana and before she knew it, she’d written the recipe for tomato soup.
Today we tackle the H and M characters and do some writing revisions of the previous lessons. You should be in a routine of learning every day now so you might find yourself not needing the full time to learn the characters. If this is the case, don’t linger, just switch over to writing practice early and add some more characters.
Key study points:
Mini revisions. At this point it’s a great idea to start doing mini revisions throughout your day. Each set of mini revisions should only take you a few minutes so stick to 5-10 questions. The aim of these revisions is to begin to speed up your recognition. You want to get as fast as possible so you can read easily without sounding things out. Don’t worry about getting answers wrong, just go with your first feeling until it becomes instinct.
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 H characters (Ha, Hi, Fu, He, Ho) and 5 M characters (Ma, Mi, Mu Me, Mo) in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few characters you have trouble remembering – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 5 – Y, R, W, N characters
Today is your last day of the basic hiragana characters, well done! There is only one more full set of 5 along with a few stragglers.
Once you complete the lessons today you will know all of the basic hiragana, so get studying!!
Key study points:
Left over characters. Today’s lesson only has 1 full character set while the others are fewer than the full sets. The W and N characters here are often used in special ways. For example, the N character always comes at the end of the word and sometimes it sounds a bit more like an M. The Wo character is used as a particle which you’ll learn about later when you study grammar. Make sure you listen carefully to the pronunciation of Wo too as that can be a bit tricky!
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 R characters (Ra, Ri, Ru, Re, Ro), the 3 Y characters (Ya, Yu, Yo), the 2 W characters (Wa, Wo), and the N character in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few of the characters – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 6 – Modifiers – Dakuten and Handakuten
Charlotte laughed and returned the books to the library as she realised that this entire course was based around apps! Goodbye book carrying back pain!
Along with the 46 regular hiragana, there are little modifiers you add to them to change the sound. For this lesson make sure you have a hiragana chart that includes modified characters.
Key study points:
Understanding modifiers – Dakuten The first of the modifiers we will study today are called Dakuten. They look a bit like quotation marks and you add them to top right of the regular hiragana to change the sound. They are used on characters that start with K, S, T and H. The same basic sound concepts apply, they just change the consonants so K>G, S>Z, T>D and H>B.
Understanding modifiers – Hadakuten The second kind of modifier we’re looking at today is Hadakuten, it looks like a little circle and it’s used to change H sounds to P
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 kinds of modified characters that use Dakuten and Hadakuten – 15min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 7 – Modifiers – Diagraphs
If hiragana feels like a lot of characters, don’t stress… just wait until you get to kanji!
You made it to the last day!!
Today we’re looking at a different kind of modifier: diagraphs. This kind is a mini hiragana character that’s put after the main character that changes the sound. If you’re using a standard flash card app these lessons may not be included and it may not appear in your revisions. Most apps focus on learning the standard hiragana and throw these in somewhere afterwards.
Key study points:
Understanding modifiers – Diagraphs Ya/Yu/Yo Diagraphs are a kind of mini hiragana that’s put after the main character. It changes the vowel sound on the end, so for example Ki+mini ya = Kya sound. You can do this with Ya, Yu or Yo, just refer to your hiragana chart to see which characters it works with.
Understanding modifiers – Diagraphs Tsu The tsu character is a little different. When Tsu is used as the mini character, it means that the next character’s consonant is double long. So Ki-mini tsu-Ko becomes ki-kko when you pronounce it.
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the Y and Tsu modified characters in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few of the characters – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Congratulations you learned hiragana all on your own!
Congratulations on finishing hiragana! Go celebrate with your equally attractive friends! I need to buy some new stock images…
Well done on making it through your first week of Japanese study! You have successfully learned all of the basics you need for hiragana yourself. That deserves a big pat on the back!
Of course, this just a crash course so there are some other rules around hiragana but those will be covered in more depth when you start your grammar studies.
Now what? How do I apply this? Katakana?
Self study requires a lot of motivation and keeping up your routine is the best way to do that. Keep studying for 30 minutes every day and move on to the next challenge. If you need to take a break from learning new information, do a few days where you just revise your hiragana before moving on. Whatever you do, don’t break your routine or it will be harder to keep up your motivation!
Start trying to put your hiragana knowledge to use by reading anything you can. You won’t have the vocabulary to understand fully yet but the focus should be on character recognition.
Now you have completed your hiragana studies, get ready to start katakana. Katakana will require different techniques and routines so I will have a guide on that coming up next.
Keep studying!! Don’t stop doing mini revisions throughout the day, keep trying to improve your recognition speed.
Hiragana is your first step to learning Japanese but which hiragana study apps are the best? The app store is absolutely packed with hiragana content and it can be difficult to figure out which ones are worth looking at.
My criteria for a good app is something with includes a good way to learn and review hiragana with a clean design. You want to get through kana as fast as possible so these aren’t apps you are going to keep forever, they just need to be engaging enough to get the job done!
Ideally you will want an app that can follow through and do katakana too but for these reviews I’m focusing on the hiragana side. Unfortunately a lot of them have very similar names so make sure you check the links and grab the right ones!
These guides will change over time as I update them with new apps I’ve tried. If you’re looking for an idea of how long it will take to learn hiragana check out my earlier post.
Best Free Apps To Learn Hiragana.
These apps are completely and totally free, no upgrades in sight! Japanese is a long journey so even if you plan on using paid resources later it’s a good plan to check out the free hiragana apps. Ideally you would learn hiragana and katakana for free then upgrade to a paid app for kanji when you know you’re committed.
This app is put out by the Japan Language Institute in Kansai so it’s got some street cred behind it. It’s divided into memory hints, quizzes and revision tables. The memory hints are visual mnemonics drawn on the character with short animations. There is a native speaker voice for pronunciation but not to read the mnemonic. You can view the character inside the illustration or flip it to see them side by side.
The quiz includes reading, listening or reversed multiple choices with a quick review period after each. There is also an option for “similar hiragana” which will quiz you on characters that look the same. This is great for improving reading comprehension. One funny aspect is that for a correct answer you are shown a red O with a blue X for incorrect. In Japan that’s common but in my brain red always means “wrong” so it took a moment to figure that out!
The Institute also puts out a larger family of free apps including katakana and basic kanji. If you like this way of learning you have room to grow with the apps.
Covers: Hiragana Design: Nice design, coloured backgrounds with black and white illustrations that stand out. Learning style:Review the mnemonics at your own pace then review with quizzes. Mnemonics included: Yes, illustrated.
Good:Clean modern design. Bad: Some of the mnemonics are a bit of a stretch, it would be nice having a voice over to read the captions.
This is the best free option out there! It’s nicely designed, includes mnemonics and has decent quizzes. I absolutely recommend Hiragana Hint Memory if you are sticking to free apps, you can’t get better.
This is a great app for revising and tracking your learning. It features detailed statistics on your time learning and reviewing so you can adjust your study. The downside is that there are no mnemonics or ways to learn outside of staring at the kana table. Within the kana table you can select a character for more information, try drawing it and listen to pronunciation.
The app features a variety of tests including multiple choices, type in answers and drawing. Like most apps, the drawing tests are self marked against the guides. I find the most useful tests to be the typed in answers, it’s a nice middle ground between multiple choice and writing. It also helps link the character in your brain with how you will usually be using it.
Covers: Hiragana and katakana Design: Clean, modern and simple. Easy to read. Learning style:Learn via a kana chart, then various quizzes. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Great design, lots of statistics about your learning. Reminders and written answers available. Bad: No mnemonics or interesting ways of learning the characters.
This app proves that free resources can be just as good as the paid ones! The app is set out between learning, kana tables and infinite quizzes. In the learning section you can view the characters, try them out in mini quizzes or do the full test to advance to the next character set. Each set has 5 characters and you need to complete the previous ones before the next is unlocked. The tests are simple multiple choices and you have 3 lives for incorrect answers. There is a text to speech voice that reads the characters as you go.
Covers: Hiragana and katakana Design: Clean and simple. Learning style:Learn via looking at the characters, trial quiz, then test to unlock the next set. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Clean modern design, 3 heart system for wrong answers during the test. Bad: No mnemonics or interesting ways of learning the characters.
While this one is not full featured for learning, it’s fantastic for reviewing. The design is pleasant and it does exactly what it promises.
Best paid apps to study hiragana.
While there’s a number of free resources around online, sometimes it’s worth paying a bit to get really GOOD resources. These apps have great design and features but on average they will set you back around AU$15 to unlock fully. Many of these also include katakana so the price is shared across both alphabets.
Dr Moku’s learning system is one of the bigger players in terms of learning apps so the name comes up often. The teaching is based on clever mnemonics which include pictures to help you remember. In learning mode, you view the picture with the hiragana over the top and then listen to Dr Moku read the mnemonic to you. His voice and pronunciation is quite distinctive so it helps things stick in your memory. You can also toggle to see an animation of how each character is written.
There are quizzes for reading, listening and writing. The reading and listening are standard multiple choice questions while the writing is a self graded test.
Additional quick reference and audio charts are included along with some common words and phrases. The company has other apps for katakana, basic kanji and phrases. If you like the style of mnemonics then this is something to consider.
Covers: Hiragana (25% included in free app, the rest unlocked with paid upgrade) Design: Clean and simple. Easy to see each item for review. Fun drawings. Learning style: Review at your own pace, then timed multiple choice quiz. Mnemonics included: Yes.
Good: Good mnemonics, written practice included. Family of apps available if you like the style. Bad:Lots of upgrade banners and ads for the other apps. The app design can get tedious with several selection screens before you start most options.
Price:Free download, AU$7.99 upgrade to unlock all hiragana. Bundle in the app store with the katakana and phrases apps for $12.99
A great system for mnemonics and reviews. Free version is not worth it but if you don’t mind the price then the bundle of kana and phrases is good value for learning and revising.
With a very basic name you would be forgiven for thinking this is a basic app. There are 6 lessons that cover hiragana, katakana, some vocabulary, kanji and basic grammar points. The lessons are broken into sections and focus on repetition in different formats. There are no mnemonics to help you but each character is shown a variety of ways and then you must select it in multiple choice. The reviews are given in an SRS style but I’m not sure on the frequencies.
The questions also have a writing option which you can toggle during reviews. The writing practice starts with you tracing the character with coloured dots showing the start and end points of each stroke. The character gradually fades through each quiz until you are writing completely on your own which is a great approach.
Covers: Basic hiragana (5 items available free per lesson, others unlocked via paid upgrade) Design: Dark, clean and simple. Easy to see each item in quiz. Learning style:Learn via repetition, writing and quizzes. Review with the same methods. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Clean, modern design. Writing reviews are useful. Bad: No mnemonics or learning options other than repetition.
Price:Free download, AU$2.99 upgrade for hiragana only or $12.99 for all lessons (hiragana, katakana, some kanji, vocabulary and grammar)
Worth it for the smooth design and writing practice. Nice that it has more than just hiragana for the price but if you want to learn with mnemonics then you’ll have to look elsewhere.
This app is pricey compared to the features of other apps but the design is great and the speed that you can review is very useful. The main part of the app is revising kana via timed multiple choice questions. It features a self study kana chart but does not include mnemonics or pronunciation there. This is definitely not an app that will help you learn hiragana to begin with but the super quick quizzes are great for making sure your recall and reading skills are on point.
Covers: Basic hiragana (hiragana with modifiers and katakana available via paid upgrade) Design: Clean and simple. Easy to see each item in quiz. Learning style:Learn at your own pace, then timed multiple choice quiz. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Clean modern design, fast pace for improving reading. Bad: High unlock price, no spoken pronunciation during learning, no mnemonics.
Price:Free download, AU$7.99 upgrade to unlock hiragana with modifiers and katakana.
Worth it for nice design and speed but only if you are focused on reviewing rather than learning and you don’t mind spending for the upgrade.
This one is a literal flash card study app for hiragana. It won’t teach you anything about the characters or help you learn them with mnemonics etc but it is a quick and easy way for no fuss reviews. There’s not much else to say about it because that’s all it is: hiragana flash cards!
Covers: Hiragana Design: Clean and simple. Learning style:Flash cards only, no customisation. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Clean design, quickly and easily get through lots of flash cards. Bad: No mnemonics or interesting ways of learning the characters. No flash card customisation.
Now this is something different from boring flash cards! Hiragana pixel party is one part review and one part rhythm game. You play as Mihiro who is running through various cities and landscapes while jumping over kana obstacles to the beat. As Mihiro calls out a hiragana character, you need to press the correct character on the screen to make her jump in time to the beat and clear the obstacle. The better you do, the higher your score. Each level unlocks a couple of hiragana at a time so you can breeze through. There’s not really much actual teaching though so I would recommend using this once you have a basic grasp. It’s a really fun way to review though!
Covers: Hiragana (12 levels free, 100 more plus katakana unlocked through paid upgrade) Design: Pixel game style. Learning style:There isn’t a whole lot of learning here, just reviewing through the mini game. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Clean modern design, fast pace for improving reading. Bad: Obviously requires sound to use so you can hear the beat.
Price:Free download, 12 levels free AU$2.99 upgrade to unlock 100 extra levels, song etc.
Great way to get some kana practice in without feeling like you’re studying, definitely download.
Hiragana study apps not to waste time with.
There are a LOT of apps for hiragana study in the app store and a lot of them are really good. Unfortunately a lot of them are also not so good. These are some apps that came up in my searches that I didn’t find helpful. While they aren’t necessarily bad, there are better options in the apps I’ve already listed so try one of those instead of wasting your time!
This app has great reviews on the app store but I couldn’t figure out why. When I opened it, I was greeted with an advertisement for a Japanese ebook. Fairly standard except I couldn’t find a way to close it without clicking to sign up on the ebook. The design of the app is busy and like looking at a 2002 Geocities page which is distracting.
Beyond that, the app is sectioned into study and test areas. The actual study information is useful but to get to each item takes several clicks. There are a lot of vocabulary items included as examples of hiragana use. Quizzes included are standard multiple choice options.
Covers: Hiragana, katakana and vocabulary. Design: Cluttered and hard to do anything. Learning style:Review at your own pace, then multiple choice quiz. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Lots of information. Bad: Hard to use design, annoying to get to information, no mnemonics.
Price:Free download, ad supported or $1.49 to remove ads.
Don’t bother, just get one of the other apps that has both good information and good user experience!
This app has a lot of potential but falls down in design again. There is a LOT of text to read through which some people may enjoy but I found it distracting. It covers everything you would need for hiragana and katakana. While being heavy on information, it’s sparce on helpful things like memory aids etc or learning tools.
Covers: Hiragana, katakana and some vocabulary. Design: Minimal, many menu systems to get to the content. Content is mostly plain text. Learning style:Learn at your own pace with included lessons, some characters have additional information on style or pronunciation. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Lots of information included. Bad: Hard to use design, hard to get to information, no mnemonics.
Price:Free download, ad supported, contribute $1-3 to remove ads.
The information included is good but the clunky navigation make it not worth the time to navigate to each item.
My favorite hiragana app study plan of attack
If you’re just starting out with hiragana then I recommend that you begin with either Hiragana Memory Hint or Dr Moku to get the full benefit of mnemonics.
The biggest tip for hiragana study apps is to do your reviews often throughout the day until you can recognise the characters easily and read along words even if you don’t know their actual meanings!
The question of how long it takes to learn hiragana is a bit like asking how long a piece of string is. It really depends on how good you are at learning and how quickly you want to go.
The average beginner takes around 1 month to learn both Hiragana and Katakana combined. If you study diligently though, you could definitely learn hiragana in just a couple of days.
Hiragana is the starting point of the Japanese alphabet. It’s a character system where each shape corresponds to a sound. If you understand hiragana, you can spell and say any Japanese word. The base alphabet comes with 46 characters along with some modifiers that change the sounds a bit.
So how can you learn hiragana in the most effective way and avoid the pitfalls? Let’s take a look further into it and I’ll give you my best tips so you don’t waste any time!
The first step to study is to put down that gigantic clock and open a book.
What is the best way to learn hiragana?
The most effective way to learn hiragana is to use visual mnemonics. Mnemonics are stories that stick in your mind and remind you what the character is supposed to look like and mean. Hiragana is a visual alphabet so we use visual mnemonics to remember them. That means looking at the shape of the hiragana and coming up with a story about something that it kind of looks like.
When I was learning Japanese in highschool, our teacher was really fond of using the mnemonic “She brushes her long hair.” for the hiragana character “shi”. You can picture the shi character as the long hair of a pretty girl with a flick at the end. The girl is brushing her hair in time with the way the sentence is said and it makes a shhh sound as she goes.
The reason that has stuck with me for close to 20 years is because it contains several important elements:
An easy picture in your head of what the hiragana looks like (a girl’s long hair with a flicked end)
Short and catchy sentence
Emphasis on how the character is supposed to be pronounced (she/shi)
Mnemonics work by linking the new information (character shape and name) to as many senses as possible so it sticks. The weirder the mnemonic is, the more likely it is to stick in your brain.
Lots of learning apps have their own mnemonics and they are great resources. That said, I’ve found the most effective ones are the ones I make up about things, places and people in my every day life. Still, the crazier the better!
How often should you study?
There are 46 basic characters in the hiragana alphabet, if you were to learn 10 of them per day it would only take you 5 days to memorise them all!
For some beginners, it can be tempting to just learn them all at once but that’s not a good way to retain information. Ideally you want to learn a few characters every day, revise them, then revise the ones you learned the day before. This will make sure they stick in your memory.
At the beginning you don’t want to be overwhelmed so it’s best to only study for around 40 minutes per day.
This should give you plenty of time to get through 10 hiragana and test yourself on the previous ones you’ve learned.
Should you study hiragana and katakana at the same time?
Hiragana knowledge is only a few steps away!
Some study methods recommend studying both hiragana and katakana together at once. This is definitely an interesting approach but I think it’s better to do them separately so you don’t get them confused.
I recommend starting with hiragana and then progressing to katakana. Hiragana is used more often in Japanese and has (arguably) more easy to recognise shapes in the characters.
The benefit of studying hiragana first is that you will have a solid understanding of the character sets and sounds before tackling katakana.
What are common mistakes people make when studying hiragana?
It’s easy to make mistakes and get discouraged when you’re learning a new language so here are the top mistakes I see people making and how to avoid them:
Learning everything all at once. This is a quick way to burn out and not actually retain any information. As much as you want to dive right in and learn EVERYTHING, set some realistic goals and save some for tomorrow!
Not revising the characters they learned before. You will need time to test yourself and make sure you can remember the previously learned characters. Make sure to set aside time at the beginning of each lesson to check your progress.
Using digital flash cards and never writing anything down.
Another common mistake is the crumple all of your study papers into balls and throw them away.
These days we don’t use old fashioned pens and paper much but writing things down can be a really important part of learning. Writing the characters helps your brain make connections with the shape. The more ways you can see the character, the more easy it will be to recall.
Pronouncing using your native tones. Self study has lots of advantages but one of the disadvantages is that there’s no one there to tell you if you’re pronouncing things incorrectly! To help this you should make sure to include listening sources from native speakers in your study. Listen to the character being pronounced and then do your best to mimic the speaker. Don’t just assume the syllables sound the same in your native language!
Stopping after hiragana. You finished hiragana? Start on katakana right away and then kanji after that! Japanese is a massive undertaking and if you stop right after hiragana it’s hard to get the study momentum going again. Hiragana is the first step on the way to Japanese fluency so keep up the good work!
What are good resources to learn hiragana?
Now you’re ready to get down to learning, here are some good apps and resources for learning hiragana!
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