How Long Should I study Hiragana And Katakana for

[Pirateskarma]

Hi Guys I've just started learning Japanese, and I was wondering how long I should study my Hiragana and Katakana for. I don't want to take took long causing me to have slow progress, but I also don't want to move too fast causing me to not really know the two alphabets. So how long did it take you guys?

 

[Angel Valis]

That's not really an easy question to answer. It all depends on you, and how long it takes you to memorize them.

It's better to take your time than to rush, so just take it easy; you need to know the characters before moving too far since I believe that learning with kana is a much better idea than learning with romaji. Get to the point where you can look at a character and recognize it within maybe a quarter of a second, and then move on.

For me, it's hard to say how long it took because I did some self studying, then went a long time with almost no Japanese instruction (self or otherwise), then started taking classes. Once I was in the classes, it only took a few days for me to get them down (katakana took a bit longer because of the similar looking characters), but I already had some experience with them.

 

[Half-n-Half]

As Angel Valis pointed out there really is no set time you should study them. As you are exposed to more and more Japanese you will be forced to memorize them anyway.

 

[Chidoriashi]

Well, as long as you need to. If you cannot manage the alphabet of a language how do you expect to take on the rest of it?

 

[hiptanaka]

I'd say start with grammar soon if you feel like it, but make sure to always practice using kana (not roomaji), and you'll get better automatically. Just repeating the kana will get boring after a while and you may lose interest. So study kana hard for a few days then start with other stuff. That's my thoughts anyway.

 

[FinancialWar]

Hi Guys I've just started learning Japanese, and I was wondering how long I should study my Hiragana and Katakana for. I don't want to take took long causing me to have slow progress, but I also don't want to move too fast causing me to not really know the two alphabets. So how long did it take you guys?

Took me 3 years 7 months to learn Hiragana and another 2 years and 4 months to learn Katakata. And I am still having trouble differentiating between し and つ

 

[hiptanaka]

Took me 3 years 7 months to learn Hiragana and another 2 years and 4 months to learn Katakata. And I am still having trouble differentiating between し and つ

Hopefully not full time study.

 

[bakaKanadajin]

Took me 3 years 7 months to learn Hiragana and another 2 years and 4 months to learn Katakata. And I am still having trouble differentiating between し and つ

That's gotta be a joke

You can have both sets of kana down in two weeks if you apply mnemonics.
Even without, took me a month doing it half-assed between classes.

If you really want to seriously study Japanese I'd get into Heisig now, it will really help your kanji memorization and prepare you for the real task.

Kana is just the most bare-bones necessities of Japanese, knowing your kanji is the real game. THAT, not kana, will take you 3 years easily.

 

[Chidoriashi]

Took me 3 years 7 months to learn Hiragana and another 2 years and 4 months to learn Katakata. And I am still having trouble differentiating between し and つ[?/QUOTE]


You have got to be kidding dude. Unless you studied like one a month or something. Which is not studying at all.

 

[Ollyx2Oxenfree]

Took me 3 years 7 months to learn Hiragana and another 2 years and 4 months to learn Katakata. And I am still having trouble differentiating between し and つ

LOL (first post)

 

[FinancialWar]

That was almost 3 years ago, I don't even remember if I were joking or not.

 

[Ollyx2Oxenfree]

sh1t, that was almost 3 years ago, I don't even remember if I were joking or not.

Haha, in any case, hows your progress been since then? I've been studying Japanese for a little over 2 weeks and already learned Hiragana so I'm studying Katakana now. It's been years so I'd like to think you know a decent amount by now. Could be wrong though. Hows your Kanji coming along?

 

[pauro12]

As to myself,, I've memorized it in about 1 week time... Then I've never forgot it anymore as I used it often... I have Japanese keyboards in both my laptop and phone, and I used to send Japanese stuffs in kanas and kanjis... So actually the more you love the language the more you will learn from it in no time... 頑張ってください！

 

[josquius]

Most university Japanese classes teach them the first week then say "Right, go off and learn them by next week's class". It shouldn't take that long to learn the basics, then its just a case of frequent exposure and not taking the naff cheat option of romaji.

I still sometimes forget how to write some katakana...occasionally even hiragana....because I never really have to. Reading meanwhile is as almost as easy as English letters now

 

[pauro12]

Most university Japanese classes teach them the first week then say "Right, go off and learn them by next week's class". It shouldn't take that long to learn the basics, then its just a case of frequent exposure and not taking the naff cheat option of romaji.

I still sometimes forget how to write some katakana...occasionally even hiragana....because I never really have to. Reading meanwhile is as almost as easy as English letters now

I supposed we have the same case in terms of Kana studies.. As for myself, I don't study about it anymore, and just used it everyday.. Surely, those hard to memorize kana will just stock in mind without knowing it...

 

[Vitne]

Using the "Real Kana" iOS app, I've learned the Hiragana in about 3 weeks. Now, I can't write them yet, but I can read them. The book I'm using is focused solely on Hiragana, and its already helping a lot.

I'm going to continue with Hiragana for a while, learning words, etc. and then move on to Katakana. Its a big step learning the Hiragana, I feel very proud!

 

[Andromedashun]

Take a class is probably the fastest. My teacher read the words then we have to write them down. Took me about 2 weeks for the 2 alphabets.

 

[pauro12]

Take a class is probably the fastest. My teacher read the words then we have to write them down. Took me about 2 weeks for the 2 alphabets.

Yea, same in my case ... But since I've loved the language so much, it actually took me about less than a week .. as I've done a lot of advance studies.. xD

 

[BrianLewis]

The original poster clearly gave up after 7 posts in 2010. I am sure the topic is still relevant, yet if anyone seriously has to consider if learning Kana might take too long, there is no way they will ever get past beginner anyway.

 

[Vitne]

My friend and I have learned Hiragana and Katakana in about 4 weeks. What we do is write 5 a day 50 times each and do a little mini quiz to make sure we can read them and write them. The writing quiz gives you a max of 5 seconds to read them. We also play these games on quizlet and use the cards on there for the quizes. To practice reading both Hiragana and Katakana, we used websites with kid stories and now articles although we can't make out what a lot of it is saying at times. Right now we're focusing on reading for a few weeks so we can be able to do it pretty well and then we'll start Kanji and grammar in less than 2 weeks. Here are some resources that we've used that I'd recommend:

Hiragana stuff: Cards: Hiragana Review game | Quizlet
Katakana stuff: Cards: For Katakana Test 46 letters | Quizlet
Kid stories in mostly Hiragana: イソップ物語 親子で楽しむイソップ物語
Furigana translator to read Japanese websites that have Kanji: ルビ(ふりがな)振りサービス AddRuby - ウェブページ

Hope these help!

Great childrens page Olly!

 

[pauro12]

The original poster clearly gave up after 7 posts in 2010. I am sure the topic is still relevant, yet if anyone seriously has to consider if learning Kana might take too long, there is no way they will ever get past beginner anyway.

Yea, it's like quitting in stage one which is the easiest part...