Help learning katakana and hiragana

Ryuk · 5 Jan 2008

It's not too hard once you sit down and do it. I just took it one vowel set at a time and just wrote them down everyday and added more on everyday and now I can remember them (too much time in lectures spent not paying attention :s).

Just remember, there is logic to them, i.e. ga, ba, pa, za, etc. are basically the same symbols but with little circles or double dashes above them.

nice gaijin · 5 Jan 2008

That's not just some logic, there's an important linguistic relationship between characters that use diacritic marks like か→が、は→ば、ぱ etc

FDDreamer · 25 Jan 2008

As a complete beginner I have to say flash cards seem to be working quite well! It's very early days yet but I've picked up the first 15 Kanakana in a couple of days and it is proving really enjoyable. I have been using the line by line method outlined earlier in this post, but also testing myself randomly by picking any one of the characters and writing it.

I'm hoping to pick up the first Genki book soon too, but thus far I am pleasantly surprised at how effective the flash card system is proving to be.

Also, I'd just like to say thank you to all of the people sharing their tips and tricks - it really is helpful!

yumeitsumo · 25 Jan 2008

Ryuk said:
It's not too hard once you sit down and do it. I just took it one vowel set at a time and just wrote them down everyday and added more on everyday and now I can remember them (too much time in lectures spent not paying attention :s).

Just remember, there is logic to them, i.e. ga, ba, pa, za, etc. are basically the same symbols but with little circles or double dashes above them.

I believe those symbols are called "Dakuten" or something. I can't remember right now. I'm supposed to know! I just learned the ABC's and forgot what those marks where called.

HarajukuxBoy · 31 Jan 2008

Ugh! Katakana is such a head ache for me, I am really comfortable with Hiragana, but not soo much with katakana >_<. Is there some secret to why I am not learning them as fast as I need to?

Ryuk · 31 Jan 2008

Well you could try flash cards I suppose. From my experience though, the most useful thing for learning kana is to make sure you practice everyday. When I was at uni and got bored of lectures, I just wrote out all the hiragana characters. Then wrote out the katakana ones (I memorised it line by line, so like a i u e o, then ka ki ku ke ko, etc.). And I just did this everyday and slowly added more and more katakana until I knew them all.

Now I know them, I don't tend to practice everyday but now and again I write them all out just to make sure they're all still up in my noggin

HarajukuxBoy · 1 Feb 2008

Thanks for the advice..

yumeitsumo · 1 Feb 2008

HarajukuxBoy said:
Ugh! Katakana is such a head ache for me, I am really comfortable with Hiragana, but not soo much with katakana >_<. Is there some secret to why I am not learning them as fast as I need to?

I think it's because the hiragana is more fun and curvy. They are not as square and simple. I found that the shapes of hiragana are easier. Yep. *nods*

HarajukuxBoy · 5 Feb 2008

yumeitsumo said:
I think it's because the hiragana is more fun and curvy. They are not as square and simple. I found that the shapes of hiragana are easier. Yep. *nods*

Oh yeah, that could explain it. Hiragana was fun to learn, Katakana just seems stupid, and it looks retarded. BUT, I am finding secret ways to remembering katakana. I relate the kana to something I know of. For example, the katakana symbol for "i" it looks like someone raising their hand for attention while making the "I" noise to get that person's attention. Im unsure if that makes any sense you anyone besides me, but thats my tactic.

yumeitsumo · 7 Feb 2008

Also, if you are looking for more ways to remember them, you should pick up a pictograph book. I could always send you pics too!

Haruspex · 7 Feb 2008

HarajukuxBoy said:
Ugh! Katakana is such a head ache for me, I am really comfortable with Hiragana, but not soo much with katakana >_<. Is there some secret to why I am not learning them as fast as I need to?

Yeah, you don't conjugate kanji using katakana, so you don't use them half as often. And generally, if you can't write something using kanji, you'll probably use hiragana nay? Thats my opinion.

Calcifer87 · 8 Feb 2008

wow
i love this thread
isnt giving me some great advice to go by! im going to try all the techniques includig sound to character. im glad i can recognize a few already and even draw them bc i do the pictographic memory thing. lol

Help learning katakana and hiragana

Ryuk

スパ外国人

nice gaijin

Resident Realist

FDDreamer

後輩

yumeitsumo

Sempai

HarajukuxBoy

後輩

Ryuk

スパ外国人

HarajukuxBoy

後輩

yumeitsumo

Sempai

HarajukuxBoy

後輩

yumeitsumo

Sempai

Haruspex

先輩

Calcifer87

Calcifer

Similar threads