Question Hiragana practice

[Haruto Uzumaki]

Moderator's note: This thread is derived from the following thread.

Question - How to get an opportunity to produce (mainly anime) music in Japan?

Hey guys, ハルト (Haruto) here. I couldn't find anything anywhere online about my question, probably because it's so specific. So I came here to ask: In Japan, what would it take to become an anime (j-pop) music producer (provided I've already acquired the necessary skills for j-pop production)...

jref.com

That's good to hear. Can you give us more details and examples of these jobs? What kind of visa is required, to work these jobs?




In my opinion, writing hiragana is a lot more difficult than reading it, and there is only one way to get good at writing hiragana, which is doing what I call 'dictation practice.' Here is what I recommend you do.

Record your voice. Use your iPhone, laptop, or whatever. All such devices have the ability to record sound. If you need help learning how to record sound on your device, please do not hesitate to ask.

First, record yourself speaking single hiragana. First record them in order, then record them in a random order. Next, play back the file and write down what you hear.

Once you have mastered writing individual hiragana, starting recording and then listening-and-writing groups of hiragana, in short words. As time goes by, you will be able to write more and more hiragana at a single listening, until you can write full sentences just by listening to them once. (This is going to take a lot of work and practice on your part. Get started now.)

Below is a partial list of single kana and short words that I have put together. Start recording these, then continue to record some more.

Your goal is to hear hiragana in words, phrases, and sentences, and write them at a speed of one hiragana every three seconds. (This is going to be a lot harder than you think.)

And when you finish with hiragana, you have to start doing this all over again with katakana. Start doing this TODAY.

You also mentioned studying the Genki textbooks. You need to study them cover to cover. (I believe they are a series of textbooks rather a single textbook.) Just get through them. If you have any questions as you go through the Genki textbooks, you can ask them here. But work on hiragana first.

~~~

Hiragana for 'dictation practice'

a あ single character. Pronounced like a in Toyota and Yokohama

i い single character. Pronounced like i in Suzuki and Kawasaki

ii いい good
ai あい love (n.)

u う single character. Pronounced like u in Suzuki, sushi, sakura, and Subaru

u う cormorant (type of bird)
au あう meet (v.) (plain form)
iu いう (pronounced like the English word 'you') say (v.) (plain form)

e え single character. Pronounced like e in zen (Buddhism) and sake (The e in the word 'sake' is pronounced with the え sound not the い sound.)

e え painting (n.)
iie いいえ no
ueうえ up; upwards

o お single character. Pronounced like o in Tokyo and Toyota

o お tail (on an animal)
ou おう king; ruler
ooi おおい many; much
aoi あおい blue
aiueo あいうえお (the first five Hiragana) (It is going to take you a LOT of practice before you can write these five hiragana in 15 seconds.)

ka か single character

ka か mosquito
kai かい shellfish
kau かう buy (plain form)
kao かお face (n.)

ki き single character

ki き tree
kiki きき Kiki (name in an anime movie)
aki あき autumn
eki えき (train) station
kaki かき oyster
oki おき (first part of the name Okinawa)
ookii おおきい large
kikai きかい chance; opportunity

ku く single character

ku く nine
iku いく go (v.) (plain form)
kaku かく write (v.) (plain form)
oku おく put (v.) (plain form)

ke け single character

ke け hair
ike いけ pond

ko こ single character

ko こ child
koi こい another word for love (n.)
koku こく country
Eikoku えいこく England
koe こえ voice
go いく go (v.) (plain form)
Ikou. いこう。 Let's go. (plain form)
koko ここ here; this place
koukou こうこう high school
kako かこ past (tense)
kakokei かこけい past tense
Koike こいけ (family name)
Keiko けいこ (girl's name)
Koike Keiko こいけ　けいこ (full name)
ka, ki, ku, ke, ko かきくけこ

Thanks for the learning info. It'll be useful, but first for it to become useful I need a good way to be able to memorize the way the characters look in my head correctly, so when I write it down it won't fall apart. That's my main problem unfortunately... I will still try this method out, but I feel like I'm not gonna get far because I'll keep having to look up what the character looks like a few seconds before I write it so the visualization of it is fresh in my mind, otherwise it'll look like the equivalent of Naruto's first regular clones 😭 I hope you understand what I mean, cause this is the main reason why I haven't truly started working on the writing yet, I can't really see in my mind what I'm supposed to be writing and if I can get the visual to stick in my head, then I can use this recording method much easier
Also... I don't like hearing myself 💀 but for the sake of learning I guess I must do it, for if I can't sacrifice something as simple as the comfort of my ears for the required knowledge to successfully stay in Japan, I wouldn't be near ready to do this 🤧
And as for the visa thing, I guess I mistook professional/entertainer visas for a different kind work visa when they're not really work visas, they're technically separate so in that case i was wrong about a work visa not necessarily requiring 4 year degrees, in most cases they do, I've found :/ it would be wishful thinking to believe I'd get a professional or entertainer visa for my music career as early as 2 years after entering Japan 😔 oh well on that one

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

pronounced

Also just so you know I already understand most of the pronunciation rules of Japanese, as for the act of speaking it, I've gotten pretty good granted I know what I'm going to be saying (like if someone writes a Japanese phrase down, I can say it pretty decently, won't claim to be some master of pronunciation but that one's not an issue for me in any language, I pick up speech patterns pretty well)
So for future info you provide you won't have to add those, unless it doesn't really take any longer to do so, cause I guess it would help some people reading through the forum post

 

[Buntaro]

I need a good way to be able to memorize the way the characters look in my head correctly, so when I write it down it won't fall apart.

I think that, in the long run, this method will take longer But if you must, you must. Are you working on visualizations for each hiragana? What visualization do you have for the first hiragana, a?

I feel like I'm not gonna get far because I'll keep having to look up what the character looks like a few seconds before I write it

I think that, after you have written a hiragana 100 times, you will be able to write it without using a visualization technique.

I hope you understand what I mean,

I know exactly what you mean. Been there, done that.

for the sake of learning I guess I must do it,

Yes. No one will hear your voice but you!

Learning hiragana is going to be a lot of hard, hard work. There is no getting around it. Start today. I know several students who were super excited about learning Japanese, but found hiragana too difficult and gave up. As a matter of fact, this is exactly what happened to me. I took first semester Japanese in college, failed (mostly because I didn't know hiragana), then started Japanese again a couple of years later, just before I went to Japan (which gave me a lot of motivation).

Pick one hiragana and write it a total of 100 times over the next several days. (Write it ten times in ten days, if you have to.) Let us know when you finish writing it 100 times.

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

I think that, in the long run, this method will take longer But if you must, you must. Are you working on visualizations for each hiragana? What visualization do you have for the first hiragana, a?



I think that, after you have written a hiragana 100 times, you will be able to write it without using a visualization technique.



I know exactly what you mean. Been there, done that.



Yes. No one will hear your voice but you!

Learning hiragana is going to be a lot of hard, hard work. There is no getting around it. Start today. I know several students who were super excited about learning Japanese, but found hiragana too difficult and gave up. As a matter of fact, this is exactly what happened to me. I took first semester Japanese in college, failed (mostly because I didn't know hiragana), then started Japanese again a couple of years later, just before I went to Japan (which gave me a lot of motivation).

Pick one hiragana and write it a total of 100 times over the next several days. (Write it ten times in ten days, if you have to.) Let us know when you finish writing it 100 times.

Well I'll be going to work shortly but on my off time I'll be finishing a workbook I was making with a page for each hiragana character so I could write it over and over again, with a small reference image in the corner if I need it (hopefully at the end of the page I won't need it anymore) and I'll start doing the recording part when I get home.

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

@Buntaro

Pick one hiragana and write it a total of 100 times over the next several days. (Write it ten times in ten days, if you have to.) Let us know when you finish writing it 100 times.

So I kinda misread this and took it as just write it 100 times, plus I always overdo it so I just wrote か 260+ times at once 😅 I'll do that for 10 days if necessary as well if it'll enforce my writing skill.

I made some mistakes and a lot of them barely pass for か but I'm getting there and some of them are really good 😄 my hand got tired at the last few lines so I started making more mistakes 😭 I was actually able to write them pretty fast, the first lines it didn't take more than a few seconds per か, and by the time I got to the middle, I could write か in a fraction of a second

I think that, after you have written a hiragana 100 times, you will be able to write it without using a visualization technique.

You're totally right about that, I just needed it as a starter so I can make the right character in the first place, but now that I've done it so many times, it's embedded in muscle memory 🙏🏾 thank you
(I'll still have to have the original in the corner though for new characters I write so I write it correctly the first few times)

What visualization do you have for the first hiragana, a?

I'll show you... I might surprise myself and get it right, but without looking...

Yeah... That's definitely not right 😭 doesn't look like any real Japanese character... But this is what I'm talking about, I can recognize あ perfectly fine but until it's in muscle memory I'll never be able to recall it, and even after it's in muscle memory, I still actually won't have a clue what it looks like until a write it and look at what I wrote. My mind just doesn't have strong "thought vision" if you know what I mean. I've probably got a tiny bit of aphantasia 😅 thank you for your help though, I'm going to continue writing every character hundreds of times until they're all embedded in my muscle memory! 💪

 

[Buntaro]

Haruto,

"Muscle memory" is an interesting term. I had never heard it before. I'm glad these techniques are working for you.

Let us know when you can write the "K" hiragana (かきくけこ).

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

I had never heard it before.

Wow, that's really surprising, I hear it all the time 😂

Let us know when you can write the "K" hiragana (かきくけこ).

I will! I was working on あ last night which was a lot harder at first cause the ratio between the lines are complex, but after writing it larger on a different piece of paper, I'm starting to get the hang of it even when I shrink it to normal size I'll write a minimum of 1 hiragana 260+ times every 24 hours 😄 the order of the book I made is a little off though, instead of the order かきくけこ (Starting with K's) it would be something like かがはばさざ etc (ending with A's)

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

I finished あ I had to write it larger on the green paper and then I eventually got the hang of it for the most part, though my hand starts to hurt much quicker writing this one (though I was trying to write it even faster) 🥹 so I made a lot of mistakes due to my hand shaking or burning...

Hope it's fine to document my progress on here 😅

 

[Buntaro]

Uzumaki-san,

Since you get writer's cramp when you write so many hiragana, I think perhaps writing each hiragana only 100 times might be better. You can write one hiragana 100 times, take a break, then later write a different hiragana 100 times. Don't get carpel tunnel syndrome!

I also like your idea of writing a hiragana the first several time in a large size, then writing them smaller and smaller until you get down to regular size. I am going to try this idea next time I teach hiragana.

Yes, keep posting photos of your practice. This will help motivate you even more.

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

どうもぶんたろせんぱい for your reply 🙏🏾 (I hope I did that at least somewhat right 😅)

Since you get writer's cramp when you write so many hiragana, I think perhaps writing each hiragana only 100 times might be better. You can write one hiragana 100 times, take a break, then later write a different hiragana 100 times

Well, I used to have to do a lot worse in high school (like 3-5 full pages of writing for 2-3 classes every other day) so I'm used to it, and it'll be worth it to really ensure I've got the strokes locked in. But I do notice when I take a break then write a character, it tends to be a lot more accurate than when I do them consecutively, so I take my time every few lines to focus on accuracy as well 😄

I also like your idea of writing a hiragana the first several time in a large size, then writing them smaller and smaller until you get down to regular size. I am going to try this idea next time I teach hiragana.

Thanks! I got it from kindergarten. I always thought "we learned our first language in a certain way, why don't we learn new languages as if we're in kindergarten again?" And one of the things we had in kindergarten was paper with extra large line spacing because back then we wrote so big but that was how we learned it easier. Then as we moved on in school the line spacing got smaller and smaller till we reach college ruled spacing (ironically we start using it in middle school, not college 🤣) so it just made sense to do it bigger.

Yes, keep posting photos of your practice. This will help motivate you even more.

Got it, I will 😁 I think I have time for 1 more today

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

さ
You can probably tell my mind keeps trying to make a c shape instead of an upside down つ-like shape for the bottom part of さ 😫 gotta break out of that habit
I also don't like the version I was writing at the top, because it looks too much like ち, and for the longest time I didn't realize sa could be written in two ways so I kept getting this wrong 😔 the さ style with three strokes is more differentiated to me and much more easily recognizable 😄

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

た（だああああ！）🤣

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

My favorite one to write so far
な✍️
I feel like this one was a lot easier than the other ones and I caught onto it easier, so either it was an easy one or maybe I'm getting even better at understanding how to stroke the bits and pieces of hiragana characters 😄

 

[Buntaro]

どうもぶんたろせんぱい

いいえ、どういたしまして。

Uzumaki-san,

You are doing well in your progress. Keep up the good work.

It looks you are practicing the first hiragana in each column, which would be あかさたな、はまやらわ、ん. Is that right?

— 文太郎　(ぶんたろ)

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

いいえ、どういたしまして。

Uzumaki-san,

You are doing well in your progress. Keep up the good work.

It looks you are practicing the first hiragana in each column, which would be あかさたな、はまやらわ、ん. Is that right?

— 文太郎　(ぶんたろ)

Thanks, Buntaro-senpai 🙏🏾
And correct!

— ハルト

 

[Buntaro]

Uzumaki-san,

I have another idea on how you can practice hiragana. See how many times you can write あかさたな in one minute. (I'm curious how this will turn out.)

By the way, I did some research on the kanji for Haruto and I found that 陽翔 is the most common boy's name kanji for that pronunciation. Here is a webpage that lists the most common pronunciations for Haruto in order, with 陽翔 being listed as the most common.

明治安田生命 | 読み方ベスト3の漢字名

名前ランキング2021 - 読み方ベスト3の漢字名 - 男の子。生まれ年別名前調査の結果をランキングで掲載しています。お子さまのお名前付けの参考にしてください。

www.meijiyasuda.co.jp

The following page lists 陽翔 (はると) as the 128th most common Japanese male given name.

Name Detail 陽翔 - Kanshudo

Kanshudo is the fastest and most enjoyable way to learn Japanese kanji and written Japanese. Whatever your current level, Kanshudo will help you improve. Kanshudo provides free Japanese lessons, free online flashcards, games, and a unique visualization of your kanji knowledge, the Kanji Wheel.

www.kanshudo.com

The following is a webpage listing the meaning of the two kanji.

#kanji 翔陽 - Jisho.org

jisho.org

Here is another webpage listing the meaning of 陽翔.

Haruto(陽翔) Japanese Boy Name Meaning | Popular Baby Name

What does Haruto(陽翔) mean in Japanese? Learn about the name Haruto(陽翔): Meaning, Origin, Kanji, Theme, Other Readings, Hiragana, Katakana. Explore thousands of Japanese girl and boy names.

culturetour.net

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

See how many times you can write あかさたな

Sure, that's what I left extra pages in the front for! 😁 I'll try that today! I feel like this will be a challenging but good way to write multiple kana faster

By the way, I did some research on the kanji for Haruto and I found that 陽翔 is the most common boy's name kanji for that pronunciation.

After a long few days of researching, I've actually decided to leave my name in katakana until I have a full and fluent understanding of kanji. The reason for this is simply because my name has real meaning, and I chose it for certain meanings. I want to choose not the most common, but the most meaningful kanji that resonate with me the most for my name. Also, having certain search engines, translators, etc recognize certain kanji as something completely different than "Haruto", such as the ones you sent to me, worries me. In Japan, I've learned that your name will get converted to katakana or left how it is until citizenship. Upon citizenship, you're allowed to have kanji represent your name. I'd like to wait for that day so I fully understand, and am sure of, the kanji that I will use to represent the name Haruto. I hope that makes sense 🙏🏾

 

[Buntaro]

渦巻さん、

Yes, it seems writing your given name as ハルト is the best way to go.

After reading your post, I'm thinking that writing five hiragana in a row might be a little too much of a challenge right now. Perhaps it would be better to write あか、 あか、 あか (which means the color red), then かさ、かさ、かさ (which means umbrella), then さた、さた、さた (no meaning I know of) and たな、たな、たな (which means a shelf).

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

渦巻さん、

Yes, it seems writing your given name as ハルト is the best way to go.

After reading your post, I'm thinking that writing five hiragana in a row might be a little too much of a challenge right now. Perhaps it would be better to write あか、 あか、 あか (which means the color red), then かさ、かさ、かさ (which means umbrella), then さた、さた、さた (no meaning I know of) and たな、たな、たな (which means a shelf).

文太郎先輩、

It may be quite a challenge to do 5 at once, but I will still give it my best shot. That's the Uzumaki way! Believe it! ) No matter what challenges I face, I'll do my best to overcome them, even if it seems like too much. If I can't do something as simple as this, I wouldn't have a chance of stepping foot in Japan. For this reason, I must take the biggest challenges and face them so I can keep my mind as courageous and "gutsy" as possible 😁

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

I realized how cool it's gonna be when I can look through this forum thread as a timeline of pretty much my entire progress, from aspiring to be in Japan, to learning Japanese, to actually being in Japan, and then making history in Japan 😁 it's gonna be such a great feeling! I hope it inspires others too that look through this thread years later

Anyway, I've just finished writing あかさたな over and over again. The way I did it is as such: I tried my best to write the sequence 3 times on one line, in under a minute and beat my best time. On the left there is the time remaining I had after finishing that line.

My best time was 33 seconds! And most the handwriting on that line was pretty decent I'd say too I don't know how good it is compared to the average speed a Japanese citizen could write, but I'm at least happy with it for starters, even if most times I was somewhat slower.

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

I realized how cool it's gonna be when I can look through this forum thread as a timeline of pretty much my entire progress, from aspiring to be in Japan, to learning Japanese, to actually being in Japan, and then making history in Japan 😁 it's gonna be such a great feeling! I hope it inspires others too that look through this thread years later

Anyway, I've just finished writing あかさたな over and over again. The way I did it is as such: I tried my best to write the sequence 3 times on one line, in under a minute and beat my best time. On the left there is the time remaining I had after finishing that line.
View attachment 87273
My best time was 33 seconds! And most the handwriting on that line was pretty decent I'd say too I don't know how good it is compared to the average speed a Japanese citizen could write, but I'm at least happy with it for starters, even if most times I was somewhat slower.

Oh wait... I just realized I forgot た in the second and third repetitions of each line... I guess I'll have to redo it when I get back from work or maybe at work, for this to be accurate 😭
Since I rely on the previous line to remember what character I'm supposed to write next, the mistake traveled down each line 😔

 

[日本語 Class]

I really hope your plans work out！

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

I really hope your plans work out！

Thanks, I really hope so too, but I feel like I don't have to hope cause I know it will work 👊 believe it!

 

[Buntaro]

渦巻さん、

You are making good practice. It is time for you to record your voice saying hiragana and writing them down. Record あかさたな, saying each one three times, then leaving a little space of time before you say the next hiragana. Record them in order, あかさたな. Let us know how this turns out.

I think I gave you the wrong idea about writing speed, that you should try to write hiragana as fast as possible. This is not the goal. The goal is to be able to write hiragana at a speed of one hiragana every three seconds. There is no need to try to write them faster than this. Once you can write five hiragana in 15 seconds, you have reached a speed that is good enough.

文太郎

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

文太郎先輩、

Record あかさたな, saying each one three times, then leaving a little space of time before you say the next hiragana. Record them in order, あかさたな. Let us know how this turns out.

I will do this now that I have these characters down. So I'll still be writing them in order, just at the command of my own voice? Or will it be a future exercise to record them separately and randomize them?

There is no need to try to write them faster than this.

I guess so :/ I still would like to do it faster than a native, including speaking as good or better than a native, and understanding the language as good as a native. It would surprise me if this is the fastest most of them write 😭