new to japanese need help with hiragana

[Russell Adams]

Whats up everyone im new to the forums and new to learning japanese. Ive only been at it for 5 days now and i know hats a short time but i feel like its taking me a little to long to get the hiragana sounds down and memorized ive only got up to ta chi te etc. So is there any one out there who can help me with getting them all memorized faster or am i rushing things let me know beacuse i really want to start learning words and phrases but want to have the writitng down to....dnt want to have to go to romanji.

 

[Rinilex]

It can sometimes take a while to stick if you're new to the whole thing. Just take it at your own pace and don't worry about it.

Even if you only do a set of five at a time, you can still do it in under two weeks. Just write the the hiragana down, say it aloud to yourself as you go and repeat a few times. Then cover up and quiz yourself until you can get them all right. Repeat the next day (with the ones you've previously learned.) Make sure you're looking up the correct way they're written.

You could also give Kana Invaders a try. Plus, practice makes perfect, so maybe try and go through some basic texts as well to test yourself and help it stick.

 

[Tamayo]

There's really nothing to worry about -- Everyone learns things at their own pace. It not only has to do with the will and drive to learn something you're interested in, but it largely has to do with what sorts of resources you have at hand. Anyone can simply sit down and stare at a kana chart and try to memorize it on their own, but I'd bet that 9 times out of 10, it's nowhere near as effective as a learning program which was designed to help you retain the information.



When I first started learning my kana, I tried learning random Japanese words such as titles to Japanese songs. This was really ineffective because I was all over the place -- I didn't learn the kana in any particular order, and it messed me up. As for learning how to write the kana, go one column at a time. For example, try to learn か、き、く、け and こ in one day, and take as many days as you need to practice them until you've got them down. Then move onto さ、し、す、せ、そ, and so on. Go a column at a time. By the time you've learned the entire syllabary, you should be able to write them out in order from memory without even thinking about it. I've fallen way behind on my Japanese practice, but I still take the time to write out both syllabaries a couple times a week to keep it fresh in the mind.


>>Before you do anything else, though, try this: Go to [this kana-learning website] and start with either hiragana or katakana drag and drop games (I'd recommend the former). It may be incredibly frustrating at first, and you might have to just blindly guess where to drop many of the kana to begin with, but DO NOT give up. Play as many times as you can bear, and you'll be able to recognize every single kana from memory by the end of the day. I'd suggest doing this before trying to learn to write them. Once you've learned all of the kana and you can recognize them easily, try playing even more, but aim to get a better score by doing it faster every time. In my experience, I'd have to say that this was the most effective way to learn kana. It works unbelievably fast, so aiming to learn all of them in a day or two isn't an unrealistic goal as long as you're willing to fight through the inevitable headache and keep playing it over and over again.

I hope this helps!

 

[nahadef]

i really want to start learning words and phrases but want to have the writitng down to....dnt want to have to go to romanji.

Roma-ji is not good for learning, but I think a few weeks of speaking practice is good before you bother with hiragana. Could you imagine trying to teach a kid to read and write the alphabet before they knew a word of English?

Practice the Japanese alphabet verbally (find a recording online) before studying very basic grammar, for a few weeks, then plug those hiragana into the sounds you've already managed.

It works much the same as kanji. It's better to know the word, then learn the symbol, rather than to memorise both at once.

Good luck!

 

[Russell Adams]

Thanks guys i appreciate the tips!

 

[Russell Adams]

It can sometimes take a while to stick if you're new to the whole thing. Just take it at your own pace and don't worry about it.

Even if you only do a set of five at a time, you can still do it in under two weeks. Just write the the hiragana down, say it aloud to yourself as you go and repeat a few times. Then cover up and quiz yourself until you can get them all right. Repeat the next day (with the ones you've previously learned.) Make sure you're looking up the correct way they're written.

You could also give Kana Invaders a try. Plus, practice makes perfect, so maybe try and go through some basic texts as well to test yourself and help it stick.

Thanks i wil give kana invaders a try appreciate the help.

 

[Russell Adams]

There's really nothing to worry about -- Everyone learns things at their own pace. It not only has to do with the will and drive to learn something you're interested in, but it largely has to do with what sorts of resources you have at hand. Anyone can simply sit down and stare at a kana chart and try to memorize it on their own, but I'd bet that 9 times out of 10, it's nowhere near as effective as a learning program which was designed to help you retain the information.



When I first started learning my kana, I tried learning random Japanese words such as titles to Japanese songs. This was really ineffective because I was all over the place -- I didn't learn the kana in any particular order, and it messed me up. As for learning how to write the kana, go one column at a time. For example, try to learn か、き、く、け and こ in one day, and take as many days as you need to practice them until you've got them down. Then move onto さ、し、す、せ、そ, and so on. Go a column at a time. By the time you've learned the entire syllabary, you should be able to write them out in order from memory without even thinking about it. I've fallen way behind on my Japanese practice, but I still take the time to write out both syllabaries a couple times a week to keep it fresh in the mind.


>>Before you do anything else, though, try this: Go to [this kana-learning website] and start with either hiragana or katakana drag and drop games (I'd recommend the former). It may be incredibly frustrating at first, and you might have to just blindly guess where to drop many of the kana to begin with, but DO NOT give up. Play as many times as you can bear, and you'll be able to recognize every single kana from memory by the end of the day. I'd suggest doing this before trying to learn to write them. Once you've learned all of the kana and you can recognize them easily, try playing even more, but aim to get a better score by doing it faster every time. In my experience, I'd have to say that this was the most effective way to learn kana. It works unbelievably fast, so aiming to learn all of them in a day or two isn't an unrealistic goal as long as you're willing to fight through the inevitable headache and keep playing it over and over again.

I hope this helps!

Yea thats acually what ive been doing and its coming along slowly i just figured there might be a more efficient way to go about learning it,but thanks for the tips.

 

[Russell Adams]

Roma-ji is not good for learning, but I think a few weeks of speaking practice is good before you bother with hiragana. Could you imagine trying to teach a kid to read and write the alphabet before they knew a word of English?

Practice the Japanese alphabet verbally (find a recording online) before studying very basic grammar, for a few weeks, then plug those hiragana into the sounds you've already managed.

It works much the same as kanji. It's better to know the word, then learn the symbol, rather than to memorise both at once.

Good luck!

Its funny beacause i actually do use roma-ji to do my morning and evning buddhist prayers,but in the book they have hhe kanji and hiragana characters above the roma-ji and find my self looking at that now and do recognize a couple characters,but any way thank you for that tip i will try this as well.

 

[Tamayo]

Yea thats acually what ive been doing and its coming along slowly i just figured there might be a more efficient way to go about learning it,but thanks for the tips.

As Nahadef said, it will definitely be easier for you once you're more familiar with Japanese in general. That's something I forgot to mention -- I didn't revisit learning the kana (the proper way) until after I had learned a little bit more about Japanese.

I must say, though, I'm not totally convinced that you need to know any specific number of words, or grammar rules. You just need to be more acquainted with Japanese on the whole. Understand some of the nuances that set it apart from English, and some of the characteristics of the language, such as the addition of one particle (or sound) to a word to change its meaning. For example, わかりますか わかりますよ わかりました, and so on.

If you're truly a beginner, or you just need a little more solid direction in your studies, then I'd recommend the iStart Japanese app on the iOS. It isn't particularly amazing for any one reason, but it's a good general start to help you understand a lot of different aspects of the language, before you actually learn it.

Also, if you're looking to learn to speak the basics naturally, I'd highly recommend Pimsleur's Japanese. It's a bit pricey, depending on how you get your hands on it, but it has been, without a doubt, the most valuable tool in my studies thus far by a long shot.

 

[Jake Sams]

I can also recommend pimsleur as well!
I started of my hiragana in the very beginning. Being a bit lazy sometimes I got recognizing, writing down in about 1 month and fast reading some weeks after. Then after that I thought I would just skip katakana. Big mistake, coming to Japan I realized katakana is very important. I then learned katakana in about a week.
I think the best way to learn the kana is to learn them by sets of 5. Writing them down over and over and after that make yourself some flashcards. To keep reminding all of them I would just write all the rows down. From あいうえお to やゆよ once or twice a day. If you really really want Learn them fast, then it should be possible within 2 weeks.

 

[Russell Adams]

Thanks brotha i will get right on it