How to learn hiragana for a week: tips and tricks

With what traditionally begins the acquaintance with the Japanese language? Hiragana is the first thing that a beginner is recommended to learn. For a person who first saw hiragana, the task seems very difficult.

What is Hiragana

The study of the Japanese language has recently become popular, there have been many manuals, materials, techniques, paid and free courses, sites. Almost all teaching aids have a common feature - one of the first topics will be "Learning the Japanese alphabet Hiragana."

The memorization of syllabic alphabet is an important stage in the study of the Japanese language. The newcomer, who took the table in his hands, thinks with horror: "How to learn a hiragana for a week? I do not remember everything for a month! ».

What is a hiragana? This is a syllabic alphabet, which means that each symbol denotes not a sound, but a syllable. Forty-six signs of hiragana are used to record alliances, endings, postfixes. And young children learn to write first on a hiragana, and only then they begin to learn kanji.

You can immediately begin to study hiragana. Methods and tools can be combined and combined. For example, at home learn by the textbook, writing symbols in the notebook, and in a free minute outside the house to use the application for a mobile phone (in transport, in line, on a break) or check learned by computer program. The main thing is to study daily, and then you can easily learn a hiragana even less than a week!

In the old-fashioned way

The traditional method of studying syllabic alphabet is to perform exercises on a textbook. We take in hand a book, a notebook and patiently prescribe each scribbler, observing the rules of writing and pronouncing to oneself. In a row, like letters in the first class. After every five signs, do oral and written exercises. How to learn hiragana for a week this way? Schedule time and do not deviate from the schedule.

Quite frankly, doing exercises, especially written ones, will take a lot of time. But if you teach the language for your own pleasure, then the lessons can be given more time and learn the ideal tracing of signs.

Advantages of this method: simultaneously working visual and mechanical memory, memorization occurs quite quickly. And most importantly, the knowledge obtained in this way sags, literally for years. Even if you stop learning the language for a while, then by starting again, you will all remember very quickly.

Cards

This method perfectly complements the previous one. Cut out 46 cards from the cardboard, write a Hiragana symbol on each (on the reverse side you can write katakana). Stir all cards, pull out one at a time and call. A kind of test, moreover, contributing to memorization. You can do it almost from the very beginning of training - just take away the cards of signs that have not been studied yet. And you can tighten the knowledge of symbols that are badly remembered - remove the cards that you know best, and train with the most difficult.

Programs, games, and mobile apps

You can do without drawing tablets and take advantage of the benefits of civilization, namely - programs for studying hiragana. How to learn hiragana for a week using the program? Download one of them and install it on your computer. It can be:

• "Canonization", which combines several modes;
• Script for "Vord", replacing Russian syllables with hiragana;
• The canoe game in which you need to find the meaning of the signs;
• Program Easy Kana, which operates on the principle of cards and allows you to learn new, and repeat the signs.

Online simulators can be found on the sites for students of Japanese.

Do not forget about the computing power in your own pocket. Applications for mobile, helping in the study of hiragana, a great many. These are all kinds of training tables, cards, games. One "but" - all programs in English, but to understand the most popular is not difficult. These are JA Sensei, Kana, Obenkyo, Kana Mind and many others, most are free.

Plus learning through programs - speed. How to learn hiragana for a week, you will not ask, the signs themselves will be remembered for a couple of days of use, to teach easily and pleasantly. But they forget the moment. In addition, there may be problems with reading books and writing. It is better to look in the textbook to perform the exercises, even if verbally. A huge plus of mobile applications - you can study anywhere, for example, in the subway or on a boring lecture.

Associations

Finally a little trick. If any signs are badly remembered (especially often this happens at the end of training), resort to the help of your imagination. Think of associations for some signs (you can, if you want, to the whole table). For example, the symbol "ゅ" is definitely similar to the letter "u" and sounds the same. And "う" is similar to the ear, "ふ" - to Mount Fuji. Associations better come up with their own. Now you know how to learn hiragana for a week. You will succeed!