Learning Hiragana and Katakana

A site I hadn't heard of back in 2008 was iKnow, one of the best online tools for learning languages. It recently relaunched as smart.fm with a broader goal of helping people learn about anything! So now is a good time to update on the best way to learn Kana.

I still recommend getting started using Heisig's "Remembering the Kana" book but you can skip the Drag and Drop games and instead start learning Hiragana and Katakana using the iKnow application. The long-term learning mode is best and once you've reviewed everything at least once, or if you're feeling bold, I recommend playing the BrainSpeed game.

It's taken me 8 months of on and off learning to feel confident reading the Kana at a good speed. I think it probably equates to 1-2 months of solid learning. You can memorize the kana in about two weeks, but I reckon it would take a few months to get fluent at reading it. Then you have to ensure you keep at it. Back in 2008 I really thought I'd learned the kana but I couldn't read it as fast as I can now and after taking breaks I soon forgot a lot of it. I now practice hiragana and katakana using BrainSpeed every few days or so to keep my memory fresh and sometimes do a bit of writing practice whilst using the iKnow app.

Kana is only a small step in learning Japanese, but it's rewarding nonetheless. The key is to learn Japanese one inch at a time, rather than become overwhelmed with the length of the path ahead. You also have to keep at it even if you think you're finished. I've learned the hard way that taking even a short break can set you back quite a bit.

Sometimes we need that little extra motivation to move forward. To get me through learning the Katakana I made up the Natto challenge to put a bit of fun into it. It worked well and I eventually won the challenge, saving myself from the horror of eating Natto!

What are your tips for learning the Kana?

yonasu said on Tue 2009/03/24 13:11 JST:

I learned kana in 3-4 weeks, obviously I couldn't read very fast at first but I just kept reading and reading (the Genki book provides a good amount of reading material). I think it's better to read easier texts rather than reviewing the kana one by one. The BrainSpeed game is pretty good though, a good app for the first weeks at least. I haven't used smart.fm at all in a while now though, I prefer Anki over the iKnow! app.

As for taking breaks, yes, it's the worst thing you can do. Even taking one day off can be really bad.

Per-Gunnar said on Tue 2009/03/24 13:18 JST:

Great article Chris! I study japanese at a extremely high rate I would say but I do the same things over and over, and I learn the grammar from http://guidetojapanese.org but I mostly use smart.fm for the same things everyone else, kanji, katakana, hiragana and vocabulary =)

mcalpine said on Wed 2009/03/25 04:35 JST:

I'm with you on this one. Just one inch at a time.

Jonadab said on Mon 2009/04/06 09:21 JST:

I don't remember exactly how long I spent initially learning the kana, but 2-4 weeks sounds about right. Thing is, once I basically felt I had them, I completely stopped using learning materials featuring romaji and, importantly, did not put romaji on my vocab cards for pronunciations (for kanji or words). So except for a few relatively obscure ones (e.g., ヰ), I was using most of them on a regular basis as I studied other things. Now instead of physical cards I've switched over to a spaced repetition system, but I still put the readings exclusively in kana -- mostly katakana for on readings, hiragana for kun readings. For me, this has worked very well. IMO, actually using something on a regular basis is generally a fairly good way to embed it more firmly into the mind. At this point I'm very comfortable reading hiragana and relatively comfortable reading katakana; in fact, I find kana easier to read than romaji (for Japanese; still not as easy as reading English in Latin characters, of course). I may not know what the words mean, but I can pronounce them (well, aside from the whole pitch accent thing; I don't think there's any way to get that without regularly hearing native speakers).

So that's my take on it: once you basically know the kana, *use* them for the pronunciation guides for all of your vocabulary and kanji study.

Chris Gaunt said on Mon 2009/04/06 10:53 JST:

Thanks for the comment. I am doing the same as you and find I am getting quite quick at reading the kana now. I think learning with romaji will only hurt your progress in the end.