All students that decide to learn Japanese encounter Hiragana. This is the first of three writing systems that you need to learn to be able to read and write in Japanese. You are going to need to learn Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji if you want to be able to handle the Japanese language fluently.
Before anything else, we recommend that you start learning the Japanese Hiragana. Hiragana is a phonetic writing system. So that means, if you learn Hiragana you will be able to read and write any Japanese word as all Japanese words can (but are not) be written with Hiragana. You could call it the “Japanese alphabet”. It contains 46 characters.
Hiragana Chart
You could practice writing Hiragana on any piece of paper. Just have a look at this Hiragana chart and copy them as best you can. We will add a blank Hiragana chart for you to trace in the future. So if you have access to a printer you’ll be able to print out some work sheets.
Blank Hiragana Chart (PDF coming soon)
How to learn Hiragana
So how long does it take to learn Hiragana? Of course this depends how much time you have to spend of study. Some people have time to study full time and some only have 30 mins a day. In any case, it has been said that repetition of mother to all learning. And this is specially true when it comes to the Japanese language.
So basically you’ll need to repeat these two steps over and over until you got a hang of it. Of course you can add other elements of learning at the same time, listening to Japanese, trying to read a few sentences in Japanese and such. But we recommend you to really focus on Hiragana and then gradually add other learning content as well. But Hiragana is going to be your base when studying so learn this well.
- Write the Hiragana with a pen and paper.
- Test your reading skills with a Hiragana Quiz or reading other Japanese written material.
Before you know it, you’ll be able to read and write!
Practice Hiragana with out Quiz!
We have prepared a Hiragana Quiz for you. Give it your best and practice until you learn them all. It’s totally free!
When you have mastered the Hiragana you are ready to face the Japanese language for real!