KANA (HiRGANA & KATAKANA)

When Japanese is not written in Kanji (漢字) it is written in Hiragana (平仮名) and Katakana (片仮名). Hiragana and Katakana look very different, but they mirror each other in sound. Each syllabary has 46 base letters: 5 singular vowels, 39 consonant-vowel combinations, 1 singular consonant, and 1 special vowel.

For some reason it takes almost one semester to learn how to write the Kana in the States. Because it takes so long, many come to believe that it is a great achievement. However, compared to learning 2500 Kanji, the Kana are a piece of cake, and there is no reason why learning them should take longer than a couple weeks.

Unfortunately, most people learning Japanese do not have access to the materials/methods needed to learn Hiragana, Katakana, and later Kanji in an efficient and effective way.

Fortunately, professor James W. Heisig (Nanzan Institute in Nagoya, Japan) figured out a great way to learn the Kana.

His method uses “imaginative memory” to help long-term memorize Hiragana and Katakana. Instead of trying to remember each character through repetition, it teaches you how to use the components of each Kana to learn how to pronounce and write them with ease. In six, twenty minute lessons, the Kana are introduced in such a way that an absolute beginner can learn to read and write them in a fraction of the time normally needed to do so.

Personally, I think this book is great, and it really will work for just about anyone. I have let several people borrow my copy and each one of them was very happy with his/her results.

see Sample of Remembering the Kana
buy Remembering the Kana (Amazon Price: $15.00)

Further Reading:
Method Overview
Remembering the Kanji Method
How Long will it Take to Learn Japanese?

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