Lesson 1: katakana and Hiragana

Hiragana and Katakana are the writing systems for the Japanese. Back in the old days of Japan, Hiragana was used by women and only men used Katakana. Now Hiragana is used most commonly, and Katakana is used for words adopted into the Japanese language. You'll mostly see American words written in Katakana.

For each sound, there is character. Memorize the characters with their sounds. The Japanese spell America, Amerika in Katakana. Look at the charts below and guess how that should be written.

a me ri ka

It took me a month to learn katakana and hiragana!

This is how I did it. I made flash cards and reviewed a row a day. I would review the flash cards for at least 30 minutes and then practice writing the characters. Then I was tested on them. I did this in a class room setting, but you really don't need to be in a class room to learn katakana and hiragana. All you need is the desire. So focus on a row a day. At the end of the week, quiz yourself by forcing yourself to go through that whole row. Then at the end of the month give yourself an exam. Treat yourself to something big for acing the exam as well.

This is Hiragana:


This is katakana:

So get writing!