So I studied Japanese – including the writing system, hiragana, katakana, and basic kanji – briefly before I travelled there. That was 12 years ago. Yeah – a long time ago. And what they say about “use it or lose it” is unfortunately true.
Most of what I learned is gone, and I gifted my textbook to the dorm because I was silly and wanted to be nice to anyone else who dreamed of travelling there. Darn it. It was a simple book, but it taught the writing systems in such a perfect way. Perfect for the way I learn, at least. It had lots of explanations.
So because it was perfect for me, there are still a *few* things that I remember, but mostly just some of the Hiragana. None of the Kanji, and even less of the Katakana.
And lately I’ve been thinking that it’s about time to return to Japan. I always said I would – and I had hoped it would be long before 12 years had gone by. But I feel weird about knowing even less of the language, so it’s time to work on it if I actually want to go.
I’ve been spamming conjugations and verbs on YouTube the last few days. That is always my weakness; vocab, and verbs in specific. And while it’s been awesome that the creator I’m watching is *not* using English letter equivalents…I’ve also been struggling with the furigana/katakana/hiragana to help me read the kanji.
So I decided that it was time to re-learn hiragana and katakana today.
And that’s how I came across this cool free resource. It’s called Kana Pro, and can be found here.
(please note: I am not affiliated with Kana Pro but genuinely think it’s a great tool to use. It’s also entirely free at the time of writing this, so…there’s that, too).
It looks super simple, but it’s actually kind of amazing. Like, as soon as I figured it out: I was off to the races on a study session.
There’s two columns: one for hiragana, and one for katakana. In each of these columns are a bunch of radio button options next to some English letters. If you’re not used to studying hirigana/katakana charts, the organization may look bizarre to you at first. But this is just how the characters are typically organized. Start at the top and work your way down.
So, select “a, i, u, e, o” and then hit the orange button underneath that says “start the quiz!”
It will show you a hiragana or katakana character, and you’ll be able to select which English equivalent it is. I know, I know – I just said that this was a bad thing, right? Well, when you’re trying to learn the sounds, it’s easiest to do it this way. Once you’ve learned these two systems and know the sounds for the symbols, it makes learning Kanji much easier because you can use these (they call it furigana) instead of English letters.
Trust me: it feels a whole lot better to use furigana to learn your kanji.
Anyways. The quiz shows you a character and some options. Choose what you think it could be. If you’re wrong, it puts your progress bar backwards and shows you the correct answer at the top (it goes red). But it also moves on to the next question, so the next character may be different (I think it’s random). If you keep trying, you’ll eventually start to recognize which ones are which and make some progress.
After that round ends, the quiz will go through a few different testing types…including one where you have to type in the correct answer! Typing is definitely helpful for retaining information (it’s better to use pencil and paper, but typing still does something positive for us).
Do all rounds of the quiz (I think there’s only 4). By the end, you should have learned those characters. Then, select the next radio button on the main page and start the quiz for those characters. You can choose to include the ones you just learned, or not (it lets you select multiple).
Studying Sessions
The optimal timing for a study session is about 50 minutes, with a 10 minute break where you do “active rest.” Or in other words: thinking about something different (rather than doing nothing or just daydreaming). But if you decide to stop for an entire day, take some time to review what you already did at the beginning of your next study session. So, redo the quiz for the characters you already learned…or make sure to check the box to include them.
Reviewing like this will help you commit things to long term memory.
And I think the optimal review schedule is something like, review again the next day, and then wait a few days, and then wait a week, and then a few weeks. Something like that. There is a specific timing that works best. But if you review it often, it will stick in your memory for much longer.
I would also recommend finding a pronunciation guide on YouTube. Matching the characters with sounds can be super helpful.
And that’s it for this post! I was excited to have found this today and have already re-learned a few characters. It feels great. This tool is simple, but perfect for learning (or re-learning). So if you’re also learning Japanese, or brushing up on your hiragana and katakana, make sure to check it out!