How To Learn Japanese Hiragana in 1 Hour GUIDE

Want to learn to learn the Japanese Hiragana in 1 hour?

Sounds impossible? Yeah?

Well of course, you haven’t even tried this yet.

And, you can learn Hiragana in 1 hour, under a few conditions.

  1. You actually try.
  2. You don’t aim for perfection. Only slow learners do that.
  3. You skip the slow one character-at-a-time tutorials. Pick up a pen and paper.
  4. You immediately jump into reading and writing right after you learn the alphabet. Otherwise, you’ll forget it as fast as you’ve learned it.
  5. You pay me lots of money. Just kidding. In fact, if you’re a complete beginner and not serious yet… you should should learn for free first – read here why: (Can You Learn Language Online For Free? Or Should You Pay?)

Ready? Good.

How This Guide Works

This guide will teach you basic Hiragana in one hour or less… so you can read and write Japanese.

Will it be slow and awkward at first? Of course; just like your first kiss.

But that’s how language goes and there’s no way around that. So, let’s get kissing. Just kidding.

This tutorial will comprise of a few steps.

  1. Get a sheet that shows all the hiragana characters all at once.
  2. Separate them into groups and match them with their romanized/ English versions.
  3. Memorize these groups – at least the English versions.
  4. Get acquainted with the stroke order or… the writing style for these funky characters.
  5. Write them out.
  6. Repeat steps 3 – 6 for all groups.

I was considering doing association like I did with the Russian Alphabet and the Korean Hangul but I think that’d take more time and effort. Hiragana characters are pretty unique looking and it’ll take a stretch of creativity to think of some association for each one. Time is the name of the game here and we’re looking to learn Hiragana in 1 hour or less.

So, now that you know the steps… let’s step in.

Step 1. The Hiragana Chart

The first step is to have a Hiragana chart that you must cherish and constantly refer to in your beginner times.

Print it. Love it. Live it. Never leave it.

hira

Step 2. Separate the Groups

Separate the Hiragana characters into groups and match them with their romanized/ English versions (also called romaji. Romaji is essentially Japanese written in English.)

Luckily the chart above already does it does it for you.

However, I still have to do it anyway, so you can see what I mean.

We’ll separate all Hiragana Characters into 10 groups.

  1. A  あ,  I い,  U う,  E え,  O お
  2. KA か、KI き,  KU く,  KE け,  KO こ
  3. SA さ,  SHI し,  SU す,  SE せ,  SO そ
  4. TA た,  CHI ち,  TSU つ,  TE て,  TO と
  5. NA な,  NI に,  NU ぬ,  NE ね,  NO の
  6. HA は,  HI ひ,  HU ふ,  HE へ,  HO ほ
  7. MA ま,  MI み,  MU む,  ME め, MO も
  8. YA や,  YU ゆ,  YO よ
  9. RA ら,  RI り,  RU る,  RE れ,  RO ろ
  10. WA わ,  WO を,  N ん

Note about pronunciation:

  • A is Ah (ah in Bah), I is Ee (ee in meet), U is Ooh like (like moo), E is Eh (like meh), O is O (like Ou in Cough or O in Or).
  • When you read these aloud, KA is KAH, KI is actually KEE, KU is actually KOO, KE is KEH, and KO is KO.

Step 3.1. Memorizing the first 5 groups.

Starting with the first 5 groups…

Going group by group, starting with the first one, you’re going to memorize JUST the Romaji/English versions.

This is not hard at all because all mostly follow the A, I, U, E, O pattern. There are a few exceptions that are bolded below.

Sit down, take the first 5 groups and memorize them. We’re doing the first 5 for the sake of simplicity and ease. Here they are:

  1. A I U E O
  2. KA KI KU KE KO
  3. SA SHI SU SE SO
  4. TA CHI TSU TE TO
  5. NA NI NU NE NO

Say them out loud.

Close your eyes.

Write them down like I did before. But be sure to give yourself plenty of space between each one. A lot of space. Not like I did.

This will take you a minute or three at most.

Quick test: Can you repeat these 25 sounds without looking at this page? Yes? Good. Now, lets line them up with their Japanese Counterparts.

Step 4.1: Stroke Order

Now, let’s get acquainted with the stroke order for these characters.

So you need 1) the stroke order (see chart below) and 2) to write out the characters to get acquainted.

768px-Table_hiragana.svg

If you followed my 3rd step by writing out the first 5 groups’ romaji/English versions…

NOW is the time you try write out each character by following the stroke order in the chart below. So, do that. Just write each character once in the spaces next to each.

Now that you’ve gotten acquainted with the stroke order…

It’s time to..

Step 5.1 Write ’em out for real.

Well, you didn’t expect to learn Hiragana in one hour just by reading an article did you?

So, now that you’ve memorized the Romaji sounds…

  1. A I U E O
  2. KA KI KU KE KO
  3. SA SHI SU SE SO
  4. TA CHI TSU TE TO
  5. NA NI NU NE NO
  1. write those 5 groups (A, I, U, E, O, KA, KI, KU, KE, KO, etc.) down on the side of a piece of paper
  2. and start practicing the hiragana characters across the page for each one.

It should look something like this. And yes, expect as much cross-outs and mess-ups as I have. No start is perfect. Just like your first kiss.

png

This first half should take you 30 minutes if not less.

Most of the time will go into writing these Hiragana characters out.

Now, before we proceed to the next groups, 6-10, make sure to take some time to quickly drill quiz yourself on the newly learned characters.

  • Remember all 25 English sounds, write them down on the left side of the paper as I’ve done above. Then, for review, write in the Japanese Hiragana characters too.

Association Tips. I was thinking of not including association but some characters can be made simpler. Here are some of my ideas that may help you remember them easier. You don’t have to agree but feel free to use them as a guide.

  • え Looks like a Z with a line on top and the bottom has a squiggle. Think of it as a Z squiggle.
  • の pretty much looks like a lower case n except that the left side is rounded out.
  • く is a K minus the vertical line.
  • け is a lower case t with a line next to it. Call it line-t.
  • う is a sideways U with a line on top. Call it sideways U-line.
  • た is pretty much a lowercase t with a ko (こ)next to it. You can call it a T-ko.
  • つ is a backwards C.
  • し, pronounced SHI, looks like a C or a U depending on how you want to look at it. For me, I associated しwith SHI is C because that rhymes and it’s indeed almost a C minus the top part being straight.

Done? Let’s move onto the second group of 5.

Remember, we are going to….

  1. Get a sheet that shows all the hiragana characters all at once.
  2. Separate them into groups and match them with their Romaji/ English versions.
  3. Memorize these groups – at least the English versions.
  4. Get acquainted with the stroke order or… the writing style for these funky characters.
  5. Write them out.
  6. Repeat steps 3 – 6 for all groups.

However, now we’re doing the last 5 groups and we’ll be starting from step 3… because we’ve already separated the groups and have a Hiragana chart.

  1. HA は,  HI ひ,  HU ふ,  HE へ,  HO ほ
  2. MA ま,  MI み,  MU む,  ME め, MO も
  3. YA や,  YU ゆ,  YO よ
  4. RA ら,  RI り,  RU る,  RE れ,  RO ろ
  5. WA わ,  WO を,  N ん

Step 3.2. Memorizing the last 5 groups.

Once again, you will memorize JUST the English/Romaji for each character until you can recite them out loud.

So, sit down, say them out loud. Close your eyes. Write them down. This will take you a minute or three at most.

  1. HA HI HU HE HO
  2. MA MI MU ME MO
  3. YA YU YO
  4. RA  RI RU RE RO
  5. WA WO N

Did you write them out?

Pronunciation note: HU can be pronounced as Foo. For example, Yahoo is often pronounced as “Yafuu.”

Also, WO is pronounced as Oh. Don’t worry, you won’t get it confused with お because を is merely a grammar particle is ONLY used in that way.

N is not pronounced as “en” but rather similar to “un” or like “mm” sound you make with your throat, except it’s “nn.” Imagine you had a stuttering problem and got stuck on “N” as you were about say “No.”

Quick test: Can you repeat these 25 sounds without looking at this page? Yes? Good. Now, lets line them up with their Japanese Counterparts.

Step 4.2: Stroke Order

Get acquainted with the stroke order for these characters with the good old Hiragana stroke order chart.

learn hiragana 1 hour

Use this sheet as a guide to writing the characters.

Practice each character once to get used to it. Write it in the spaces between the Romaji that you wrote out in the previous step.

Now, let’s get to the real deal below.

Step 5.2 Write ’em out.

Remember those Romaji I had you memorize for each character? These ones.

  1. HA HI HU HE HO
  2. MA MI MU ME MO
  3. YA YU YO
  4. RA  RI RU RE RO
  5. WA WO N

Now’s the time to write them down on the the left side of a piece of paper.

Once you’re done, begin writing out the corresponding Hiragana across the page. It should look something like this, if not less messier.

photo

Conclusion

And there you have it.

I hope you’ve learned hiragana in one hour… or less.

Mind you, most Japanese learners will spend a week on this which to me seems slow.

Now, is this perfect and does this cover the dakuten, handakuten, and the ya, yu, yo combinations? No. The important thing is to start and keep going, regardless of how perfect or imperfect it is.

But of course, you can learn all those little exceptions just as fast.

I’ll cover that in part 3… that is, if you want a part 3.

Til then, leave the comments below.

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Clara

This is helpful no caps I suggest this method

Katsurokun111

HELLO. IM KATSURO. .I LIVE IN KIOTO. I DONT KNOW WHY IM POSTING THIS. AND READING XD

[…] What are the Hiragana characters and how do you learn them? Click here to Learn Hiragana in under 1 Hour. […]

s.yan

It took me a month to get hiragana and katakana all remembered

Kenaz

This is really helpful and precise thanks a lot

[…] It’s great reading practice for beginners and above. Basically, if you can read and have basic grammar, you’ll probably still struggle but learn a great deal. Oh, if you cant read, start with my article: How To Learn Japanese Hiragana in Under 1 Hour. Part 1 […]

Big Bad Spanish

Good tips! Flash cards and mnemonics are a huge help too

[…] How To Learn Japanese Hiragana in Under 1 Hour. Part 1 […]

[…] What are the Hiragana characters and how do you learn them? Click here to Learn Hiragana in under 1 Hour.  […]

Steve Scott

Very good! This is exactly what I needed to make a jump in my Japanese learning. I’ll use it! It supplements my audio lessons.

[…] If not, stop. Master Hiragana and read this first: How To Learn Japanese Hiragana in Under 1 Hour. Part 1 […]

[…] How To Learn Japanese Hiragana in Under 1 Hour. Part 1 […]