For your entertainment, the "Japanese Alphabet Song".
Catchy, mmmm'yes.
Catchy, mmmm'yes.
So that video displays all 46 basic letters of Hiragana, and how to pronounce them in a very loud and annoying voice. For a chart listing all the basic Hiragana, have a look here:
http://www.japanese-lesson.com/characters/hiragana/index.html#gojuon
As a side note, the site www.japanese-lesson.com is a wonderful resource and I will be linking to it often.
Before I say anything else, I suggest a book purchase. Get "Remembering the Kana" by James W. Heisig. I mentioned it earlier and I will mention it again. The methods enclosed will spark your "imaginative memory" into remembering the letters with ease. At first it may be a crutch, but you are free to stop using that crutch once you learn the letters well enough. Here is a link to it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kana-Reading-Japanese-Syllabaries/dp/0824831640/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247501839&sr=8-1
If you decide to forego Remembering the Kana, I will have to suggest that you take learning the Hiragana slowly and do a LOT of repetition. Either way, I will go over the Hiragana here, in dictionary order. I'll suggest about 5 kana to study per post. First up, vowels!
Full lesson here:
http://www.japanese-lesson.com/characters/hiragana/hiragana_drill/hiragana01.html
あ (a) - pronounced "ah" as in "...ah"
い (i) - pronounced "ee" as in "key"
う (u) - pronounced "oo" as in "goo"
え (e) - pronounced "eh" as in "neigh"
お (o) - pronounced "oh" as in "bo"
I suggest listening to the pronunciations on the lesson linked above. It is very important to get the sounds of these vowels down correctly, and I can't say my example words are the best. When you are comfortable pronouncing them, start memorizing them! You can use the drills on japanese-lesson, even if the voices sound like rusting cyborgs. Drill 3 is particularly useful in my mind, teaching you some vocabulary at the same time. Also, you need to head on over to
http://www.realkana.com/
and use the drill there. All you have to do is go the the Hiragana tab and check off the row you want, then go to the Katakana tab and make sure nothing is checked. Once everything is set, click on the Practice tab and start cementing these letters in your memory.
Memorize these to where you can see them and almost immediately know what they are before moving forward. If you have to make up mental pictures, rhymes, whatever...go ahead and do that to keep them in your memory. Just make sure they stick. When learning more kana down the road, you will need to constantly re-drill these same letters to keep them fresh in your mind.
http://www.japanese-lesson.com/characters/hiragana/index.html#gojuon
As a side note, the site www.japanese-lesson.com is a wonderful resource and I will be linking to it often.
Before I say anything else, I suggest a book purchase. Get "Remembering the Kana" by James W. Heisig. I mentioned it earlier and I will mention it again. The methods enclosed will spark your "imaginative memory" into remembering the letters with ease. At first it may be a crutch, but you are free to stop using that crutch once you learn the letters well enough. Here is a link to it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kana-Reading-Japanese-Syllabaries/dp/0824831640/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247501839&sr=8-1
If you decide to forego Remembering the Kana, I will have to suggest that you take learning the Hiragana slowly and do a LOT of repetition. Either way, I will go over the Hiragana here, in dictionary order. I'll suggest about 5 kana to study per post. First up, vowels!
Full lesson here:
http://www.japanese-lesson.com/characters/hiragana/hiragana_drill/hiragana01.html
あ (a) - pronounced "ah" as in "...ah"
い (i) - pronounced "ee" as in "key"
う (u) - pronounced "oo" as in "goo"
え (e) - pronounced "eh" as in "neigh"
お (o) - pronounced "oh" as in "bo"
I suggest listening to the pronunciations on the lesson linked above. It is very important to get the sounds of these vowels down correctly, and I can't say my example words are the best. When you are comfortable pronouncing them, start memorizing them! You can use the drills on japanese-lesson, even if the voices sound like rusting cyborgs. Drill 3 is particularly useful in my mind, teaching you some vocabulary at the same time. Also, you need to head on over to
http://www.realkana.com/
and use the drill there. All you have to do is go the the Hiragana tab and check off the row you want, then go to the Katakana tab and make sure nothing is checked. Once everything is set, click on the Practice tab and start cementing these letters in your memory.
Memorize these to where you can see them and almost immediately know what they are before moving forward. If you have to make up mental pictures, rhymes, whatever...go ahead and do that to keep them in your memory. Just make sure they stick. When learning more kana down the road, you will need to constantly re-drill these same letters to keep them fresh in your mind.
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