How to Learn Hiragana and Katakana

The Japanese writing system uses three scripts: hiragana, katakana and kanji.

Kanji (漢字) is not an alphabet but a collection of logographic characters.

These are essentially Chinese characters adapted for use in Japanese. A majority of Japanese words, including nouns, adjectives and verbs, are written in kanji. The Japanese language contains roughly 50,000 kanji characters.

This post, however, will concentrate on hiragana and katakana.

There's a very good reason for this.

Both hiragana and katakana are alphabets, which makes them more recognizable to English speakers.

Each one is made up of fewer than 50 characters. That seems much more manageable than tackling 50,000 kanji, wouldn't you agree? And consider that English, with its capital and lowercase letters, plus cursive and print styles, has 104 distinct letter forms. So this should be quite achievable for us.

The characters in hiragana and katakana represent phonetic sounds, similar to the English alphabet. For instance, こ is "ko", ん is "n", に is "ni", ち is "chi", and は in this context is "wa". Put them together, and こんにちは is read as "konnichiwa". Simple, right? Even better, hiragana and katakana represent the same set of sounds (so it's simply two different ways of writing the same phonetic building blocks).

What Is Hiragana?

Hiragana (ひらがな) is primarily used for grammatical elements.

You'll find it used for participles, expressions, and words that have complex or uncommon kanji. Hiragana characters are recognizable by their flowing, curved appearance, which is generally simpler than kanji.

私 の 名前 は 優也 です 。 寿司 を 食 べます 。 英語 は 難 しい …

Some Japanese words are more commonly written in hiragana than kanji, like かわいい (kawaii) or さようなら (sayonara).

As a beginner, you'll notice that many introductory Japanese resources are written entirely in hiragana. This makes it a natural starting point for your studies.

Begin practicing today, and you could master this alphabet in just a few days.

https://www.lingflix.com/blog/japanese/japanese-hiragana-practice/

Hiragana Chart

What Is Katakana?

Katakana (カタカナ) represents the same sounds as hiragana, but its main role is for foreign loanwords. You'll see it used for foreign names and many imported food items. Japanese onomatopoeia, which is often fun and expressive, can be written in either katakana or hiragana. Katakana characters have a more angular shape than hiragana and appear less complex than kanji. Every katakana character corresponds to a hiragana character that represents the same sound.

レディー・ガガ (Lady Gaga) ボン・ジョヴィ (Bon Jovi) ジョン・スミス (John Smith)

The small dot placed between these names helps distinguish the first name from the last name, making it easier for Japanese readers to parse foreign names.

ビール を飲んでみましょう！(Let’s drink beer!) 私は アメリカンフットボール が好きです！(I like American football*.) マクドナルド で食べる。(Eat at McDonald’s.)

*American football is sometimes shortened to アメフト.

Since these words originate from outside Japan, they are written in katakana. Many sound-based words, like sound effects in manga or animal sounds, are also written in katakana.

Katakana Chart

How to Learn Hiragana and Katakana

Let's be honest, we're all connected to the digital world these days.

While practicing handwriting is certainly valuable,

my first step would be to ensure I can read and write Japanese on my computer and phone:

Typing in Japanese

I found that one effective way to learn hiragana and katakana was to use Japanese whenever I had the chance.

Whether I was making a shopping list, writing to a friend, or engaging in online discussions, I made an effort to type in Japanese.

To type in Japanese, you need to enable Japanese input on your computer. You type phonetically using your standard English keyboard. For example, typing "a" produces あ (which has the same sound). Typing "ko" creates the character こ.

Once you've typed what you want, press the "enter" key. To convert hiragana to katakana, press the "spacebar". A menu will appear allowing you to select the katakana equivalent.

This method helps you recognize characters almost effortlessly. For more detailed guidance on Japanese typing, you can refer to CosCom’s Japanese typing tutorial or Redcocoon’s Japanese typing tutorial.

Writing by hand in Japanese

While typing helped me recognize characters, writing by hand with pen and paper is what truly cemented them in my memory. Maintaining a small journal, a dedicated study notebook, or using flashcards for regular writing practice can be very effective.

I keep a daily calendar of my activities and special events, all written in Japanese. When I first started, my handwriting was poor and I struggled with kanji. Now, recording my day in Japanese feels natural. Consistent practice is key, so even writing a few words each day can make a difference.

Here are some practice sheets if you prefer some structured writing:

• Hiragana writing practice sheets (PDF)
• Katakana writing practice sheets (PDF)
• Kana writing practice sheets for kids

https://www.lingflix.com/blog/japanese/japanese-writing-practice/

Reading in Japanese

Now for the main challenge: Reading in Japanese! Initially, I found reading difficult. My pace was slow, pronunciation was challenging, and I often felt like giving up after just glancing at a text. Fortunately, there are excellent resources available for beginner readers.

Chokochoko Library provides free downloads of short Japanese stories that include furigana, which is hiragana placed above unfamiliar kanji characters, along with spaces and translations. This is incredibly helpful when you're first getting acquainted with Japanese text.

Another highly recommended resource is Japanese Graded Readers. The physical version is a collection of books organized by difficulty level. The beginner-level books include furigana, allowing readers who don't know kanji to read using hiragana. These books also come with audio, so you can listen to a native speaker while you read. Reading along or repeating after the speaker is excellent for improving both your reading speed and pronunciation.

Using Furigana

To review, furigana is hiragana that appears above kanji characters. This is extremely useful for anyone learning hiragana or kanji. A browser add-on can display furigana and English translations for words you hover over on Japanese websites. Furigana Inserter is one such add-on for Firefox.

If your browser doesn't support this type of add-on, you can use a furigana generator website. These sites will add furigana to any kanji on a webpage. Hiragana Megane is an excellent furigana generator.

With Lingflix, you can watch videos featuring subtitles that use kanji with furigana, along with English translations. Lingflix uses authentic videos—such as music videos, movie trailers, news, and inspiring talks—and transforms them into personalized language lessons. You can try Lingflix free for 2 weeks. Visit the website or download the iOS app or Android app. P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)

Studying online and with apps

If you have some spare time, why not dedicate a session to studying kana? Whether you learn best with visuals and audio, or with simple flashcards, there are countless online resources to make studying easy.

Real Kana is a flashcard tool you can use on your desktop or iOS device. It lets you select which hiragana or katakana characters you want to study, and even choose the font for the characters. Similarly, Genki Self Study offers straightforward Japanese learning resources focused on the writing system. You can test your knowledge of hiragana and katakana using flashcards, games, or listening quizzes.

For dictionary needs, I suggest Japanese Dictionary (Mac) and Tangorin English ⇆ Japanese Dictionary.

https://www.lingflix.com/blog/japanese/best-japanese-english-dictionary-app/

Do you have a preferred study method yet? For me, writing and typing in Japanese are my top choices.

I hope these techniques assist you in your reading and writing journey!

Experiment with some (or all) of these methods to see what works best for you. You might be surprised at how quickly and easily you can pick up katakana and hiragana.