If you are learning Japanese, you may think it is impossible to learn how to read the language. After all there are three writing systems to learn, hiragana, katakana and kanji. Although it is no doubt a difficult task, breaking it up and learning a little at a time will help you keep motivated and make progress step by step. In this article we will talk about learning hiragana.

Hiragana is one of the three writing systems used in the Japanese language and is made up of 46 characters. Hiragana is a phonetic alphabet, meaning that it can represent all the sounds in the Japanese language. If you know hiragana then you can pronounce all the words and you can write all of the words in the language, so it is a good place to start.

Here are three tips to learn hiragana:

1. Find a memory aid to help learn the characters. For example, there are nine letters that are combined with vowels to form characters, such as k is combined with a to form 'ka'. To remember the nine letters you could remember the sentence "Kana Signs, Take Note How Much You Read and Write them." The first letter of each of the words is one of the letters in the hiragana alphabet e.g. K S T N H M Y R W.

2. Grab a Book - Because it can represent all words and sounds, hiragana is typically the first alphabet that Japanese children learn when they are beginning to read. Although normal books will contain a mixture of hiragana, katakana and kanji, books written for small children will typically only contain hiragana, meaning that learners of hiragana can grab a book and actually read all of the characters. Once you have learnt the characters or are well on your way, have a look at a book and be pleasantly surprised that you are able to read it from cover to cover (make sure it is a book for small children though).

3. Stick a hiragana chart up on the wall. The constant repetition of seeing the characters will help them to stick in your brain and you can use it to test yourself if you are able to recite all of the characters in the chart.

Hiragana Chart

A great way to learn hiragana is to study a Hiragana Chart. Look for an online chart that has the pronunciation so that you can hear how the characters sound and find a chart that can be hung up on the wall so you are able to see it often.

Check out my site http://www.learn-hiragana-katakana.com which has free Japanese learning resources, including hiragana, katakana and basic Japanese lessons and audio pronunication.