learning kana
The first step in learning to read Japanese is to learn the kana syllabaries, hiragana and katakana. Hiragana are used for writing indigenous Japanese words, for adding inflections to words written with kanji, and for writing words written with rare kanji. Katakana are used mainly for foreign names and terms, and for onomatopoeia.
Below I describe my experience with four tools for learning kana. As learning kana takes only a few days, I only bothered to explore and compare four options (I spent much longer comparing tools for kanji, which take months or years to learn). I ultimately went with iKana Touch for carrying my kana studies to the end, but there are many free resources out there which are arguably as good or better - such as a library book with pen and paper! |
This app has a clear and painless UI. It is based on a simple menu, which is boring design-wise, but actually very functional and easy to use.
There are three different types of test, Speed Recognition, Stroke Order, and Romaji Replacement. The Speed Recognition test is very good. It’s better to use on the phone screen, which makes the answer choice buttons easier to reach. I found the Romaji Replacement test rather useless.
The app has a very good writing interface. The only thing I would change is to let the app preserve your writing as you did it, instead of correcting it. If the app will correct it anyway, then there’s no point in showing an “image” for each kana I write.
The app has a brief introduction to the Japanese writing system at the beginning, but it’s extremely limited. Just use Wikipedia.
The sample words are not ideal since they include kana you haven’t yet learnt, and there’s no way to test yourself on them.
Heisig takes a very unique approach to teaching kana, teaching you to use a system of mnemonic stories to remember how to read and write kana by associating them with English sounds. It's worth getting to know the Heisig approach, which comes from his well known book Remembering the Kanji.
However I did not have a great experience with Heisig's kana book, and there are three reasons why I would not recommend it:
- It makes remembering kana more complicated than necessary;
- It makes you remember kana through English sentences and associate them with English sounds that do not always match the Japanese sound in question;
- It lacks important information, such as information on katakana for transcription (like the フォ of フォルダ), or instructions on how to type kana on a computer.
The book just focuses on the minimum information for remembering the basic kana, using an approach that is too difficult and time-consuming in my opinion.
Realkana.com is a free site that lets you test yourself on kana. Simply pick the rows of kana you want to revise, and it will ask you to input the corresponding romaji. If you don't recognise the kana, you can see the answer by mouseover. The drill doesn't seem to stop, so you have to stop yourself when you feel confident you have got the row off by heart.
Realkana.com survives on adverts, so it won't let you study unless you disable your ad blocker. Frankly it's a bit distracting to study with adverts flashing on either side, and refreshing regularly. I believe the app version is advert free, but you have to pay for it.
Real kana is very basic, and far from adequate as a single kana study tool. It doesn't have any introduction or explanation, and there's no information on individual kana, such as sample words. Its "Study" button should really be called "Test".
Summary: Use something more substantial as your main study tool, but consider using Realkana.com as a convenient free option for testing yourself on the go. You can also learn kana completely for free by taking pen and paper to the library, mugging up the kana with a good book, and then using realkana.com for revising.
This app has too many problems for me to be able to recommend it. It has a confusing UI, and the kana cards don’t seem to go in any logical order. It’s as if you’re supposed to pick which kana to study next.
There are various complexities with the interface, which also includes unnecessary information like the date you last studied something.
When the app shows you a new kanji, it shows you the stroke order, with an animation you can’t turn off. You tap to see the back of the card, then tap to indicate whether you answered it correctly. The app tracks your progress by putting cards in different progress stacks visible on the home screen.
Like iKana Touch, the sample words are not ideal since they include kana you haven’t yet learnt.