Why I Wrote Hiragana42

If you want to learn Japanese, the most common way to start is with hiragana. I like this method a lot. First, it sets you up to learn good Japanese pronunciation. If you learn hiragana the right way it will do wonders at making you sound more fluent, right from he get-go. Secondly, learning hiragana will make 99% of all Japanese resources and textbooks suddenly usable for you. If you don’t know hiragana you’re missing out on almost everything, which makes it very hard to learn Japanese.

So, I want people to learn hiragana. That’s a given. The problem is that I’ve never thought there was a great way to learn hiragana out there. Most Japanese classes spend at least a month learning hiragana. Even the TextFugu (our Japanese textbook) hiragana method probably takes people a week (though it will be getting a converted version of Hiragana42 pretty soon). I wanted to make something that could teach hiragana to someone in a day or two. With that in mind, Hiragana42 was born.

How Hiragana42 Works

If you’ve used any of our other Japanese-learning resources (especially WaniKani), you’ll know that Tofugu ♥s mnemonics. With kanji, you can’t use image mnemonics. They get too complicated. With kana (like hiragana), images are great. Most kana are pretty simple which means pictures are just what the doctor ordered. Combine that with some text explanation to guide you and you have something that will velcro hiragana to your brain.

“But Koichi!” you say. “There are like three other hiragana textbooks that do exactly this!”

“How astute!” I’d reply. “Did you know there are three of them because you tried them all and they didn’t work?”

“Touché, Koichi, touché. Tell me more about this ‘Hiragana42′ thing.”

“I will, but only after I drink this tea.” *sip sip*

You can’t stop at mnemonics. There is something to be said about exercises and drilling, as long as you’re doing it right. The key to memory isn’t how often you try to push something into your brain. Instead, it’s all about how often you pull that memory out. Have you ever taken an exam in school, only to find that you knew the subject better after the test was over and turned in? That’s because you were pulling information out of your brain, which essentially tells your brain: “Hey, these memories are important because [your name here]-chan is trying to use them more often. I better create better connections to it so it’s easier to recall next time!”

In Hiragana42, there are exercises after you go through 5-10 image mnemonics. There are different exercises after every section is over, but all of them make you recall the information you put into your head using the mnemonics. The mnemonics help you to get to the memory in your head so you don’t have to cheat (cheating doesn’t help you to build a memory at all – struggling to remember, then remembering something is best). As you recall more and more of the kana more and more times over the length of the ebook, you’ll be creating strong hiragana memories in your head. By the end, you’ll be ready to go out into the real world to practice, whether that’s with a Japanese textbook or a Japanese children’s book.

How Fast Can You Learn Hiragana?

If you don’t learn your kana, Awesome Santa will come down your chimney to abduct you (and leave presents behind for NOBODY, BECAUSE YOU WERE ABDUCTED)

That depends on the individual, I’m afraid. My original estimate was one week. Over the last couple weeks I’ve been letting people try it out, though. I got an email yesterday from someone saying they could read all the hiragana in two days. Another person tweeted at me saying he was able to read everything in just a few hours. Many others had similar results, though mileage will vary between individuals. 24 hours is very possible, though, apparently.

Download Hiragana42

Currently, Hiragana42 is available in PDF format. You can download it for free over in Tofugu’s Japanese Resources section (Hiragana42 is here).

I hope you enjoy it and I hope you’re able to learn a lot. Hiragana really is the gateway into learning Japanese, so if you want to learn Japanese this is the place to start.

Feel free to share this ebook as well. The point is to help as many people as possible to learn how to read hiragana so that they’re able ultimately able to learn Japanese. I think a lot of people quit when they see how different and strange hiragana is, so I’m hoping this ebook makes things easier on them.

And yes, for all those who are about to ask… eventually there’ll be a katakana version of this ebook as well. One thing at a time, though! One thing at a time…

He didn’t know how to study Japanese very well…

That’s the basic idea that spawned the idea for the ebook we’re releasing today in the Tofugu Store. I wanted to write something that could help anyone studying Japanese no matter what resource they ended up using. In the end, most resources and classes basically cover the same sorts of things. “To be fluent, you learn X, Y, and Z.” Really, there isn’t a ton of variation on what you learn.

If you want to become fluent a lot more quickly, like years and years faster than anyone else, you don’t need to change what you learn, you need to change how you’re learning it.

Textbooks won’t tell you about this. Why? Because they don’t care how long it takes you to learn. Why would they?

The thing that differs greatly from person to person, and the thing that decides whether someone takes a couple of years to gain fluency or a couple of decades, really boils down to how good they are at learning. With this ebook, I want to help people with the “how” side of things. Here’s how I do it:

“30 Days Of Becoming A Better Japanese Learner”

Our new ebook (titled above) is is broken up into thirty chapters / days (with bonus chapters coming soon!). Each day covers a single topic – a topic that will help you to learn Japanese more effectively. Each chapter will go over:

What: Learn what you should be doing different.

Why: Learn why you should be doing said subject differently.

How: Learn what you need to do to accomplish this.

Do: Actually take action and do the things talked about in the chapter. If you don’t try it, how will any of this help you? I’ll tell you what you need to do and how you do it so you can accomplish Japanese language greatness.

With this setup, you not only learn how to learn Japanese as effectively as you can, but you’ll actually make measurable progress in your Japanese as well. If you go through every chapter and do everything in this ebook, I’ll be surprised if you’re not considerably better at Japanese within 30 days, not to mention the following months where you take these strategies and really run with the ones that work for you.

This Ebook Is Made For…

Well, Japanese learners for starters. If you’re not learning Japanese, chances are this ebook won’t help you as much (though, to be honest, you learn a ton about productivity, memory, and general learning as well, though that’s not what this ebook was specifically made for). All levels of Japanese will benefit from this ebook because it covers how to learn, so you can use it in parallel with whatever Japanese learning resource you choose.

Mainly, though, I think the following type of person will benefit most:

• Someone who feels like their Japanese language progress has stalled.
• Someone who doesn’t feel like they’re learning Japanese fast enough.
• Someone who’s ready to take their Japanese to the next level.

I want you to become a Japanese learning powerhouse – it’s not easy (I’m not going to sugarcoat it), but there are very different things that great Japanese learners do that nobody else does. It’s not a matter of working harder… it’s knowing how to work, and I reveal those secrets in this ebook.

Click the button above to see this ebook’s store page and learn more about what you’ll be getting!

67% Off Introductory Pricing And More!

Since it’s our first ebook, I wanted to make sure it was nice and affordable for everyone. For the first week, we’ll be offering it at 67% off (so, $10 instead of $30). That comes out to around 33 cents per day. I make more than that checking my couch cushions. Plus, you’ll get all the future bonus chapters, future improved versions of this ebook, and access to alpha testing of Viet@Tofugu’s current project, a webapp for learning kanji. It’s not ready yet, but in the coming few weeks ebook buyers will be the first to get invites.

Of course, I’m totally understanding about refunds – if you go through it and it’s not helpful for you, just email me (koichi@tofugu.com) and I’ll get you a refund. Easy as that. I don’t want to sell something that you can’t use.

But, if I can save you five, ten, or even thirty years… well, I’d say that’s pretty useful. That means you’ll be speaking Japanese like a pro well before you turn into skeleton guy up above. It won’t be easy, but it doesn’t have to be slow. Get Our New Ebook Now :) →

A few days ago I did a live e-lecture about Japanese counters (and how suicidal they can make you). To go along with the presentation, I put together an e-book for you to use as a Japanese counter resource. Let’s take a closer look at counters, and then I’ll provide the link to the e-book which goes into a lot more detail and specifics!

Counting in Japanese isn’t the same as in English. Sure, there is the normal way of counting numbers for the sake of counting numbers, but once you get into counting actual things you have to use special counters. For example, when you are counting small animals, you can’t just use ichi, ni, san, etcetera. You have to use ippiki, nihiki, sanbiki… It’s not like English where you say “one dog,” or “two plates,” and so on. Thus…Japanese counters.

But first, let’s look at a Japanese comedian counting. You know, to loosen you up before the tidal wave.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrLBEuoC0OQ']

Here are some things to remember when learning counters:

★ Even when the kanji stays consistent (for example １人、２人、３人), the pronunciation won’t. In the previous pattern, the first two are hitori and futari, but then after that it goes san-nin, yo-nin, go-nin, etc. It’s important to memorize these inconsistencies so you don’t sound like a dork.

★ Sometimes there are rules / patterns, sometimes there aren’t. Just make sure you notice these.

★ When going through these counters, take a close look at numbers 1, 6, and 8. Often times they’ll be shortened (though not all the time). For example, when counting minutes (using the hun/pun counter) you don’t say ichi-pun, roku-pun, or hachi-pun. You say ippun, roppun, and happun. Look out for these (though it’s not always consistent, so watch it!)

★ 4, 7, and 9 have two pronunciations. shi/yon, shichi/nana, and ku/kyuu. Depending on the counter, you could see either of these. You just have to remember which counter uses which!

How to Study Counters

Now, when you read these recommendations, and when you take a look at the e-book (and more counter resources), you might feel overwhelmed. I found over 80 different counters. Luckily, a lot of these are really rare, and not used too often. Also, there’s a counter for “things that don’t have counters or the counter is so obscure nobody knows them,” which helps a lot too. Don’t feel like you need to sit down and learn all these in one go. You’ll see them a lot as you study, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to practice. Just get familiar with the counters, know they exist, memorize which counters are which, and you’re well on your way to counting like a pro.

So, what are you waiting for? Check out the e-book and get yourself edumacated. It also includes links to a few more resources you can use.

☆Japanese Counters e-Book☆

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