How to Learn Hiragana Fast: A Simple 7-Day Plan

What you are learning

Hiragana is the basic Japanese syllabary. Each character stands for one sound, such as あ (a), か (ka) or ん (n). There are 46 basic characters. On top of those, two small marks create voiced sounds: か (ka) becomes が (ga), and は (ha) becomes ば (ba) or ぱ (pa). Small versions of や, ゆ and よ make combined sounds like きゃ (kya).

That is the whole system. Compared with kanji it is small, and every hour you put in pays off immediately, because hiragana appears in almost every Japanese sentence. If you are not sure how hiragana relates to the other scripts, see hiragana vs katakana vs kanji.

Learn in chart order

Hiragana is traditionally arranged in a grid called the gojūon. The columns are the five vowels in the order a, i, u, e, o, and each row adds a consonant: k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r and w, with ん on its own at the end. Learning row by row gives you a structure to hang each character on. Keep the hiragana chart open while you study.

• あ い う え お (a i u e o)
• か き く け こ (ka ki ku ke ko)
• さ し す せ そ (sa shi su se so)
• た ち つ て と (ta chi tsu te to)
• な に ぬ ね の (na ni nu ne no)
• は ひ ふ へ ほ (ha hi fu he ho)
• ま み む め も (ma mi mu me mo)
• や ゆ よ (ya yu yo)
• ら り る れ ろ (ra ri ru re ro)
• わ を ん (wa wo n)

Give each shape a memory hook

Rote repetition works, but slowly. A quick visual association makes a character stick on the first or second try. Make your own where you can, because personal ones tend to be the most memorable. A few examples:

• く (ku) looks like an open bird's beak going coo.
• し (shi) looks like a fishing hook. She is fishing.
• つ (tsu) looks like a wave rolling in, a tsunami.
• へ (he) looks like a small hill you are walking up and down.

The hook only needs to get you to the sound quickly. Once you have read a character many times, you will stop needing it. For a picture for every character, see the hiragana mnemonics guide.

The 7-day plan

Each day, start by reviewing everything from previous days, then add the new rows. Spend most of your time reading, not staring at the chart. A short session in the morning and another in the evening works better than one long block. For day 7, the guide to small tsu and long vowels explains how っ and words like おかあさん are spelled and pronounced.

Watch for tricky sounds and look-alikes

A few characters do not follow the simple consonant plus vowel pattern in romaji: し is shi, ち is chi, つ is tsu and ふ is fu. Three characters also have special readings when used as particles: は is read wa, へ is read e, and を is read o.

These pairs and groups are easy to mix up, so practice them side by side:

• ぬ (nu) and め (me): ぬ has a little loop at the end.
• ね (ne), れ (re) and わ (wa): look at how the right side finishes.
• る (ru) and ろ (ro): る has a loop at the bottom, ろ does not.
• は (ha) and ほ (ho): ほ has an extra line on top.
• さ (sa) and ち (chi): they look almost like mirror images.

Read real words, and write a little

Recognizing a single character on a chart is not the same as reading it in a word. As soon as you know a row or two, read whole words, slowly at first. Words like いぬ (dog), ねこ (cat), すし (sushi) and やま (mountain) are short and familiar. If you want to check your reading, type the romaji into the romaji to kana converter and compare.

Pay attention to three spelling patterns as you go. A small っ doubles the next consonant, as in きって (kitte, stamp). A small ゃ, ゅ or ょ blends with the character before it, as in でんしゃ (densha, train). Long vowels are spelled out, as in おかあさん (okaasan, mother) and おとうさん (otousan, father), where う lengthens the o sound.

Writing is not required to read, but writing each new character a few times with the right stroke order helps you notice details, like the loop in ぬ or the short stroke in ほ. Hiragana follows the same basic order as kanji: top to bottom and left to right. Our stroke order rules guide covers the patterns.

Then move on to katakana

Once you can read hiragana words without stopping to think, start katakana. It uses the same 46 sounds, so it usually goes faster. Use the katakana chart and the same row-by-row approach. After that, you are ready to start learning kanji.

Keep reviewing hiragana for a few weeks after your seven days, even briefly. Short, spaced reviews are what turn a character you learned into one you know.

When you are ready for kanji, Moji picks up from there with Lock Screen widgets, spaced repetition reviews, guided stroke-order writing and radical practice, starting at JLPT N5.