Kanpeki jan!

Learning Hiragana

2010-07-09T07:05:00.000-07:00

Everybody learns differently, that is true for everything, including hiragana (ひらがな). I want to present the method I used to learn hiragana. This won't help everybody, and it takes a great deal of motivation to get started, which even I only rarely have.

I started learning hiragana a bit over a year ago. After 9th grade I was stupid enough to enter the optional 10th grade instead of going on to HTX (high school). I didn't finish that and ended up studying "Technical Design" for half a year. I used most of the time being bored in front of a computer screen, so I used that free time to learn hiragana.

http://www.yosida.com/en/hiragana.html

My main method of learning hiragana was this: I found a great hiragana chart over at www.yosida.com/ (you can find dakuten and combination hiragana further down on the page). The chart even had gif animations of stroke orders. So I began with the first five hiragana -- あ, い, う, え, お. I simply begin writing these down on a piece of paper in the right stroke order. I did this many times. Then, at times, I took out a piece of paper and wrote those that I remembered down. Those I couldn't remember, I looked at again and repeated the process. And I gradually repeated this for all basic hiragana.

Then, after remembering them pretty well, I took a piece of paper once in a while and began drawing a chart of all basic hiragana. I did this once in a while, just to keep myself from forgetting them. I then began making charts for dakuten and combination hiragana as well. And once again, I once in a while took out a piece of paper and began making charts, those that I didn't remember I looked at again and repeated the process.

http://smart.fm/goals/24666

Now, after remembering them all quite well, I used smart.fm's great Master Hiragana list with the iKnow and BrainSpeed applications to train it.

So that's it, my method for learning hiragana. I can't guarantee that it works for everyone else, but it worked well for me.

Some great websites for learning Japanese...

2010-07-08T16:43:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd post a list about some good websites I've used for learning Japanese.

japanese.about.com - Pretty good introductory material

eduFire - A video learning website with a great community

smart.fm - Website with great tools for learning writing systems and getting a vocabulary

TextFugu - An online textbook for those who have to teach themselves

Denshi Jisho - A great online Japanese dictionary

Hope this may help some people out there.

Introduction

2010-07-08T16:42:00.001-07:00

So, I'll start by introducing myself... I'm a lazy Austrian-Danish geek who's in love with Japanese culture. I'm 17, and haven't had a chance to go there, so I guess it could be called an unrequited love... Well, I'm a soon-to-be second year HTX student (that's a kind of High School here in Denmark, for you English-speakers). My hobbies include gaming, watching anime, surfing the internet, drawing... So yeah, I'm your average geek. Last, but not least, I'm a member of Bujinkan.

Well, let's get on with the topic at hand: This blog was formed as a response to TextFugu, that's a Japanese online textbook for self-learners like me, made by Koichi from Tofugu. I'm a master of procrastination, and as such, this might help me stay motivated for learning more.

Then there's the blog's name, in case anyone wonders about it. It's a combination of the Japanese words "kanpeki" (完璧 - かんぺき) -- meaning perfect -- and "jan" (じゃん) -- meaning "isn't it". Perfect, isn't it?! (I'm being sarcastic here, as you can see in the blogs description)

And then there's the thing about how far I've come with studying Japanese. I'd still call myself somewhat of a beginner, but I've studied for a while now. I have a basic vocabulary, I know most basic grammar and I know hiragana.

Oh, and then there's the face on my banner. It's kind of my variation of "Henohenomoheji" (へのへのもへじ). I call it: "henohekoshikoheji" (へのへこしこへじ). Look carefully and you'll find all these hiragana in that face.

So yeah, this blog will mainly contain my experience of learning Japanese, maybe some tips and tricks that I may come across and other Japan-related stuff once in a while.

宜しくお願いします (Yes, I copied that one from Denshi Jisho, I know next to no kanji...)