Wired in Japan: Think You Know Your Kana?

8.10.2009

Think You Know Your Kana?

While learning the Japanese Language, I've often been asked if I know hiragana and katakana; It is a good way to measure a beginner Japanese learner's skill level. I would always answer that I knew my kana well; I knew the phonetic sounds and how to write Japanese characters on my computer.

Yet when I was asked by my Japanese tutor, Rio Sensei, who is thankfully very specific in regards to learning the Japanese language, I thought, no problem. Yet, there's a twist: write them out, by hand, without any reference. Fail. I knew how to write some of the characters, but many I simply drew a mental blank.

Thus, Rio provided me a handy sheet for practicing hiragana and katakana. Over my time learning Japanese, I've completed over 80 sheets of kana practice. That's approximately 12,300 individually written kana; does your arm hurt after that. This is over a time span of about five months now.

That said, there are a few pesky kana, particularly katakana, that I blank on. While the previous kana worksheets are great for learning form and order, I have devised a new work sheet to help with memorization; unaided recall.

This new sheet has no sample kana to sample from; it is just you and your memory. I like to stream through all the hiragana then katakana, in proper order, then start again on the next line. If I blank, I leave a space and move on. It's good for keeping track of the characters you forget.

Get the blank practice sheet here

Now I know that I frequently forget: め(me), も(mo) in hiragana and ヌ(nu), ネ(ne), メ(me), モ(mo), ル(ru), レ(re) in katakana.

What hiragana and katakana do you seem to always forget?

Comments (21)

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Kara · 815 weeks ago

Thanks for posting this! I, too, have written my kana over and over and it has helped a lot. But the blanks are perfect. I was going to order some blank notebooks from Japan, but was waiting until I needed other things, too, to minimize the shipping (I'm in the US). These will be very helpful as I continue my quest for the ultimate writer's cramp!

I always confuse み and を　when writing, but I usually get them right when reading. Go figure!　ナ and テ　get me, too.

1 reply · active 815 weeks ago

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ryanthewired 43p · 815 weeks ago

I'm glad you find these useful. I find it helps so much to write things out.

Some of them are silly, but attaching some visual or conceptual relation to the form of the characters, helps me when I'm in a bind.

for example, when initially looking at を(wo), it set me aback because of it intricacy in relation to other hiragana, thus a whoa, was appropriate.

also, て(te - hiragana) and テ(te - katakana) have a flat top surface, thus てぶる(teburu) - a table comes to mind.

I'm sure everyone has their own, equally odd or banal, memorizational relationships, if their so inclined to admit so.

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Jamaipanese · 815 weeks ago

thanks for this kana learning resource but how can you forget mo? :P it's so awesome :D

5 replies · active 791 weeks ago

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ryanthewired 43p · 815 weeks ago

Your quite welcome, Jamaipanese. I hope they're helpful.

モ(mo) is an interesting case, because it is a unique character. The way I rationale it, is that tripping up on メ(me) throws off the rhythm, subsequently flaking up モ(mo).

Yet what is interesting, is that the moment I remember メ(me), モ(mo) is near instantaneously recognized.

Everyone has their crux, which kana give you trouble?

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ryanthewired 43p · 813 weeks ago

も/モ (mo) has been a tricky one for me. Yet, now I've been focusing on my kana weak spots.

To remember も/モ I find that they look like an M stood on end. Also, both hiragana and katakana forms are similar in shape. That seems to help me visualize the characters when my thought gets a bit foggy.

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Curt · 811 weeks ago

I always remember mo by the fish hook look, you have to have a worm to catch 'mo' fish.

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ryanthewired 43p · 811 weeks ago

Curt, that is a great analogy, and easy to remember. I wont forget any longer.

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ryanthewired 43p · 791 weeks ago

Even after all this time, whenever I need to remember も (mo), I think of a fish hook. Good to know.

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wrightak · 814 weeks ago

I remember that I drew a blank on ヌ quite a lot. Mainly because it hardly ever turns up. Of course there's ヲ as well, but I think that one can be forgotten and no one will mind. ;)

A good way to practice is to write normally in Japanese with a pen and paper. Japanese students do it too little I think. Whenever I make a small notes, I try to make a habit of doing so in Japanese rather than English. e.g. shopping lists, messages for people etc.

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ryanthewired 43p · 814 weeks ago

An excellent idea! That will be the next step; writing sentences in Japanese.

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DumbOtaku 44p · 814 weeks ago

Sounds like we were in the same pickel. When i first started learning kana things didn't go so hot. I would pick up a few here and there and on a test my sensei said I want to you to put them all in order and write them. i was like "wtf am i going to do" needless to say after that I spent all my time studying them in order.

Though i will say your way seems much better than mine. Mine was lots of memorization by looking until i could get it. Never thought about doing it on paper until after I had figured them all out. LOL.

And (ネ) ne is evil in katakana. Keep up the good work.

3 replies · active 791 weeks ago

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ryanthewired 43p · 814 weeks ago

It sounds like you're kicking kana butt now. Although, that ネ (ne) is a pesky one. If I remember ヌ (nu) then I can visualize ネ (ne) because they share a similar structural stroke.

Thanks for the encouragement. There's more training in the works; always is!

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Kay · 791 weeks ago

Interesting. For some reason, I always assumed that other people would have the same difficulties I had.

I have trouble with many of the katakana, but never ネ. Not only does it so different from the others, but I see it all the time -- whenever the ネットワーク is down!

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ryanthewired 43p · 791 weeks ago

ネ (ne) kind of looks the the USB symbol.

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Curt · 811 weeks ago

Check out NihongoUp for kana and kanji practice. http://nihongoup.com/ wont help you with writing but will help with memory.

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Japanese Words · 811 weeks ago

I always had difficulty with katakana due to the infrequency with which I wrote them, but eventually, after enough practice they got jammed in my head. I recommend Remembering the Kana as a way to learn the kana's quickly and remember them.

1 reply · active 811 weeks ago

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ryanthewired 43p · 811 weeks ago

Thanks for the recommendation. I saw Remembering the Kana in the library today. I'll have to pick it up and give it a one over.

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みっち · 802 weeks ago

Not really confusion, but when I'm in a hurry, I prefer to write certain Hiragana using the equivalent Katakana.
お→オ
う→ウ
す→ス
し→シ
わ→ワ
き→キ
な→ナ
や→ヤ
ゆ→ユ
Long お（う）and え（い）→ おー、えー
And these two characters never look as they should
ヌ→又
ロ→〇
And some Kanji I confuse.
新⇔部⇔郎

1 reply · active 802 weeks ago

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ryanthewired 43p · 802 weeks ago

Interesting. Sometimes I forget the correct katakana, but I always know the corresponding hiragana. Frustrating.

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Terra · 769 weeks ago

Oh my. Those damn 'r' hiragana characters really throw me off since they all look alike to me. >.<

1 reply · active 769 weeks ago

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ryanthewired 43p · 769 weeks ago

Practice makes perfect. Keep at it.

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