こんにちは peeps,
Ninja Gaijin here with another exciting article about Japan.....hmm...do you see the pattern here?
Lets talk about (Uses ominous voice)
HIRAAAAGANAAAAAAAA!!!
As I mentioned in the
Learning Japanese post, there's 3 scripts to learn (Romaji not included).
One thing that many people learning Japanese will agree on is that both hiragana and katakana can be learnt in 1-2 weeks (@ 10 characters a day + practice).
There are a 46 characters in each script and yes IT IS quite possible to learn it quickly.
BRAGGING ALERT!!!
I managed to learn to read and write Hiragana in 6 hours with a retention rate of 90%. And by the next day, I knew the whole lot. I then spent the next couple of days increasing my reading speed.
Soooooooooo.........YOU CAN DO IT!!!.........no redbull required.
I was bored, and didn't have much to do anyway. So I kinda made a game out of it. We all hate studying...so trick your brain into thinking it's fun.
We spend hours playing games on our phones (i'm looking at you flappybird/minecraft/candycrush) or our computers (guilty as charged) NEED FOR SPEED FTW. I mean, I had a bike and then I went abroad, and my parents sold it since no one used it and....It's not my fault I'm a speed freak. I was the fastest sperm after all.......
Aaaaanyhu, back on track (speed track? Shut up brain)
Try to make a game out of it, and play to win.
STEP 1: GET A CHART
Google it. You will get millions of results, but just get the Hiragana chart. You might be superman (or woman) and get both the kana in one chart. As long as you don't get confused....go for it.
This is what a typical chart looks like (you may have to click to enlarge)
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE COMPLETED THE 1st STEP.
STEP 2: GET THE CORRECT PRONUNCIATION
Why? Because
"a" is pronounced "aaa", "i" as "e", "e" as "a" etc.
The good news is that the sounds NEVER CHANGE like in English.
1 character = 1 sound....FOREVER!!!!
Check this link
here. It's awesome.
CONGRATULATIONS! 2nd STEP IS IN THE BAG!!
STEP 3: PICK A REALISTIC TARGET
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Depending on your retention power, you might unnecessarily tire yourself out. You don't start out a new game on the hardest setting, do you?
Pick any number. 2, 5, 10, 15 and feel free to change the number anytime you wish.
Now pick a card....any card....
I predict that........YOU HAVE A CARD!!!
~APPLAUSE
Thank you. Thank you.
(I'm such a great magician)
STEP 4: WRITE, WRITE, WRITE SOME MORE until there's nothing else....
Unfortunately, there's no substitute for good ol' fashioned pen-n-paper method....unless there's a genie. Then wish yourself some Japanese fluency NOOWW!!
Are you fluent yet?
"Sigh" No genie. So you better wish some pen and paper and write your desired number of characters.
Pay attention to the strokes.
Pay attention to the sound.
Draw to your hearts content.
Practice with your child (if you have one)
Doodle during meetings.
Draw on your post-it notes
Write with your blood (Harry Potter anyone?)
Pee in the snow
Graffiti on the wall.
Draw in the toilet stall.
DISCLOSURE: NINJA GAIJIN DOES NOT CONDONE ACTS OF VANDALISM. DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK
Write as many times as you want. Make flash cards and review them periodically.
Glance at them while you go for a coffee.
The possibilities are endless.
Final word
If you follow my patented process, you should be able to shed 50lbs in 10 days.
Oops...wrong advert
In a week or two, you should be able to read and write (ominous voice)
HIRAAGANAAAAA.
Take care now....
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