Learn intensive Hiragana (Japanese) in less than 2 weeks
First thing is first...
Take a deep breath, you're about to throw away all the stress on how 'difficult' it is to learn Hiragana. Relax, find a quite room and get set to store your brain with as many Hiragana as possible.
Basic methods to get started on Hiragana
Okay, at first you look at Hiragana and you think "Oh my, no way I could learn all of those alien-looking characters sooner." That's absolutely fine since it's new to you but do not give up right away because nothing's easy at first right? ;)
So, adjust yourself psychologically by telling yourself that it's not so hard and that everything takes time to adapt to.
Pen & Paper
My first method was writing down all the Hiragana characters on a A3 (you can use any size paper you wish, I just like everything nice and big) sheet of paper. I used colourful crayons to make it more exciting to look at. Then, I realised that writing the Hiragana characters was quite diffcult so for you guys I suggest you practice on a plain sheet of paper before you decide to write the Hiragana on your final piece.
Youtube
I looked up on various youtube videos on learning Hiragana and I found plenty amazing and fun ones teaching Hiragana characters musically and some were just boring people talking me over how they will help me learn Hiragana for approx 8 mins! So, you can try Youtube videos and I stress on the ones that are musical because they're short, catchy and fun.
Jap-Drama/Movies
Another method I used was watching J-Drama/ J-Movies. I thought to myself that it would be really discomforting to the eyes to watch a movie with Subtitles; eyes all over the screen WAAAHHHH!!! *_* Plus you tend to miss the most critical and vital actors'/actresses' facial expression because your eyes were too busy stalking the English Subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Sigh. -__- Anyway, it was a great idea because I catched on the frequent phrases or words the Japanese use in just couple of days. Not to mention how essential it is to hear the words said from a native Japanese speaker rather than a software. I highly suggest you watch plenty and I mean PLENTY of Japanese Drama because the best thing about them is that nearly all of them have an ending theme song and majority of the time they tend to have the lyrics on the screen (somewhat like a karaoke) which are in Hiragana and English subtitles. That, I would say was one of the reasons why I picked up on Hiragana quickly.
MUSIC
J-Pop!!! Yaaaay!!! Alright, I would say that I enjoy J-Pop because I love the meanings of the lyrics and the soundtracks are so refreshing and appealing to an endless extend! I currently listen to Kat Tun, C-ute, Akaya. J-Pop is my favourite now and I am in LOVE!!! I recommend you listen to J-Pop often and practice your Hiragana on them by going on youtube and looking for the lyrics of the particular song. Enjoy!
Hooray! Unwrapping Hiragana..
Hey, still unsure if Hiragana will be your bestfriend soon? No problem. If you think everything seems still diffcult, well I can tell you that there are always alternative ways to tailor ourselves when learning new things especially languages.
I have a feeling that you may be similar to me in terms of learning; I tend to learn quicker/easier interactively. What I mean by interactively is by involving sounds, images etc. to my learning process. I find it more fun to learn that way because then I am able to remember specific things relating to other things.
Therefore, I am not going to be selfish, I mean definitely not. I STRONGLY suggest you use an app (application) to learn Hiragana. Yes, that's how I secretly learnt my Hiragana in 4 days only! I feel stupid for not thinking about learning Hiragana through an app initially rather than spending weeks and weeks on youtube with ineffecient results. I very much would emphasise on an app called DR MOKU HIRAGANA Lite (IT'S FREE) you can find it on the appstore. If you don't have an apple device, then you can also go on the Dr Moku website. Please have a look at it because I am sure that you'll enjoy the learning systems and will be able to learn so much Hiragana in few days. Promise.
So, I hope you find the methods alongside the app useful to your Hiragana learning experience and you mustn't give up, keep going! Good luck! Arigatou Gozaimasu for taking your time to read my hub. ;)
