Writing Hiragana
People have different ways of mastering hiragana so I can only really show you some of the ways that might serve you best. Remembering there are 46 characters in the hiragana chart, they are arranged in the following way with the vowel sounds at one end (usually the right hand column), and the consonant-vowel sounds progressing across the chart to the left.
This chart shows a number of different features of hiragana.
This chart shows a number of different features of hiragana.
The yellow space underneath shows the pronunciation of the character.
The green circles show the stroke order, that is, the order in which each stroke should be written in order to create the perfect looking character. Stroke order is very important and mastering this is a key part in mastering the hiragana characters altogether.
The characters can be grouped in "families" for example, the column to the left of the vowel column on the far right, is sometimes called the "k-family" due to every character starting with a "k" sound. It is also called the "ka-gyo" or "ka-column".
The green circles show the stroke order, that is, the order in which each stroke should be written in order to create the perfect looking character. Stroke order is very important and mastering this is a key part in mastering the hiragana characters altogether.
The characters can be grouped in "families" for example, the column to the left of the vowel column on the far right, is sometimes called the "k-family" due to every character starting with a "k" sound. It is also called the "ka-gyo" or "ka-column".
Methods of learning hiragana
Typically hiragana is learned in chart order, that is, starting with a, i, u, e and o vowel sounds and working across the chart from right to left one column at a time. We usually use a set of mnemonic flashcards which are flashcards with quirky memory stories for students to remember the pronunciation. And we teach the correct stroke order and have students write them over and over.
There is also a method of teaching vocabulary first and then just the first character of the vocabulary so that students have a full word to associate with the newly learned character. This is a good method too because it mimics our own path into first language literacy. What I mean is, it's just like how we learned our own language as little babies and kids. A is for apple, B is for ball and so on. It didn't mean that we could read the whole word "apple" but that we knew that a word we already could say started with the letter "a".
There is also a method of teaching vocabulary first and then just the first character of the vocabulary so that students have a full word to associate with the newly learned character. This is a good method too because it mimics our own path into first language literacy. What I mean is, it's just like how we learned our own language as little babies and kids. A is for apple, B is for ball and so on. It didn't mean that we could read the whole word "apple" but that we knew that a word we already could say started with the letter "a".
We are doing a combination of both and our approach may vary depending on which year level you are in. Year 7s will concentrate on chart order initially and then have katakana introduced as necessary for reading names and objects. The Year 8s will continue with their simultaneous learning of both sets of characters as they continue on to intermediate grammar.
Writing hiragana - learning the stroke order
To see how the correct stroke order for individual hiragana characters, take a look at this page where you can click on a character of your choice and see an animation. Copy each one ten times in your books being careful to notice proportion and shape.
Visit the Learn How to Write Hiragana section.
Visit the Learn How to Write Hiragana section.
Writing hiragana - instruction via chart order
Watch all of these clips one by one to learn the correct stroke order for all of the 46 hiragana. The clips go in chart order, i.e a, ka, sa, ta, na, ha, ma, ya, ra, wa columns of the hiragana chart. You should have a clean sheet of paper and a pen ready so that you can copy the stroke order when shown.
Chihiro san, features in these clips, has some good advice for memorising the hiragana and telling them apart from the tricky ones that appear similar.
Chihiro san, features in these clips, has some good advice for memorising the hiragana and telling them apart from the tricky ones that appear similar.
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