How to memorize the Japanese alphabet from home?

Learn to write at the same time as to read.

To be able to read and  write in Japanese , you have to start by learning the hiragana and katakana . The hiragana are the most used to write Japanese in the everyday language and the katakana are used to translate words of foreign origin.

To achieve this, here are several tips you can follow:

• Start by  correctly memorizing the hiragana  before moving on to the katakana and don’t try to do it all at once.
• Print out the hiragana chart  and post it next to your desk, in the bathroom, in the kitchen… In short, anywhere you are likely to spend a lot of time. Seeing them regularly will allow you to memorize them more easily.
• Learn line by line. Each line corresponds to a vowel: a, i, u, e, o.
• Don’t try to skip the steps and  learn little by little. Japanese writing is complex and if you go too fast, you will not remember anything in the end. Give your brain time to digest the new information and memorize only 5 new characters each day before going over them all at the end of the week.
• Learn to write at the same time  as to read. This way you will memorize them much better.
• Be consistent  and opt for small daily sessions of 15-20 minutes instead of weekly sessions of 2 hours. Trust us: it is much more effective!
• Review regularly  and, if possible, at night before bed for further memorization.
• Use Japanese in your daily habits:  reading Japanese manga, making a Japanese cooking recipe written in Hiragana, or even practicing in your writing pad without ever resorting to the Latin alphabet to acquire Japanese words will make you progress faster.

Only once you have properly assimilated the hiragana and katakana can you move on to learning the kanji, which require even more diligence and motivation. Because speaking Japanese is one thing, but writing Japanese is another!