Learning Hiragana from YouTube
So you are starting on your Japanese learning journey and you want to learn hiragana. It's intimidating, right? I've been there, too. But it's ok, you can master hiragana in no time!
I learned hiragana by memorization one summer many years ago. I wrote the characters over and over again until they were burned in my brain. But it was a struggle. So I looked for better ways to remember the hiragana syllabary, and I found.. YouTube!
If there's one thing I've learned being at home constantly for over a year, it's that working with other people (or even adjacent to other people) can be motivating and even soothing. So here are some YouTube videos you can watch whilst learning hiragana. Please feel free to add any other videos you have found useful!
- This 43-minute video explains hiragana with visual cues and introduces vocabulary words with each character. It's very thorough, walking through each character (although not in syllabary order). You can write along with Misa and practice your own handwriting as well as stroke order.
- This one-hour video goes through each character in syllabary order, and is broken up into mini-lessons with quizzes at the end of each. They were originally separate videos, so there is repetition, but the systematic way they go through each will help you remember the syllabic order. This video also uses visual cues to remember the way it's written and pronounced. They also put together the hiragana you have learned to make words. They also have a 20-minute review version.
- Imitate Takumi's handwriting for calligraphy-level penmanship! He writes each character beautifully and pronounces each one. Keyword: aesthetic.
- She wears bunny ears and sings the hiragana from あ to ん! This is a good way to practice reading and pronouncing hiragana, and a fun way to take a break while still practicing your Japanese. Cyber Bunny also has other songs directed at beginners, so check her channel out!
I'd like to close with this great really terrible pun.
Me: I will learn all the hiragana in a week!
My brain: の
Ganbatte ne!