らりるれろわをん and LingoDeer

Lesson

Tofugo: Learn Hiragana
らりるれろわをん

Today I have learned the remaining hiragana only with the smartphone. No stroke order, not writing on paper. Let’s see if this makes remembering those kana harder.

LingoDeer

There was an app recommendation on tofugo: Lingodeer.
It’s free to download from Google Play or your Apple device.
I have blasted through all Hiragana lessons without problems.

There are also some basic lessons starting with nationality, profession and so on. Complete sentences hit me square in the face, as I was only practicing single hiragana without vocabulary. It’s just like in elementary school, where words are read slowly, letter by letter.

On’yomi, kun’yomi and blog

I have always wondered, why some kanji are spelled differently. So I read about on’yomi and kun’yomi over here Tofugo: Onyomi vs Kunyomi.
Basically, the on-reading derives from Chinese spelling, the kun-reading from Japanese and both may have multiple different readings. So it’s best to stick to the most common reading first.

Learn 80% of vocabulary usage within 20% of time.

Pareto principle

Exercise

  • Repeated the Usagi-chan’s drag-n-drop game with all 20 hiragana characters from day 1 and 2.
  • Played some more Learn Japanese To Survive – Hiragana Battle and learned some dakuten.

Blog

I have also set up this blog just on day 3, because learning Japanese came first. Keeping track of the progress second.

さしすせそたちつてと

Lesson

Tofugo: Learn Hirgana
さしすせそ
たちつてと

Exercise

  • Repeating to write all first 10 hiragana from yesterday.
  • Writing today’s hiragana on Benri Nihongo sheets.
  • Getting all known 20 hiragana in Usagi-Chan’s Hiragana Drag-n-Drop correct (in a reasonable time.)
    Usagi-Chan’s Hiragana Drag-n-Drop
  • I’ve also played some Learn Japanese To Survive! Hiragana Battle. You can find it on Steam Hiragana Battle

あいうえおかきくけこ

The Journey

So, let’s track my progress, while learning Japanese.
If I don’t do it now, I won’t do it anytime soon.
I have made some minor tries, trying to learn Japanese about 12 years ago. I read a book for Kanji, watched some episodes of a Rosetta Stone course and tried a few days to learn hiragana. But I’ve never managed to make a habit of my study sessions.
Let’s see if keeping track of my efforts while help me to form a habit.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Chinese proverb

Lesson

On the first day let’s start with the core basics: Hiragana.
Without hiragana it will be impossible to read Japanese. If you try to skip this and rely on romaji you will be horribly disappointed.

Tofugo: Learn Hiragana
あいうえお
かきくけこ

Exercise