Once you have shown interest and readiness to learn the Japanese language, there are tons of questions you will be looking for answers to. One of such questions is – what Japanese alphabet should I learn first?
Without mincing words, hiragana is the Japanese alphabet you should learn first. This Japanese writing script is not only easy to learn, but it also has some elements that can help you to learn other alphabets. Besides, hiragana can serve as a factor that will motivate you to be successful in your learning journey. So, if you are ready to learn Japanese, you should kick-start it by learning hiragana.
What is hiragana?
Assuming you are a new learner, you probably don’t know what hiragana is. So, before explaining why you should start your learning process with hiragana, let’s first describe what hiragana is. Basically, hiragana is a Japanese writing system. It is the basic script that is used by millions of Japanese-speaking people for day-to-day communication.
Hiragana has a total of 46 fundamental characters. Each character comes with a specific phonetic syllable. These characters are usually written together to represent different Japanese sounds. Generally, hiragana is simple and easy to write and read as long as you have an excellent grasp of its meaning.
The three basic functions of this writing script include:
- For indicating the grammatical function of a particular Japanese word
- For replacing Japanese that don’t have kanji and katakana equivalents
- For changing the meaning of adjectives, verbs, and adjectives in the Japanese language
Why hiragana should be the first Japanese alphabet you learn
As indicated earlier, hiragana should be the first Japanese alphabet you will learn. However, this decision is based on a wide range of reasons including:
- You can learn hiragana characters quickly
Hiragana contains only 46 characters. That is, you only need to study 46 characters repeatedly, and then you would have understood Japanese hiragana. When you consider the fact that English has a total of 26 capital letters, 26 small letters, and some extra punctuation marks, you will realize that the English language has more than 80 characters. So, learning 46 characters should not be a big issue for you.
Factually, if you are determined to learn hiragana, you can learn all characters in just one or two days. Even if you don’t want to rush, you can master five different characters each day and, resultantly, complete everything in less than 2 weeks.
- Hiragana is easy to learn
When learning to write and read Japanese, Japanese kids often start with hiragana. Of course, this is because hiragana is easier to learn than the other two popular writing systems of Japanese (katakana and kanji). As a beginner, you are not different from Japanese kids as you only have basic knowledge of the language. Therefore, you should start where the Japanese often begin their learning process.
- Hiragana is the commonly used Japanese writing system
As long as Japanese is concerned, hiragana is used more often than other writing scripts in day-to-day conversations. Whether you are reading newspapers, subtitles of Japanese anime or films, listening to podcasts, etc., you will see lots of hiragana regularly. As a consequence, a new Japanese learner will get the most natural and best opportunities to study the writing and reading parts of the language when they understand hiragana.
- Learning hiragana aids pronunciation of different Japanese sounds
As suggested before, the foundational phonetic writing script of Japanese is hiragana. It is the basic writing system that can be used for symbolizing every specific sound. So, if you start learning the writing system of Japanese with hiragana, you are likely to experience little or no difficulty when pronouncing some Japanese sounds.
- Long lines of katakana can hardly make sense without hiragana
Foremost, katakana represents words that are borrowed from other languages. Without a doubt, you can use katakana symbols to form independent texts. But it will be extremely difficult for anyone to understand a long line of different katakana characters.
Fortunately, you can add some hiragana characters to the long lines of katakana texts to make them meaningful. Therefore, if you begin your study with katakana, you will need to learn hiragana or kanji for a better understanding.
- Hiragana can aid other writing characters
Once you have learned hiragana, your knowledge can be applied to various other scenarios. But this is not applicable for katakana and kanji, which are two other writing systems of the Japanese language. For example, when you want to write furigana and yomigana (these are reading aids that help you to pronoun kanji symbols appropriately), you will need to know hiragana. Therefore, your understanding of hiragana will go a long way in assisting you to learn several other writing Japanese characters.
In addition to this, hiragana characters have corresponding hiragana symbols. So, when you understand hiragana, learning katakana will be easier for you.
- Several resources are available for hiragana
Whenever you want to learn a new language, you need to go through lots of resources. Out of all Japanese writing scripts, hiragana has the most abundant resources. So, whether you are looking for the simplest resources or the most difficult ones, you can rest assured that you will find them.
As a beginner, most kids’ books are written in hiragana. So, you can start learning like a Japanese kid by picking one of the kids’ books. The vast availability of these resources will be pivotal to ensuring that you understand Japanese as quickly and expertly as possible.
- Hiragana can motivate you to learn other parts of the language
If you are learning Japanese or any other language, you need to find motivations that will keep you going. Since hiragana is easy to learn, it can serve as the factor that will motivate you to continue learning the other parts of the language. Resultantly, you will likely experience massive success in your whole learning experience.
