Hiragana vs. Katakana: Which Should You Learn First?

Japanese, often perceived as complex, can be surprisingly straightforward when approached effectively. A key aspect of mastering the language lies in understanding its writing systems. Japanese utilizes three character sets: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. For those embarking on the journey of learning to read Japanese, a common question arises: Should I learn hiragana or katakana first?

The Importance of Kana

Hiragana and katakana are unique Japanese characters that are often regarded as the Japanese alphabet. Generally speaking, hiragana and katakana can be seen as two sets of Japanese alphabets or syllabaries. They do not represent unique meanings as kanji do. Both hiragana and katakana are Japanese syllabaries, ensuring clear pronunciation of written text.

Hiragana: The Foundation

Hiragana is the most fundamental script and should be learned first. It serves as the basic alphabet for Japanese words and is essential for understanding katakana and kanji. Without hiragana, grasping the nuances of kanji becomes significantly more challenging.

Hiragana is used to write native Japanese words, conjugation endings, and grammar particles. It is also used to write okurigana (kana suffixes following a kanji root) to form words with kanji. When the kanji form appears obscure or too formal, these kanji could also be written in hiragana instead.

Katakana: The Complement

Katakana is primarily used for loanwords, words imported from other languages. Given the abundance of loanwords in modern Japanese, familiarity with katakana is crucial. Even a common word like "rāmen" is typically written in katakana, highlighting its prevalence.

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Katakana is more frequently used as phonetic notation while hiragana is more frequently used as grammar notation. Katakana is based on the regular script (kaisho) form of Chinese characters, while the cursive script (sōsho) form of the kanji was the origin of hiragana.

Why Hiragana First?

Learning hiragana first offers several advantages:

Foundation for Grammar: Knowing hiragana makes understanding certain parts of Japanese grammar more straightforward. For example, there are many adjectives that end in an elongated “i” sound, such as “oishii” (meaning “delicious”), and the conjugation of these adjectives is easier to see in hiragana.
Pronunciation and Sentence Structure: It's important to learn Hiragana first, because it gets you into the swing of the sounds (Japanese, apart from a,i, u, e,o and n, is all sounds, not letters.) It also helps with starting to understand the sentence construction.
Ubiquity: You have more chances of encountering hiragana than katakana when reading texts or video subtitles, which will familiarize you with those letters. Also, most children’s books are written in hiragana, so you will have plenty of good resources to practice.

When to Learn Katakana

Once you have a solid grasp of hiragana, transitioning to katakana is the next logical step. Waiting until you’re proficient in hiragana and katakana is a good approach, but it can be fun to start learning a few right from the beginning too.

Mastering Kana: A Step-by-Step Approach

Prioritize Hiragana: Focus on learning hiragana thoroughly before moving on to katakana.
Consistency is Key: Make sure you practice writing consistently. It does not help if you practice everyday one week and then take a week off and then practice for a few days.
Flashcards: I would recommend that for both hiragana and katakana, you make your own small flashcards, and then just learn them in bunches of 5.
Mnemonics: Some prefer to use mnemonics, which means seeing each symbol as a picture. For example, ぬ: “Nu” for “noodle”, because the character looks like a squiggly pile of noodles.
Practice Reading: Once you become familiar with the kana, practice reading repeatedly.

Common Misconceptions

Mixing Hiragana and Katakana: You should never mix hiragana and katakana in one word in formal writing.

Useful Resources

Tofugu's Learn Hiragana/Katakana Book series: This series consists of two PDF workbooks, covering everything you need to know about hiragana and katakana.
HIRAGANA Memory Hint and KATAKANA Memory Hint: These are mobile apps to help you learn kana with memory hints (aka mnemonics).
Dr. Moku: This app offers clever mnemonics and quizzes to review what you've just learned.
Dr. Learn ALL Hiragana/Katakana in 1 Hour: This series of two video lessons is available for free on YouTube.
Tofugu's Learn Kana Quiz: This web app allows you to practice whatever kana you want, as many times as you want.

The Role of Kanji

Kanji is the third and final writing system. Kanji is used to shorten the amount of space it takes to write a sentence. It expresses a word or idea with a character, unlike hiragana, which is completely syllabic. Kanji were created in China and brought to Japan in the 5th century.

Learning kanji will, invariably, take a considerable amount of time. It’s typically a long, ongoing process, and each additional kanji is, on average, less useful than the previous one.

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