Customer Reviews

Kana Flashcards (Japanese and English Edition)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wish I had these when I started out. These cards have it all:

* Covers all hiragana AND katakana

* Five example vocabulary words using that kana

* Correct stroke order - IMPORTANT: learn how to write them correctly from the start!

* And unique to these cards, four fonts are shown to demonstrate slight variations in appearance with different typefaces

* Visual and verbal Mnemonics which help the student remember both the shape of the kana AND the sound it makes

* The flashcard format makes shuffling and self-testing a snap

* An overall beautiful design

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If you are looking for a short cut into the Japanese language, this is it. The absolute first step, even before getting a good textbook, should be the mastering of Hiragana and Katakana. With these cards and a little work, most students should be able to learn hiragana and katakana in just a few weeks. You will be able to recognize and maybe read a little Japanese even the first day (with a little work of course!)

Clay Boutwell - President, The Japan Shop

As a beginner of the Japanese language, the cards have really been helpful in my understanding of hiragana and katakana. One side of the card helps with the stroke order. The other side provides an image that helps to remember the character with a few examples of words where it applies. The cards are probably best used with other resources, such as 'Let's Learn Hiragana', but these cards are small enough to be very portable. The summary cards included in the pack are really useful too.

I like everything about these flashcards. I like the clear pictures including the smaller ones of additional styles. The stroke order is written out very clearly. I like the sturdiness of the cards, themselves. I like the fact that they are laminated and have rounded corners making them more durable. The examples of vocabulary on each card are a great feature, also. They have been very helpful to use for practice for myself and my children.

The question every potential buyer is probably asking himself is, "Should I buy the White Rabbit or the Tuttle flash cards?" Well, my personal answer is: White Rabbit.

The White Rabbit cards have a few things I favor over the Tuttle versions. First, the kana characters themselves are displayed in a large format. Also, four other 'fonts' are given which display the character (in a smaller size, too--some characters may look different to you when scaled down). These things are a HUGE advantage and would help you read big signs to newspaper print effectively. Tuttle cards have the character shown only once in a large size on the front and a smaller size on the back.

Five vocabulary words are given for each kana with White Rabbit, versus four from Tuttle. This isn't a huge deal, but it adds up: With ROUGHLY 100 cards total, your gaining an extra ~100 vocabulary words with White Rabbit. However, White Rabbit provides vocabulary words which start with the given kana AND include the kana (somewhere) in the vocabulary. Tuttle provides only words which begin with the given kana. To me, this really doesn't matter.

Stroke order is shown on both versions, but to me the White Rabbit version is a bit more 'clear.' This is probably also subject to opinion.

White Rabbits BIGGEST help are the mnemonics. Okay, so if you read the introduction cards they admit that not all the mnemonics are great. They urge you to buy the accompanying audio lessons, but a quick search for "hiragana pronunciation" on any search engine will yield you audio clips of correct pronunciation. Youtube has some good results too. Point is: The visual mnemonics especially can be very helpful for any kana you have particular trouble in remembering. Yes, some of the mnemonics suck, but I challenge you to do better. Plus, if you need a mnemonic to remember every single kana, maybe Japanese isn't for you!

Cons? I only have one: White Rabbit insists on numbering the cards on the kana side. For me, this is bad news! Some difficult to remember kanas can be remembered simply by their number. For example: to the novice, 'i' and 'ri' may look similar, but i is number 2 and ri is number 40. Me, ne, nu, wa, and re also have (superficially) similar symbols. My best advice if your subconscious likes to cheat is to cover the numbers with your thumb (they aren't really important).

TIPS FOR LEARNING JAPANESE: Immerse yourself. Watch movies in Japanese with Japanese subtitles. Buy flash cards for kana AND kanji (especially kanji!). Buy a college level textbook. And whatever you do, don't just buy one textbook, buy multiple books that teach in different ways!

I am a beginner in the Japanese Language and it didn't take me long to memorize all of the cards. Hiragana and Katakana together took me about 4 days memorizing 5 cards at a time.
Some reviews have said that the front of the card doesn't have the English meaning. Well that's just ridiculous because then you'll have to cover the English definition on the front and that will defeat the purpose of a flash card. Definitions always go on the back.

The audio in the beginning was a bit challenging because it's all in Japanese. With a little common sense you can understand it. The lady speaking says the card number, how to pronounce the character, then the line number, then the word. Simple no? Really, some people just want something to complain about. You have to learn to say the numbers in Japanese either way. Consider it a bonus.

There is no easy, fast way to learn another language. It takes time, patience, effort, and several resources. Using these cards is an efficient way to quickly learn Hiragana and Katakana as well as some vocabulary words.

Kanji is a bit more difficult for me. So this time I'm going to combine the audio, the card, and writing it to help me memorize them.

I would highly recommend buying a buddha board at [...]
I love this thing. Simply put, it's like a chalk board but you write on it with water and a brush. So, you save on ink and paper, doing your part for the environment. =)

Thanks!

This is a truly excellent product. Its most important features are:
- a very useful layout. The kana words and their stroke order are on one side, and the translation and pronunciation are on the other side - nice when you check your progress.
- excellent selections of word examples. They are simple words, but very useful, and you'll need to learn them anyway. In addition to learning kana, you'll learn ~450 useful words.
- several different styles of writing kana symbols.
- stroke order for writing each kana symbol.
- if you want help learning pronunciation, the manufacturer web site has a reasonably-priced audio companion available, where all words are pronounced by a native Japanese speaker. I highly recommend using it to learn the right pronunciation from the start.
- the cards are laminated, and have round corners, so they are very durable and pleasant to hold.
In conclusion, this is a very well-designed product, and I recommend it very highly.

Others have given good informative reviews so I'll add a few details.

These cards are about the size of normal playing cards, but a little thicker.

The one box contains one "pack' for hiragana and another for katakana, each in their own little plastic 'cup' so they don't get mixed up.

The visual cartoon mnemonics on the back are often very funny which helps me remember them.

Each card has 5 words using the kana with pronunciations and translations on the reverse side. In most cases you will have to learn the kanji for these words later but it is a nice feeling of success when you can make out the word using the kana you are learning.

These flashcards are a terrific learning tool for those (like me) who are struggling with learning hiragana and katakana. Not only do the cards provide the character on one side and the english equivalent on the other but they also have cleaver mnemonic devices to help you remember. for example, the hiragana character for "mo" looks like a fish hook, so the card says "you'll catch 'mo' fish with this hook." It sounds silly I know but things like that really helped me learn!

I can't say enough good things about these cards!!

These flashcards are amazing! When I got them, I had mostly mastered hiragana, but these are still great for a refresher. I hadn't yet come even close to learning katakana and with these, I learned ridiculously fast! I also got two very reasonably priced flashcard cases from White Rabbit Press's website (the same company that produced these flashcards). I would definitely order the cards from Amazon, though, not from WRP's site--they are far cheaper. ;)

I am extremely happy with the cards. With these cards, I learnt all the hirigana and one day. And when I started learning the katakana, I surprisingly learnt all of them within an hour!!!! Well, the Kana, not the vocabulary! But still! One thing to add though: Since I am Chinese, it's easier for me to learn Japanese than other western learners. But I did come across other materials which (might be useful but) are boring. To round up: highly quality cards; highly recommended. P.S.: I am so happy with the cards that I purchased the complete set of Kanji cards afterwards. If one day I speak Japanese, it's White Rabbit Press.