Customer Reviews

Remembering the Hiragana: A Complete Course on How to Teach Yourself the Japanese Syllabary in 3 Hours

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Using clever mnemonic devices, this book quickly teaches native English speakers to read and write the hiragana, one of the two Japanese syllabaries. (A syllabary is like an alphabet, only each symbol stands for a whole syllable.) I can't imagine a better way to learn the hiragana than this.

But don't buy this book. It has been superseded by Heisig's "Remembering the Kana: The Hiragana / The Katakana," which is simply Heisig's hiragana and katakana books (both out of print) bound in one cover. To read and write Japanese, you have to learn both syllabaries (plus kanji, the Chinese characters adopted by the Japanese), so you might as well get the book that teaches both.

Before I purchased this book, I was trying to learn Hiragana by simple memorization. Needless to say this was a long and difficult task, and I was only able to memorize about 12 in a week's time. This book not only helps you to remember the Hiragana, but to remember how to make the characters correctly. I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn Hiragana. I have not tried the author's titles on Katakana or Kanji (yet), but if they are as effective as this text, they are well worth your time and money.

After just the first lesson, Mr. Heisig has helped me remember 9 hiragana characters in about 15 mins. The key is mnemonics (remembering by association). Instead of presenting the standard "dictionary" path to remembering, he starts off with easy symbols, and progressivly gets more difficult, but not hard. The cool part is that he isn't a language teacher, but just a regular person who, when the challenge was presented to him, found a really easy way to remember the hiragana, aimed at the regular person in a non-classroom setting. Being a young student (17) and with no places around that offer Japanese Education, this was a cheap, fast, and very easy way to learn Hiragana. I plan on buying the books on Katakana and Kanji very soon to further my writing/reading skills. I highly recommend this book! :)

Using various mnemonic devices, such as "memory theater" Heisig really achieves his stated claim. In 6, roughly 1/2 hour sessions, he will teach you how to recognize, pronounce, and write the hiragana, including plosive and voiced marks. I myself struggled to learn the Hiragana for months and only managed to master 4 or 5. After spending 3 days and 3 one hour sessions with this book (plus about an extra hour spent on review), I can recognize all of the hiragana. I've never spent better money. Thank you, James Heisig.

An unqualified triumph. As someone who struggled to learn the hiragana characters through "brute force," with attendant frustration and slow progress, I was amazed at how easy and effective this book made things. It doesn't coddle you, either--most Japanese books baldly assert "this is how the characters look, period. No deviation from them is permitted, nor will any ever be encountered." This is, of course, hogwash--variant forms of the characters run rampant. Heisig's book , however, admits this, and even shows you a handfull of different forms, from block print to flowing script. An excellent, indispensible book. Buy the katakana book, too--also well worth your time!

This book takes a non-traditional approach to learning Hiragana. I am unsure if it would work for me or not, since I have already started learning Hiragana in the traditional method. The book is quite useful for me in one regard: each character has the printed Japanese version, the handwritten Japanese version, the kanji printed version, and the calligraphy kanji version. The book also gives the stroke order and recommendations on writing Hiragana also.

The book asks that you learn in a different method than in the dictionary order of phonetic alphabet, but the pages are in that order. Therefore, the bottom of each page refers you to the next page in order of how the author prefers you to learn. It is not confusing, just annoying.

If english is your native language and you're at least a teenager or older, I think this is the fastest method to learn Hiragana. I struggled for many years trying to memorize Hiragana. I really was convinced I would never learn it. With this book and spending less than one hour a day for three days on the lessons, I can honestly say I really LEARNED to read and write Hiragana. My friends and family are truely amazed. I am so happy to have achieved this milestone I am now moving on to learn Kanji.

The author takes advantage of the imaginative portion of your brain instead of conventional brut force memorization. He also uses this method to teach you proper stroke order which is essential to write Hiragana proficiently.

This book makes the incredible claim that you'll have the Hiragana alphabet memorized after just 3 hours of study time. The incredible part is that it really works! My wife and I have both read the book and both know the hiragana alphabet by heart, reading and writing. James Heisig uses a great new method for memorizing the characters, and the best part is that, unlike many other similar methods I've seen and tried, this one is totally comprehensive and it really works. I can't recommend this book highly enough for anyone looking to learn the hiragana (which is a great start for anyone who wants to learn Japanese).

I found the 3 hour approach very well indeed. I had been struggling for three years with the Japanese syllabry, only to accidentally find this book and finish in three hours. It uses a uniques approach that I have been trying to find for years. You'll find it uniques, and wonder why no one knows about it. You may even want to follow up with the the author's "Remembering the Katakana" [ISBN# 0-87040-860-7] companion for the text. I've got both. Buy the Hiragana first because the Katana relies on the Hiragana text for its explanations. Both texts are done very well, small books that get straight to the point of helping you learn what you need, and not just memorizing tables of alphabets. Actually, you won't need to memorize any table for either of the books. It's simple, short, straight forward, and actually fun to use these two books.

Wow.. I was getting nowhere with the hiragana, but this book changed it I could not believed that I learn it in just 1 day.. (3 hours it says, but I had to work so I took longer breaks). Is no joke I am still Amazed. I highly recommended.. I will help you for sure..