Learning Kana...

[KnightXXI]

Ok so I'm importing a few japanese games so I decided it was time to start learning to read japanese (again ^-^) so I thought I'd start by working through a book I have (Teach yourself beginners Japanese script) I'm finding kanji ok (I know about 20-ish) but I'm having trouble learning kana (especially hiragana but katakana's not easy either) so does anyone have any good tips for remembering the kana (I'm thinking of starting with katakana since I heard games use a lot of it) but I just can't seem to get them to stick, I know one or two but I just cant get them to stay in my head for some reason ^-^'

[atomsk]

if you like games you should try Slime Forest Adventure.
http://lrnj.com/
Its a retro style RPG that teaches you kanji and kana. It starts with katakana. It wont teach you writing though, only recognizing the characters and some reading.

[Jason]

The best way is probably old fashioned boring repitition. Start with hiragana first. Take a row of characters and write them down over and over. At least 5-10 times. Don't type them. Don't just look at them. Actually write them down on a piece of paper. You should say them to yourself or preferably outloud as you write them. The more ways your brain can associate with each character, the better they'll stick. The next day, take the next row and do the same thing. After you finish with the new row, write down the row from the previosu day maybe 5 times. Work your way thru all the rows this way making sure to always practice the rows you've already gone over after you finish the new one. Once you get to the later rows, you can decrease the amount of times you practice the older rows to about 2 to 3 times. Just be sure not to stop. It's better for you to practice maybe 10-30 mintues a day every day, than for hours only a few times a week. You'll get familiar with them by seeing them every day. After you finish the entire hiragana chart, move on to katakana and do the same with it. But don't forget about hiragana. After you finish your katakana for the day, go back and write the entire hiragana chart at least once.

I know it's not exactly the most exciting method and it may take some time to work thru both charts, but this worked really well for me. You should also avoid rouma-ji like the plague. I realize it's not realistic to avoid it completely when you don't know kana yet. But as you learn more and more kana, you should be avoiding it more and more. Once you have hiragana down, you shouldn't use it at all.

As a bonus tip, the menus on the Japanese version websites of many fastfood chains made for some nice katakana reading practice.

[Jason]

Slime Forest would be a good reinforcement after you first go over the characters "manually." It would be good for testing yourself on how fast and accurately you can recognize them.

[thumbninja]

I'm a newbie to this as well and I'm finding the Japanese for Busy People Kana Workbook very helpful.

[CrazySwayzee]

The best way is probably old fashioned boring repitition. Start with hiragana first. Take a row of characters and write them down over and over. At least 5-10 times. Don't type them. Don't just look at them. Actually write them down on a piece of paper. You should say them to yourself or preferably outloud as you write them. The more ways your brain can associate with each character, the better they'll stick. The next day, take the next row and do the same thing. After you finish with the new row, write down the row from the previosu day maybe 5 times. Work your way thru all the rows this way making sure to always practice the rows you've already gone over after you finish the new one. Once you get to the later rows, you can decrease the amount of times you practice the older rows to about 2 to 3 times. Just be sure not to stop. It's better for you to practice maybe 10-30 mintues a day every day, than for hours only a few times a week. You'll get familiar with them by seeing them every day. After you finish the entire hiragana chart, move on to katakana and do the same with it. But don't forget about hiragana. After you finish your katakana for the day, go back and write the entire hiragana chart at least once.

I know it's not exactly the most exciting method and it may take some time to work thru both charts, but this worked really well for me. You should also avoid rouma-ji like the plague. I realize it's not realistic to avoid it completely when you don't know kana yet. But as you learn more and more kana, you should be avoiding it more and more. Once you have hiragana down, you shouldn't use it at all.

As a bonus tip, the menus on the Japanese version websites of many fastfood chains made for some nice katakana reading practice.

the good ol' fashioned way seems to be traditionally the best, although it is traditionally the most time consuming. however,that way if you ever need to write it, you'll have the correct stroke order and not only is it in your head but you can write it on paper as well which makes for a better memory of the kana overall.

and Teach Yourself Beginners Japanese Script is a great book for not only teaching you Japanese script but remebering them as well you can learn your kana, some very useful Kanji and even have a rock-solid foundation for mastering japanese, or at least the japanese in videogames

[Solvi]

When I felt I knew the kana, I started writing Japanese words in my notebook during classes. When I couldn't remember a character, I wrote it down in romaji, and checked it out when I got home. It's a nice way to see how much you really remember, and it's also a nice thing to do if the lecturer is a bit boring... I also practice kanji this way, pick out a few compounds and write different sentences with them. The most common one is "I gave Vicky a hat"... Which isn't true btw... Unfortunately. I'd wish I could take the honour for it. For those of you who haven't seen Vicky's hat - wait for the videos for Junji-san!