Kana Flashcards: Learn and Remember Kana in a Flash With Visual and Verbal Mnemonics Cards – May 15, 2015

I am moving to Tokyo very soon, and the only Japanese I know is "hello" and numbers 1-10. I have tried learning the Japanese alphabet and vocabulary using Youtube videos and computer print-outs I've found on the web. I was starting to give up hope because teaching yourself a new language can be really difficult, and I was having no luck with my resources. I found these Kana flashcards and they looked like they might help out. I liked the fact that it offered Hiragana and Katakana, even though I had no intention of learning Katakana anytime in the near future (I was told to go slow and start with the easier of the two). When I got the cards in the mail, I was pleased with their quality. The cards are sturdy and coated to prevent wear and tearing, and they come in two trays to seperate the two writing styles. I set the box aside for about a week because I was still intimidated from my previous attempts. One night my family started watching a movie that was starting to bore me so I decided to open the box and give 'em a try. I started with the first 5 "a, e, i, o, u" and got those memorized, then moved on to the next 5 "ka, ke, ki, ko, ku". After I had all 10 down, I moved to "sa, se, shi, so, su", so on and so forth. Each time I had another 5 memorized, I added them to the stack of cards I had already completed to review and insure I had fully memorized each one. By the time the movie was over (about 1 hour 45 minutes) I had the entire Hiragana alphabet memorized without a single wrong answer. My family couldn't believe it happened so quickly and easily (neither could I). My 9 year old daughter wanted to take a stab at it because she said it looked like I was having finally having fun learning Japanese (it was true). It was almost time for her to go to sleep, so we didn't have much time to learn. With the time we had left in the evening, she was able to learn almost half of the alphabet. I couldn't believe how much fun we were having with it. The next morning she and I decided to take another look at the cards to see how much we were able to retain over the night. I'm please to say, we were wrong on only 2 or 3 of the cards. After that, I shuffled the cards over and over to mix the rotation, each time flawlessly reciting the alphabet. In my opinion, the real magic to these cards is the teaching technique included beside each character. Beside every character, is a picture to associate with and sometimes a short sentence. Once you can associate a picture with the letter and the sound it makes, it just seems burned into memory. I couldn't believe how easy and fun it was to learn. I spent the next afternoon timing myself to see just how fast I could go through the cards without mistake. I was having so much fun that I didn't want to stop, so I decided to go big or go home...I opened the Katakana pack. I started laughing because this alphabet that I had been so intimidated with (and was sure that I would need at least another year to learn) was equally as easy to learn as Hiragana. Using the exact same method (5 cards at a time), I was able to learn Katakana in just about the same time as Hiragana. Now I mix both packs (conveniently seperated by red and blue) and time myself with all the cards hoping to get more of a challenge. Now that each of the alphabets are completely memorized, I've moved onto vocabulary. This is another great feature to an already amazing product, you get 5 vocabulary words to each card so you can identify the letters, sound out the word, and get it's definition. I know this is getting long-winded, and I'm probably sounding like I work for the company. It's just that I can't say enough good things about this product. I don't know if they have cards for any other languages or not, but if I need to learn a new language I'll check these guys first. Seriously, if you want to learn the Japanese alphabet, THESE CARDS ARE A MUST!!! Thanks for reading this, sorry for rambling. Good luck with your lessons!!!

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 actually bought these cards for a friend since I already know hiragana and katakana, but even so, I found these cards extremely helpful since they had tons of vocabulary (450+) and provided stroke order just in case I needed reference. Needless to say, I bought myself a set too!I provided some customer images, one of which shows card size in case you need to know. It's a little over a size of an average credit card. The same size of all whiterabbitpress flashcards I've seen. Very sturdy and very durable.I would recommend these to both beginners and lower intermediate learners who have yet to grasp a good bit of vocabulary. Anyone above that would find these cards useless and boring (who wants to learn something they already know, right?).I always find the best way to learn kanji and kana is through repetition and consistency. You can actually learn the kana in a few hours if you focus on it and then shuffle the cards and review them over the next few days to set it into your memory for good. If you have limited time, then do 5 at a time, learn 5, add 5 more later, shuffle and review. Learn 5 more, shuffle and review (great technique for kanji too). Make sure to review every few days! Eventually, you won't have to do this to do this but it's good to make it a habit while you do.

I bought this flash card set because I learned the Hiragana two years ago, and recently find myself struggling to remember some symbols. I found these flash cards refreshed my memory in no time.Notably, I did NOT learn Katakana previously, and using these cards I found I learned them all within a mere 4 or 5 passes of the cards. I shuffled the cards between passes to ensure that I was not merely learning a sequence (although I would have been just as impressed if I had learned a sequence of 46 symbols, haha).Everything is in card form. What's in the box?- 46 Hiragana flash cards (burgundy),- 46 Katakana flash cards (teal),- One double-sided Hiragana/Katakana chart,- Youon (contraction) charts across two cards,- 4-sided introduction to Kana and Japanese writing,- 3 or more recommend-a-friend cards,- A couple of cards about White Rabbit.The cards and even the box they come in have been designed to be both appealing and informative. There is little clutter and simple design in combination with a controlled colour palette means the information is easy to digest.The Kana cards are well-designed. Moving down the card and from left to right, you have:- The kana symbol itself,- A grid showing several ways in which it may be seen written or printed,- The card number (1-46),- A list of in-context examples of the kana being used,- The strokes required to draw the kana.Flip the card over and you have...- The Roman reading of the character,- The kana written next to a pictorial mnemonic,- A mnemonic phrase to go with the picture,- The list of in-context examples again, this time in Roman form with translations.As another reviewer mentioned, a handful of the pronunciations are a bit odd in that the mnemonic phrase gives an Americanised lilt to the reading. This is BAD because the pronunciation must be as it is read in Japanese if it is to be of any use. I recommend using the cards in conjunction with a free language resource site such as Livemocha, where you can learn with small audio clips which are recorded by native speakers.However I would definitely recommend this set for anyone who wants to learn the Kana, and for anyone who has previously learned them but exercises them so infrequently that they find it all slipping away. This set is very portable (although you may wish to get hold of some elastic bands - you'll see what I mean) and can be kept in a bag, glove box, etc.This set is a great starting platform for anyone who wishes to progress to the Kanji. Also check out White Rabbit's  Japanese Kanji Flashcards , for levels 3 and 4 of the JLPT (also reviewed). Japanese Kanji Flashcards

These flashcards teach both Hiragana and Katakana which are two of the essential alphabets of japanese. The cards are about the same size as regular playing cards There is a total of 92 cards which are colour coded red for hira and blue of kata which makes then very easy to seperate so you can study one set one day and another set another day with no confusion. They have a plastic coating on the card which makes them excellent for carrying around and heavy use without any damage and if you mark them they can be wiped clean. This makes them far superior to paper based cards.The Hira and Kata are clearly presented with stroke order underneath and they also have 5 word examples on the reverse of the cards showing how the character is used to make a word, the translation is also presented here. There is also a mnemonic to help with visualising the character which some may find useful. I would also strongly suggest White rabbit press for the audio as some of the japanese sound different to how you see it written so correct pronounciation is vital if you want to sound authentic (and not accidentally insult someone) when you speak any japanese. A very highly recommended product.

These cards are great. I only had them a couple days and can already recognize 5 Hiragana and 5 Katakana (A, I, U, E and O)You get 46 Hirigana cards, 46 Katakana cards, 2 cards which explains the set, 3 cards which the whole Japanese alphabet on, 3 business cards that you can give to friends and one card with the White Rabbit website on. I plan to leave the business/promotional cards at some cafes if they will let me.Each card has a back and front.On the main learning cards it is in a simple and easy to understand format. The front of the ' card has the symbol. In a box to the left it shows the ' in 4 different fonts. The number 1 is on the top right corner as this is the first letter in the hirigana alphabet.Lower down the card it has 5 words written in hirigana that have the ' in them. At the bottom of the card it shows you how to write ' properly in three steps.When you look at the reverse of the card, it becomes clear that ' is the letter A. It shows you how you can distinguish ' as been the letter A. It also shows you how to pronounce this letter. "Ah! I see the letter 'A'" ' is pronounced as you would say Ah.The 5 words written in Hirigana on the other side of the card are translated into romaji, English letters. However you may find it difficult to say words properly first time. Go through the whole deck and keep trying.Over all, the cards are prefect and fun. I especially like how it shows you how to distinguish the hirigana and katakana. I really really recommend these cards to anyone who wants to learn Japanese. They are wonderful!

This set is a fantastic tool to quickly learn the kana, and also learn a few Japanese words at the same time.Pros:- Effective mnemonic pictorial representations of the symbols (even the badly sounded ones, like "knot" to remember "na" work)- Handy quick reference cards listing hiragana and katakana- Most cards have a few words using that sound, so you can learn a few hundred words while learning the symbols- Using this system works effectively and quicklyCons:- Some of the pronounciations are questionable, so don't use this as your only kana reference- (being picky) It would be nice to have a box (like for a pack of cards) to hold the cards together, rather than an elastic band

This is a must if you're learning Japanese!If you want to learn Hiragana and Katakana faster, then these cards are the best! they have the kana on one side along with some example words, and on the back the romanized version so that you learn them. So it's nice to practice just guessing what they are and turning to confirm what it is!They also come with a single card with the whole hiragana alphabet on one side and katakana on the other.Very nice to learn and practice Hiragana and Katakana.