I am really confused about the Hiragana & Katakana lessons.
I'm really frusterated (feeling really dumb over this).
What I am confused about is not knowing if the symbols above the ones you can choose from (and listen to) are hiragana or if they are katakana! and do they switch them up (the symbols you listen to) in terms of them being either or ? are all the symbols that you can choose from hiragana because I am assuming this. I am so confused.
Also when I listen to the symbol I am assuming I am suppose to take that sound and match it with the (ex. do or pyo) and this means the symbol in question in results SOUNDS like that (which would in a sentance of symbols make japanese words) right?
Am I suppose to memorize the symbol I listen to AND the symbol I choose that is correct? and memorize them together being that they are the correct response?
; _ ;
:(
What I am confused about is not knowing if the symbols above the ones you can choose from (and listen to) are hiragana or if they are katakana! and do they switch them up (the symbols you listen to) in terms of them being either or ? are all the symbols that you can choose from hiragana because I am assuming this. I am so confused.
Also when I listen to the symbol I am assuming I am suppose to take that sound and match it with the (ex. do or pyo) and this means the symbol in question in results SOUNDS like that (which would in a sentance of symbols make japanese words) right?
Am I suppose to memorize the symbol I listen to AND the symbol I choose that is correct? and memorize them together being that they are the correct response?
; _ ;
:(
posted by katemily1991
Comments 7
Also, should I be writing them down (the ones in question and the correct responses) in effort of learning ?!
Hi katemily, I just gave it a look-see.
When you pick katakana, the text at the top is katakana and you choose from a list of hiragana options.
When you pick hiragana, the text at the top is in hiragana and you choose from a list of katakana options.
The sounds that you can play are always the pronunciation of the text at the top.
Your assumption that the symbol in question sounds like the transcription below is correct. You only need to remember the symbol you choose.
The idea is that when, for instance, you are practicing hiragana, it will test whether you know how to read the hiragana characters by making you choose the right option below. The option below includes katakana + romaji (alphabet) combination. If you already know katakana, you can read that and select the right option. If you don't, you can read the alphabet transcript in order to still be able to choose the right option.
If you want, however, you can use the opportunity to read the katakana below and learn both scripts at once.
Good luck :)
Sorry, I tried to understand you meant, but your question isn't very clear the way you wrote it. So I'm not sure if these answers are what you are looking for...
・How to do Hiragana/Katakana Practice?
The questions in 'Hiragana Practice' are hiragana symbols, and its answers are katakana + romaji (English letters). The questions in 'Katakana Practice' are katakana symbols, and its answers are hiragana + romaji.
Example:
For 'Hiragana Practice', if the question = 'あ', then the answer you need to pick = 'ア - a'.
For 'Katakana Practice', if question = 'ア', then answer = 'あ - a'.
You can ignore reading these kana symbols in the answers and just try to match the question with the correct romaji in the answers. The reason the answer doesn't just have romaji, but also has the matching katakana/hiragana version, is just to help you learn both at the same time.
・Hiragana and katakana sounds?
Hiragana and katakana versions for the same letter are meant to have exactly the same sounds--they are just different ways of writing the same sound.
Example: For romaji 'a', hiragana あ and katakana ア represent exactly the same sound. This is the same as how English small letter 'a' and capital letter 'A' don't each represent different sounds--they are just two different ways of writing the same letter.
Just keep doing either the Hiragana or Katakana Practice (whichever one you want to learn first) over and over again, until you start getting the answers correct most of the time. ^^- Thanks you :)
I have one more question though, I thought Hiragana was the overall main way of 'reading' Japanese so will I often encounter having to read Katakana? and when reading Japanese do the two ever get combined? I'm assuming not.
Also, when I read Japanese every hiragana symbol will translate to a sound in my mind ... which overall when reading sentances will translate to actual Japanese .. am I correct? - Hiragana is the main way to write Japanese words, except from kanji (chinese symbols) of course.
Katakana is used for special purposes. It is mainly used to write foreign words and names, is used for emphasis (like how we use bold text or CAPITAL letters), and is used to write sounds that aren't really proper words. Shop menu boards are often written completely in katakana.
Hiragana, katakana and kanji are all able to be used within the same sentence. This is normal Japanese writing, but most of the words in the sentence will be just hiragana and kanji.
Hiragana is like learning small alphabet letters, and katakana is like learning capital alphabet letters. Capital letters aren't used anywhere near as much as small letters in English, but capital letters still need to be used for their specific purposes.
So hiragana (like small alphabet letters) is the more important one. Basically, learn hiragana first. ^^ 
+mog86uk if i want to learn japanese what should first i do?- +Dante practice learning Hiragana & Katakana first. I had a Japanese girl home stay with me and she told me that before I do anything in attempt to learning Japanese I must familiarize with Hiragana first.
