Guides to learning the Japanese Hiragana alphabet!

Because Japanese has three writing systems, many people get confused on where to begin. There is the Hiragana alphabet used to write native Japanese words, the Katakana alphabet used to write foreign words, and Kanji, which are Chinese characters.

This guide from 2010 was written to be an ultra-simple guide to learning the Hiragana alphabet. It uses a step-by-step process that shows you how to start spelling words right from the beginning.

http://www.tofugu.com/2010/10/13/hiragana-guide/

This guide focuses mainly on pronouncing the hiragana alphabet as a way to learn.

http://www.tofugu.com/guides/learn-hiragana/

Whether you are starting by learning how to read and write, or simply how to say the alphabet, both guides provide simple lessons on getting started. We will post more resources on learning the other alphabets in the future. Good luck!