Compiled Kana Resources

This page lists all of the resources that you can utilize in mastering the kana.

Audio Resources

As mentioned in the previous lecture, the following .zip file contains 800+ audio files that you can use as "audio flashcards" for learning hiragana and katakana, along with several hundred vocabulary words:

Download

 Kana Loops - NihongoShark.zip

How I would use these audio loops:

One of my favorite things to do is go for long walks while listening to various language- learning content. Although not the most exciting, by far the most useful audio content is loops of single phrases and/or words in a foreign language. I can't help but remember words and phrases when I do this. And it improves my pronunciation more than anything else.

Knowing what I know now, if I were to go back and start over with the kana, I'd download these audio files, go for a walk every day, and just write the kana characters in my palm as I listened to them.

Of course, you may need to refer to some of the charts below for help if you're not able to write kana just yet.

Spreadsheets

I think that most people probably don't need these, but we have included spreadsheets containing all of the words that are used in the above-mentioned audio files. Some of you might find a creative use for these.

Here's the Excel version:

Download

 Nihongo_Shark_Kana_Course_List.xlsx

And also as a .csv file:

Download

 Nihongo_Shark_Kana_Course_List.csv

Kana Charts

If you do one single thing in this entire guide, download these mnemonic charts:

Then just have fun looking at them all the time. After a little while, the images should really start to sink in.

Here are image download links:

Download

 hiragana chart.jpg

Download

 katakana chart.jpg

All the Kana in Your Pocket

Last but not least, you should PRINT a paper copy of the kana chart PDF shown below.

I'll talk about why doing this is so important in the next lecture.

 Kana_Sheet.pdf

Download

 Kana_Sheet.pdf

Printable Worksheets

The appendix of this course has printable PDFs that can be used for writing drills. These are helpful for learning how to write hiragana and katakana characters. However, you don’t necessarily need to use the printouts if you don’t feel like it. I’ve only included them because some people think they’re a lot of fun to do.