Things You'll Need:
- Pen/Pencil
- Notebook
- Computer
- Japanese language CD
- Japanese language booklet
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Step 1
Day 1. Begin studying hiragana. This is the simplest of Japanese writing. Start out by making a chart on the first page of your notebook.
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Step 2
Skip a page after the chart you just made. This empty page will be saved for katakana, which we will get to later. At the top of the next page (the page after the skipped page), write today's date. On the next line, write "Hiragana Practice"
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Step 3
Skip a line after "Hiragana Practice" and vertically draw a line on the far left side of the paper so that you can write a character on the left side of the line and then write the same character a number of times on the right side of the line.
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Step 4
Write the first character, あ, on the left side of the vertical line. On the right side of the vertical line, write it 15 times. Move to the next line. Next, write い on the left side of the vertical line. On the right side of the vertical line, write the character 15 times. Continue until you have finished all of the hiragana characters. Do not worry about stroke order at this point. This is just to acclimate you to recognizing the characters.
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Step 5
Using a computer, find a website that teaches the stroke order of hiragana. Once you find a website, start a new page in your notebook. Write today's date at the top and "Hiragana Stroke Order" on the next line. Skip a line after "Hiragana Stroke Order". As you learn the stroke order from the website, write down the info. Start with あ. Write down the first stroke and a small 1 next to it. Write a small 2 next to the second stroke. For the third stroke, write a small 3 next to it. Continue with the next character (you learned the character order in Step 1 & 4.)
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Step 6
Stop for today. Continue tomorrow, Day 2.
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Step 7
Day 2. Begin a new page in your notebook. At the top of the page, write today's date. On the next line, write "Hiragana Pronunciation". Begin writing the hiragana characters and pronunciations next to them. Look in your Japanese language booklet for the pronunciations and listen to your Japanese language CD.
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Step 8
Throughout the day, study the pronunciations. Also study work from Day 1.
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Step 9
Repeat Step 6.
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Step 10
Day 3. Set up a new page in your notebook and title it "Vocabulary Practice". Divide your notebook page in half by drawing a horizontal line. Begin studying the first chapter/section of your Japanese language booklet. Write the sentences of the booklet in hiragana. Below the line you drew, write the words in hiragana next to their English translations. This way, you will pick up vocabulary and learn sentence structure.
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Step 11
Start a new page. Set up the new page and give it the title "Vocabulary Practice - Memorization". Write each vocabulary word (in hiragana) 10 times on this page.
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Step 12
Review over today's work and work from Day 1 and Day 2.
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Step 13
Repeat Step 6.
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Step 14
Day 4. Relax and study over all of the work you have done.
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Step 15
Day 5. Repeat Step 10 and Step 11 for the next chapter.
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Step 16
Study Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 5's work.
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Step 17
Day 6. Take a break and study.
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Step 18
Day 7. Ask a friend to test you on all of the work from your notebook.
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Step 19
New week. Repeat Step 10 and Step 11 for each chapter. Follow the same schedule detailed in previous steps.
