How do you remember all Hiragana and Katakana?

[Trebia]

What do you do to learn the japanese characters in the writting?
I´m learning japanese by myself with a book, and I don´t have a bad memory, but...For now, I only learned the Hiragana of a,i,u,e,o, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, and sa, shi, su, se, so.

I started yesterday, and memorized the middle of the characters, but...What do you do to remember all?

[Red Hairdo]

Read.

Katakana I find easier to remember, because it's more "organized"/straight. Straighter, better-defined lines.

I also get to understand it a lot more due to what it's used for, that is, things I'm familiar with or understand (foreign words, foreign names, foreign expressions, and comprehensive onomatopeaias).

I think that's all. It can also help to know some other stuff, like how hiragana is also there next to kanjis and stuff to transform a noun (in kanji) into, say, an adjective or who knows what else, I'm not quite sure. But these little things help reinforce one's overallknowledge, I guess. Can't talk much here, as I haven't barely started learning yet, katakana aside.

[Xalphenos]

Go to textfugu.com and do their free lesson. You should come out knowing all hiragana. Though it is written for English speakers. Also here is an ebook to help learn hiragana. They are working on a katakana one too.

Red When did you become female?

[SkyeWelse]

Best way to study Hiragana and Katakana is to just practice writing them, and each time you write one, say it out loud. Everytime. : )

Then start writing words with them for practice and reading to jumble up what you have learned. And don't be afraid to go back and double-check something if you are not sure. Better than associating the wrong character with the wrong syllable and not realizing it for awhile. I did this with "se" and "mo" quite often between Hiragana and Katakana since they were similar, yet different and I'd mix them up sometimes.

Following the stroke order will also help a lot. Good luck!

-Thomas

[Trebia]

Thatnks for the advices, I will trye that.
Anyway, I was with it today again, and looks like it has it´s results.

[Kuro-chan]

And if you are lucky, in 6 weeks, you will be able to write Japanese as proficiently as Usagi Tsukino.

[Trebia]

I downloaded a cool booklet to know how to write it, and I think I write so good since I've got it. I'm taking it seriously. =)
If you want, I'll upload it here. ^^

[schlagwerk]

I learned Hiragana and Katakana before really knowing any Japanese through just writing repetition and memorization.
But actually using it to read whatever you can is really what makes you remember it.

[LucasFlicky]

basically, after a generous time writing random stuff in kata/hira. you'll end up memorizing 'em without even notice.

(and then everything looking like one you will involuntaryly 'read' it. lol)

[Trebia]

It is most difficult than I thought.
When you left it a little, you totally forgot it.
I think I must have to start it again. >.<

[Xalphenos]

I've been there. The trick to really getting them down is to use them everyday. It helps your brain to know that they are important and thus be moved from short term to long term memory.

[rekka]

Your problem isn't with hiragana nor katakana. They are both static types of alphabets that do not change. What you need to worry about is kanji. Holy cow.

But to answer your question, I would say flashcards and quiz yourself with mock tests. Sounds dull but really it may help. Plus, once you memorize them once, it's like learning to ride a bicycle: you don't forget how to ride even years after you first learned... at least that's the way it is with me.

Kanji on the other hand is much harder to learn and all my original teachers failed to first introduce us to radicals, which I found out on my own...and made the whole thing much more logical. Kanji is generally broken up into separate parts. Once you learn the basic pieces, you can mix and match them around to form different characters.

While I was in college, I was able to write many kanji by hand, but now that I'm so out of practice and I hardly ever physically write anything any more, I can hardly write anything w/o first seeing it on the computer or on my phone. That's the thing with kanji; they're not too hard to read or even guess after awhile, but it does take time and practice to keep each stroke fresh in your mind.