Hiragana Charts

     An image chart seemed like a great idea!  And indeed it is... but drawing one is a bit much work in the wrong direction...  Best to image search for some.

   

     I did try drawing one, but as you can see, I never finished that chart.  What would have been better is if I could have copy and pasted images like that into a chart... but alas, I did not have a working printer at the time.  It took me days just to get all those drawn out.  I'm too picky about my own drawings and I was fiddling more with that than actually learning the kana... besides, it started getting a little difficult to think of so many different characters to represent each kana without repeating any.

     However, there's actually a good deal of charts that exist like this already.  A lot are mostly meant for children... and that's absolutely perfect for me.

     Charts that look like this are excellent.  Simple shapes and colors have so much staying power in my mind.  And charts like these have the words along with the pictures for learning vocabulary which is even more excellent.  Trying to learn the letters without actively trying to use them is like trying to learn the English alphabet without learning how to spell "cat", "bat, and "mat".

     Now it's not really the simplest task to find these through English means, so use keywords like "children's hiragana chart", "hiragana picture chart", or "ひらがな ひょう" and start rolling through the related pictures of the ones that seem interesting.

     When you find a good one make sure to save it somehow.  Print it out and tape it to the wall or put it in your pocket.  If you have a newfangled phone then put it on there and look at it throughout the day.  Don't worry about being embarrassed being seen with such childish things.  If someone gives you any lip you can always ask them what have they done to better themselves as a human being today...

This chart was found at http://www.coroflot.com/naokomullally/Miscellaneous

表 (ひょう) (hyou) = chart, list, table