Reading and Writing Japanese Hiragana - A Character Workbook for Beginners (Incl. audio download)

Click here to access the audio files and complementary materials

Reading and Writing Japanese Hiragana is a book for those students who are starting learning Japanese and they want to practice and learn Hiragana syllabary.

The books is divided in 2 parts: in the first one, students must learn all letter from Hiragana syllabary and, in the second part, they must practice by writing and learning some basic vocabulary words. 

Beside each letter, these ir space to practice calligraphy and through the publisher's website, there are audio files to practice listening and pronunciation and PDF worksheets. The link to get access to these contents is also available on top of this file. 

Description by the publisher

This book provides a complete course for beginning students who want to master the first step in learning to read and write Japanese!

With plentiful writing and reading practice, this workbook starts with the basic letters and works up to writing words and complete sentences. Divided into two parts, the first part presents the 46 main Hiragana in their full and contracted forms, with extensive writing spaces provided for writing practice. Recognition and pronunciation of the letters are reinforced through writing and listening exercises.

In the second half of the book, students can apply their knowledge of Hiragana in a Writing Practice section that contains sentences related to contexts in which Hiragana words are often used, such as greetings, common expressions, place names and transportation. The exercises are graded in difficulty from Writing Drills (from copying to writing from memory) to Dictation Practice (connecting the sounds with the letters) to Writing Exercises (writing answers that fit the situations given).

Unique features of this language workbook include:

• A thorough overview of the Japanese writing system explaining when and how Hiragana is used
• Handwriting and stroke-order tips 
• Online audio files speed up the process by reinforcing the pronunciation of the letters through a variety of listening and writing exercises
• Printable flashcards available online for download
• Mnemonic illustrations for every character

The Japanese writing system combines three types of letters: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana can be used to spell out the sounds of kanji Chinese character words—and if you don't know the kanji character you can use Hiragana instead (as young children do). It is also used for various grammatical-function words as well as verb and adjective endings.