OK, Does anyone in here happen to know Japanese? If so, have you ever seen a book on tips to memorize the hiragana alphabet? I am taking Japanese this semester and let me tell you the Japanese are kickin this american's bottom! :)

Hi Jenna,

I took Japanese in college to touch up some of my familial Japanese conversation.  I don't have a specific book in mind but have you tried a Japanese book store?  Not sure if you have one in your area.  I'm in the New York City area so there are some near me.  The reason why I mention it is that I used children's books  to learn kanji and noticed that there were some for hiragana as well. 

The children's books (kindergarten to 2nd grade maybe) associate the hiragana with a japanese word so you end up learning some vocabulary as well.  I'm sure anyone in the bookstore could show you some good ones or at least the section to look in.

Good luck,

AJ

On the web, look up IRASHAI.  It is in the Georgia digital library for download.

The first several clasess teach it.

My son learned hiragana through a program/book called Power Japanese.  He also picked up some flashcards for memorization, but if you can't find them you could make your own.

I learned the hiragana and katakana through a book called Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Script (ISBN-0-07-141985-3), which also teaches some basic kanji. I made a set of flash cards for practice and rote memorization. There is also a downloadable game that uses a flashcard-like venue to teach. I don't have the URL at present, but I'll see if I can locate it.

Mike (Cindy's husband)

I can't seem to find the URL for the game I mentioned, but here's a website that teaches how to write hiragana and katakana:

http://www.members.aol.com/writejapan/

You could easily make a set of flashcards from the lessons.

Mike(Cindy's husband)

I just finished two years of Japanese and the best hiragana book that I had in the beginning is

Easy Hiragana  by Fujihiko Kaneda

That book and the constant practice of each character.... so much that my hand cramped up each night.

Gambatte kudasai!