Learning Hiragana is the first step in the long ladder that is studying Japanese. Learning Hiragana can be very difficult for beginning students because the characters look so strange and you can’t put the new learned knowledge to the test. That’s why it’s important to keep learning Hiragana fun with games for example.
dr.lingua.com
drlingua.com has a interactive hiragana game in which you have to find the hiragana character that goes with the latin letters. It also has a version in which you can use katakana characters.
Hiragana Drag ‘n Drop
The Hiragana Drag ‘n Drop game over at Usagi Chan’s Genki Resource Page isn’t very flashy and exciting, but it does keep you at your toes. As you can expect you have to drag and drop the Hiragana-characters to there romaji-equivalents.
The ‘game’ doesn’t really create a competition like atmosphere and the only thing it does is keep track of the time, but if you just want to relax and test if you can connect them all together, this is for you.
Click here to play Hiragana Drag ‘n Drop
Kana Invaders
This is one of my favourites. Set in the form of the classic Space Invaders game, Kana Invaders from the people over at Learn Japanese Podcasts forces you to think fast and get an intuitive feel with Hiragana or Katakana.
The Hiragana are attacking and the only way to obliterate them is to type in there sounds in the meanu below. There are multiple levels so even if you just started learning Hiragana this could be helpful to you.
Click here to play Kana Invaders
Kana Invaders 2
Another Space Invaders-game set in an attacking Hiragana universe from the people at easyjapanese.org. This one is my personal favourite. You have to shoot the Hiragana characters corresponding to the romaji in the corner.
But here’s the thing. You have to move and click your mouse to shoot the right Hiragana and at higher levels this could get tricky. Granted, this is not hardcore learning, but it does make learning a little bit more fun.
More Resources
- The First step in learning Japanese: A Guide for Learning Hiragana
- Hiragana Exercises and Answers
- What are Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji & Romaji?