How to study hiragana?

Japanese
#1

Ok, so short intro - I started using Skritter 8 or so years ago to study Chinese. That worked well enough, I am somewhat fluent at this point, and can read a decent amount (thanks Skritter Chinese). I am using Skritter iOS app.

So, now that I decided to try Japanese - Skritter was the obvious choice. Unfortunately, so far things are not going well.

The first step IMO would be to learn the hiragana (and then - katakana) characters. And that’s where I got immediately stuck.

Ideally, I would like a list that includes just these characters and their respective sounds. And then an option to see a character and repeat a sound (in my head, followed by the app confirming it). That’s what Skritter Chinese did (I do understand that the meaning of “character” is different, but still).

I tried several beginner lists for Japanese. Most seem to throw out complete words - that’s a non-starter.

Found one list that seems to contain individual characters (“Learn Hiragana”). However, rather than offering characters for me to "guess, it only shows screens that say something like: “What is the reading? a (hiragana)”.

There is no actual hiragana character, instead it offers only a phonetic spelling of one (not sure what I am supposed to learn by seeing an English “a”).

So, that’s where I am (paid subscription ticking). Would really appreciate some insight into how to use Skritter Japanese effectively.

#2

It looks like the “Study kana” option was disabled in your account settings which would prevent writing prompts from showing for kana. I’ve gone ahead and enabled it for you!

#3

Thank you for the reply!

However, nothing seems to have changed in the app. I force-restarted it and forced a sync. Still in the same state - no individual characters, but have an english corresponding letter (and also being offered complete words to provide definition of).

As an aside, in the word explanation (reached through the information icon in the top bar) there is only the original word and the translation. It does not include any phonetic spelling. I recall the Chinese version explicitly including phonetic guides for all characters and words in that screen (and again, I realize that Japanese is phonetic as it is, but that information would still be extremely helpful)

#4

Are you using the new app (Skritter: Write Japanese)?

#5

Oh, I see. There are two apps in the appstore. Downloaded the other one.

Not getting individual characters in the new app either. Got immediately presented with words. As the interface is completely different - I am not sure what I am supposed to be seeing.

FWIW, the old app (at least in terms of a general UI) was more intuitive. It’s unfortunate it does not work anymore.

Sounds like I’ve got to keep looking.

#6

On the new app (Skritter: Write Japanese), you can go into the “Learn Hiragana” deck, and then tap the “Learn” button up top. It’ll take you through the writing and other prompt types, and then immediately add it to your items due review queue (the main button from the home screen of the app). What you were seeing was previously added items from using the other app which didn’t support kana handwriting.

If you’re still having any trouble with this please reach out to us at team@skritter.com and we can help you figure everything out!