Similar Hiragana Overview
This section is devoted to teaching you strategies on remembering the pronunciation of similar Hiragana characters that are so similar to each other that it may seem almost impossible to recall the slight subtle differences between them.
In this section we will teach you ways of remembering the differences between the following –
(note: click any of the above groups in order to be taken to a separate page detailing ways to remember the differences between characters within that specific group)
The above three sets of characters often pose the most problems for new students trying to master the Hiragana. Luckily for you, you’re going to find out a way never to be confused by them again.
The strategy that works better than any other is to imagine a ‘common mnemonic’ for each set of similar characters. Notice how we mentioned the word ‘common’. This means that you will be using the same mnemonic for each character in a similar set, and only varying it slightly with each different character. This works a charm as opposed to remembering entirely different mnemonics for each character, because if the mnemonic is too vague you’ll often get confused as to which character the mnemonic relates to.
Please click on one of the above three sets of characters to be taken to a separate page detailing mnemonics that you can use to easily remember the differences between each character.