Dr. Moku's Hiragana & Katakana Flash Cards - Learn The Japanese Alphabet for Beginners

I purchased these cards to help study for an adult online Japanese language class that I enrolled in. I thought it would be a gentle introduction to Japanese but I had unknowingly enrolled in an accelerated course! Learning Hiragana quickly was necessary. These cards have been essential in reaching that goal. They are designed simply with just the right amount of information. The vivid colors, creative graphics and mnemonic memory tools on the cards are captivating and linger in your memory without even trying. With purchase of the cards, you also get their app. It's fun and easy to use. I like to use the physical cards best because the tactile aspect helps me to remember better, but using the app helps and is nice to use on the go.

As an adult trying to learn Japanese from scratch I have been struggling. I bought these cards so I can move at my own pace and arrange them and study them as I need to. They are colorful and sturdy and big - no cheap paper junk here! If you read through the beginning cards they tell you to write for a code to unlock the app. App?? Yep, there's an app for your phone (android and apple) that uses all the same graphics and mnemonics as the cards and they send you a code to unlock it. DON'T MISS THIS. The app is great because you can hear the sounds as well as see the characters and there are examples. I'm confident that with the app, supplemented by reviewing these cards that I'm finally going to make progress - I already have in fact. There are two versions of the app - make sure you follow the link they send to get the newest one (much better). Last thing, when you start the exercises and you see the first letter there isn't any "next" button - you have to swipe to continue. Simple once you realize it but frustrating until you do. Arigato Dr. Moku

These study cards where so helpful in learning Japanese. Starting with Hiragana, the pictures associated with their name are easy to remember after studying. Next master Katakana and the same process. I learned one Vowel and their row of pronunciation at a time. Print a sheet of both H & K, cut them into small squares and practice to self test yourself at home. Then go to YouTube and take tests to practice. The cards are colorful and sturdy. I'm thankful I purchased them, my stepping stone to understanding Japanese!

This is an awesome product for learning Kana. I have been using it for only a few days and already have learned some of the kana using the mnemonic techniques. The cards are really well made and if you purchase these cards then they also give you a paid version of the app for learning phrases and words (with pronunciation). Awesome product!!!

They are good, but be careful with the example words at the bottom of the cards! The printer screwed up and mixed up which side of the card that they should be on.

Super helpful for learning Japanese! I’ve been working on memorizing Hiragana and Katakana, and these flash cards have made a big difference. Each character is paired with a funny drawing, which really helps it stick in my memory. Now, whenever I think of a specific character, the drawing pops into my head making it way easier to remember. I highly recommend these flash cards to anyone learning Japanese. They make studying fun and memorization much simpler!

The mnemonics on the card were actually very useful, much to my surprise.

I was conflicted to write a review because I only want for there to be positivity in the world. However, I do genuinely feel that some of the things I have to say would have saved myself the trouble, if I were to considered purchasing these while still a beginner at studying Japanese. This review is by someone who has a bachelor's degree in the Fine Arts, who has been self-studying Japanese for over a decade. Firstly, the cards are marketed as being "mnemonic" flashcards but the mnemonics promote !bad! pronunciation of Japanese (all vowels and consonants in Japanese are strict and never change -- despite some shortenings of them within the spoken language) as well as being actually inappropriate. These cards are marketed for "[all ages]", yet we have cards that say: "No Smoking!", "Hellish Headache" with an actual depiction of the devil (lol), "Nacho is Natural & Naked", "So fat! So mean!", "I seriously hate syringes!", "He is a H*tman", "The vertical line is his leg but his ankle is broken", so on. Also, two images that are just stretches are "Thorn in my toe" and "Ed the pelican". (If you buy this card set, /please/ appreciate the Ed image. Frame it. Have it as a center piece at dinner. Anything /but/ show it to your kid as a memory trick, because if I were a child, I would never remember that. I'd probably be haunted. Jokes aside . . . I showed the card to my mother, and, she told me, and, I quote; "Please don't show me that..." ) My point is, some of these are not comprehensive to children, nor are they appropriate for everyone's sensibilities. I know for a fact that, as a kid raised religious, I would not have been allowed to have a card with the literal /devil/ on it. I guess I should also mention somewhere in this review that there are pop culture references. I think my generation is probably the last one to understand some of them. (Ex. Mr. T., Neo from the Matrix.) Also, people should ultimately make their own mnemonics, because those are more memorable and important to the creator. Linguistics aside . . . The best card, despite it being irrelevant to children, IMO is "ヨ 'yo'," because it uses art to emphasize the character, not detract from it. Things I like: I bought the cards because they were colorful; despite the drawings sometimes actually overshadowing the text /you should be reading/, they are cute. Moreover, there are additional cards that explain what exactly is happening on the (super cramped space) of the cards. Otherwise, I would have had no clue what was going on with the bottom two sections of the cards. (If you buy them you will understand what I mean.) There is a kana chart. If anything, this is super useful as a reference. (I wish these cards were a pamphlet or something instead, because they are often mistaken for the other cards in the deck.) Also, if you have trouble focusing, like me, it is good to have something that grabs your attention, -- and you can even organize them by color, so I like that. Finally, there are stroke order guides on the top right of the cards. Things I wish were different: These are not traditional flashcards AT ALL. They do not allow for you to remember things, but flat out have bold text telling you the answer when you look at each card. They are super big. The size would be great if they were for children, but, as I said before: Some of the things these cards say are not appropriate for children (IMO). I struggled to even use them to study in public, because I didn't want to be seen as obscene and uncaring about those around me. (I'm not going to flash around a card talking about nudity, or one making a fat joke.) I, initially, considered these cards because I saw promotions for the Moku app; but, was already wary because at the time that I had checked out the app, it was mostly unfinished (but also charged money). The cards favor in bending towards one direction, so, if I want to reverse some, it is harder to mix them. Some of the font used in certain areas are drastically different. The pronunciation is in plain view at all times. (A side note being, that, I sharpie-d out the English letters next to the kana, on my set, for practice purposes.) Final notes: The "匕''hi" card has a typo at the top left. This card is also a good example of the poor pronunciation guidance: "He" being compared to the pronunciation of "hi" in "Hit", which phonetically are /not equal/. Honestly, when talking to someone about these cards, I used words like, "Probably were making these for money instead of honestly being aware of how to teach pronunciation," and, "Possibly looked up information online and pasted it onto the card, like most seem to do." Now, I am not trying to be unfair, I am being critical as someone who has spent most of my life immersed in the language. I bought these to help my reading speed. This information and analysis has come from someone who is upper-intermediate in Japanese study/ comprehension. This is obviously all my opinion and I am only sharing it to help those who are considering spending their money/ the creators. I think researching childhood development/ the psychology of memory would help with the future of these cards. On the most final note, when the cards arrived, a few of them already had ink smears/ printing errors on them. For size, the cards are bigger than the palm of my adult-sized hand.

Muy útiles, dan trucos muy buenos y una tabla que puedes consultar siempre que quieras.

My daughter struggled to learn katakana and hiragana but once I bought these cards for her she memorized the kana in two days. Highly recommend to all learners of Japanese language.

Sehr gut zum Erlernen der Hiragana und Katakana Zeichen. Ich hätte gern noch eine Box wo man sie auswendig lernen kann und Teile der Karte verdeckt sind.

The cards are of a good size and quality. The method is genuinely very helpful and you will pick things up quickly. There's a couple of extra cards including one with tables for the characters - it's very helpful. You can also claim a £20 value Premium version of their Android/iOS app by buying the cards. I've rated 5 stars because what you see is exactly what you get, the quality is very good and the value with the app inclusion is superb. There are some things that could make the product better though. I would agree with other reviews that some marker to show if you're looking at the Hiragana or Katakana side of a card would be useful. Just a coloured tag or something in the corner would be fine. It would also be useful if the box had a Velcro top rather than being just a standard cardboard tab. Pokémon TCG deck boxes often have this. It would make things easier when using the cards daily. Extending the set to include full cards for the dakuten etc variants would also be welcome. These things might make the set a little more expensive but I think they'd be worth it.

Excellent outil pour apprendre seul les bases hiragana et katakana, même s'il est en anglais ! Bien entendu, certains moyens mnémotechniques sont moins évidents, et on en aurait trouvés des mieux en français, mais ce n'est pas vraiment gênant, et ça fait réviser quelques mots d'anglais au passage ! De plus, l'application est offerte dans sa version complète quand on achète le produit, il suffit d'envoyer un mail, c'est expliqué sur l'une des cartes, donc c'est un gros plus !! (L'application est également en anglais, mais ça n'est pas gênant si on parle déjà un peu cette langue) Je recommande !!