Each of us are simultaneously auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners. When we learn hiragana/katakana (or anything) we must use all of these types of learning.

In his 1987 article, Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education, Richard M. Felder and Dr. Linda Silver discussed the different types of students who require different styles of teaching, particularly in the challenging field of engineering. To meet the challenges of a class full of diverse students, they mention the importance of “teaching to address all learning styles.”

The same goes for learning Japanese kana (hiragana and katakana). What Dr. Silver and Richard Felder said is true. Different types of learners should use different learning methods.

Going one step further each from us we learn with everybody learning styles, but at different levels of information retention for each of those styles. For example, maybe you are 10% kinesthetic, but 40% auditory and 50% visual. So it’s not just an auditory learner absorbing information from audiobooks, or just a visual learner getting information with pictures, or just a kinesthetic learner needing an activity… but all of these are at different levels with each new set of information and/or skill set to be learned. This means you must use all methods to learn new information. Use all your senses to collect new data.

Visual learning techniques
あ is a hiragana letter (also known as kana) that makes the “AH” sound. With visualization, the use of shocking images such as violence or sex helps. For example, to memorize あ, imagine the letter “e” struck so hard that if it flips backwards, you then stab it with a sharp cruciform sword that looks like a t. The stabbed and backwards e makes a pitiful “Ahh” sound as it passes into the afterlife. Merging tye isn’t exactly what あ looks like, but it’s close enough to help with memorization. The more impactful the image, the less likely you are to forget it.

Auditory learning techniques
We used a bit of auditory with the visual learning technique of our dying あ making the “Ahh” sound and you can use it with all hiragana and katakana letters. Auditory works even better with words. Because you can use a Japanese sound that sounds like something you recognize. For example, the Japanese word for “you’re welcome” is “dou itashimashite.” This sounds like “Don’t touch my mustache” in English. Sound association is a good way to remember hiragana, words, and even entire Japanese phrases.

Kinesthetic Learning Techniques
Kinesthetic includes some type of movement or activity. Therefore, including flashcards, writing or pronouncing the words are examples of kinesthetic (also known as tactile) learning. It can also be merged with our first visualization of あ. We imagine the shock of being stabbed, but if we included kinesthetics, we could imagine what it would feel like to stab “e” ourselves. Kinesthetic is best for learning to write hiragana and katakana.

The above are just a few examples of using visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning to memorize and retain hiragana and katakana. Don’t limit yourself to any one memorization style because we are all visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. Combine them all together using all the senses to capture the language. Don’t be fooled by the dominance of one of your learning styles and don’t minimize the effectiveness of your weakest.

We have developed a Hiragana practice game called Moji Master http://mojimaster.com for the iPhone that incorporates the combination of these Hiragana and Katakana learnings with visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning.