To play a live version of Hana Kana, click here: Hana Kana and select a character set to start the game.
Hana Kana is a gamified language quiz for learning the Japanese Kana (hiragana and katakana).
| Edutaining benefits: |
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| Test your ability to recognize katakana and hiragana |
| Test your ability to output the correct romaji keyboard input for the corresponding character |
| Helps to solidify the connections between reading, typing, listening and pronunciation of the Japanese syllabries for beginners |
Hana Kana should appeal to:
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Beginners to learning Japanese, learning the Japanese syllabries is often the first of many steps on the road to fluency - Hana Kana presents a fun option to help cement what you learn.
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Those with prior exposure to Japanese Kana that are interested in speeding up their level of recall and recognition, through repetition. The opportunity to recall randomized kana in a game scenario can be a fun way to refresh.
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Any lover of quiz games that is willing to learn something new. Hana Kana includes a training dojo, where anyone can view each Kana, as well as play an audio sample of the pronunciation and see the correct Romaji input for each character.
NOTE: Romaji keyboard input is not always the same as pronunciation, so don't despair if it takes a bit of time to understand which characters have adjusted Romaji input.
Hana (花）is the Japanese word for flower. Katakana (ハナ), Hiragana (はな) This project was made as a tribute to Hana Kimura, who first inspired my life-changing journey to learn Japanese. As learning Kana is often the first step in learning Japanese, I thought it would be fitting to name this project in Hana's honour.
Hana was a professional wrestler who crossed over into the mainstream in Japan, before taking her own life on May 23, 2020 after being mercilessly abused online. The situation surrounding the death of Hana represents a much larger problem that we must solve together. The internet and social media should be used as platforms to support eachother, instead of destroying one another. We must choose to be better than that. The social media companies must choose to be better than that.
Hana used the catchphrase, "Minna chigatte, minna ii" (みんなちがって、みんないい) which translates to "Everyone is different, everyone is good." (she preferred "everyone is special" in English.) Please be kind to eachother, and please don't forget Hana. Forever our funky leader, yes sir!
If you are able, please support the "Remember Hana" initiative to help eradicate cyber bullying by visiting rememberhana.com or purchasing one of her t-shirts at Hana Kimura's Pro Wrestling Tees store
"Flowers never pick themselves"
Written using:
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HTML5
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Bootstrap CSS
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Vanilla JavaScript
Some future enhancements I'd like to add include:
- add support for a basic Kanji mode
- fix audio responsiveness on Dojo page
- the project could allow for change from testing Romaji input to Kana input
- add timer-based scoring into game star ratings
- add a points tally for correct entries
- bump the number of incorrect entries allowed up/down
- store score info in local storage
- include Kana charts with corresponding Romaji input
- additional resources for anyone learning Japanese
Hana used the background theme as her solo entrance music in ROH/WOH. Credit to the musicians.
artist: warner/chappell productions
Samurai · Jamen Brooks
Dubstep Essentials: From Understated to Epic
℗ 2012 Warner/Chappell Production Music
Hiragana and Katakana pronunciations via ThoughtCo., Learn Japanese Adventure, and TTSMP3.com
Images via Getty Images
Further Resources
For those interested in learning Japanese, please visit Tofugu for resources that this project was not designed to provide.
And for fans of pro wrestling, gif's were created from content found on Stardom World. This subscription service is highly recommended.