Maybe the Hesig method isn't for me? : O

[Suisei]

Well, I've been going on AJATT and I'm trying to immerse myself in Japanese. I was looking for a book he recommended for me to help me with my Hiragana and Katakana. He recommended Remembering the Kana so I've been looking at it and I'm utterly confused. I can't really understand what part is explaining what like , the strokes or syllable sound. Also the stories ..I can't really remember them. Maybe the method isn't for me or maybe I'm just over thinking things?

I'm really getting stressed out here because I want to start to learn it now since I want to be fluent. I do want to live in japan someday but...this is slowing my process. I feel like giving up since I can't seem to find any methods for me and I heard that Hesig's method can help speed up learning Kanji and Kana.

What do you guys think?

[furrykef]

You don't need Remembering the Kana, really. I simply learned the kana by writing them over and over. One thing I often did was I took paper and pencil with me to restaurants and wrote the kana while waiting for the food. I quickly found I didn't need a reference sheet, 'cause generally I'd either know one or forget it completely -- it was rare for me to miswrite them or put them in the wrong order.

[Hektor6766]

When you're just starting out, rote practice and memorization, like with your ABCs, is the best way.. Besides the hiragana and katakana lessons on this site, the best text is Reading Japanese by Eleanor Harz-Jordan. Write them down and sound them out over and over until you recognize them automatically. It's old school, but it's the only way at the start.

[TheEnglishKnitter]

Possibly a bit late to respond to this but just in case you are still out there.
Have you tried apps on your iphone/ equivalent to learn your kana? Repetition tends to work well and using modern applications rather than writing (which so many people are not used to these days with technology) may be more up your street to help your memory.
From my own knowledge, we learn in 3 ways; by looking at things, by listening to things and by doing things. We all use all of these methods to learn but people tend to have a preference for one over the others. I am very visual so pictures and stories I can visualise, help immensely. I am a huge fan of mind maps. But this is not for everyone, if you find you remember things better when you hear them or when you do them you might find other learning methods more suitable.
For example, if listening to something helps (do you tend to remember the news if you hear it or prefer to listen to the radio) then try describing the pictures, and have some auditory stimulation like the CD of kana that goes with the Kana workbook in the 'Busy people' series to listen along to while saying the sounds and looking at the pictures and practicing writing.
If you learn more by doing then you might find just drawing them in different colours, different pens, on different types of paper and on your iphone/ equiv. helps to get them in your head.
I used to work with kids (before I became a Mummy) and how they learn is one of the first things I used to look at when providing strategies in class.

[baskerville]

Heisig did not work for me too
When I was starting to learn Kana, all I did was to practice writing each one over and over after my sensei showed the class how. I guess it helped that my teacher was a bit strict regarding neatness of Kana so I was also forced to write beautifully (that was before -- not anymore )

So if you are a tactile learner, you might benefit from writing down kana. If you can find animated Kana gif files on the internet, that would be helpful because you will also know the correct stroke order.

If you are a visual learner, like TheEnglishKnitter, you can benefit by using pictures to associate a Kana (and eventually kanji). For example, in our class, we learned the hiragana の superimposed on a "NO parking" sign. Something like that