Well, it took me a good while, but I finally started learning hiragana--one of the language's three syllabaries, along with katakana and kanji--just under two weeks ago.
In fact, as of Thursday I've memorized all 46 "basic" hiragana characters that can be seen in the chart below as well as the "functional marks" that are used to modify a handful of them.
 |
| Is this not the most adorable hiragana chart you've ever seen? |
With that out of the way, though, I'm not entirely sure what to do next. Should I take the next week or so to learn the katakana syllabary, or should I start learning hiragana words and basic grammar and then come back to katakana?
I have a feeling I should go with the first option, but I'm completely open to suggestion at this point. What do those of you who've already learned Japanese think I should do?
24 comments:
Personally I'd get both hiragana and katakana nailed before moving onto anything else, but that's just me. :)
Yeah, I thought that would be the answer most folks would give me, Kimimi. So, I guess I'll start on katakana today! Thanks :)
You should probably continue onto learning grammar and vocabulary. Katakana is used for foreign words, so you won't need to know it right away. Actually, you can learn lots before even tackling Katakana.
Oh, suuuuuuure, Frank, throw a wrench into the works! I'm not sure I'm going to follow your advice, though. Shouldn't it take me a lot less time to memorize katakana than continue on to learning grammar and vocab? If so, I think it might make more sense to get katakana over with and then move on to grammar/vocab.
Regardless of what I do (or don't do), though, thank you for the comment/suggestion :)
Yeah I suppose that'll work too. I'm only speaking from experience. I didn't start learning katakana until my second year of Japanese. And I don't recall using it very often.
But why not learn Katakana and start with basic grammar and vocabulary at the same time? :)
Ooh my comment showed up, yay! Enjoy your katakana ^^~
Oh, I understand. The funny thing is that it seems like everyone has learned a different way. The last time I posted about this, I got a bunch of different suggestions, so I guess I should have expected it here, too.
Anyway, I'll think about it--and like I said earlier, I definitely appreciate your input regardless.
As for learning katakana and basic grammar, etc., all at the same time--I really don't think I have the time or even brain capacity for that at the moment. Hell, I'm kind of amazed I was able to learn the hiragana syllabary as quickly and easily as I did given my work schedule, my desire to blog, etc.
Oh, right, I forgot that sometimes your comments don't show up. Yay! :)
Well, I personally would continue my studies learning katakana. Although used for foreign words, as Frank said, is also used in other situations, such as onomatopoeia, for emphasis on words or phrases, etc., but it is important to remember that the Japanese language is full of Anglicisms!
You will be surprised to see that many of daily life Japanese words are actually words you already know, and are all written in katakana, like グラス, ドア, ハンバーガー, エレベーター, サッカーボール, タクシー, and many more!
That's my opinion, but you choose your path! Enjoy your studies!
Definitely start studying katakana now, as long as you feel confident that you've mastered hiragana. I wouldn't suggest moving onto grammar and vocab until you're able to read both styles of kana. Ideally, you can then find a grammar/vocab book that writes things out in kana (and maybe even the appropriate kanji!) so that you can learn words while implicitly improving your ability to quickly read kana.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Eduardo! Honestly, that was my thinking as well--that learning katakana now would make learning vocab and grammar easier in the end, etc.
So, that's probably the direction I'll take. In fact, I'll probably start learning katakana today!
I don't know if I would say I've 'mastered' hiragana, but I definitely know all 46 (and more) of them when I see them, and I know how to write and pronounce them, too.
So, I think I'll start on katakana today or tomorrow.
As for your final suggestion about finding a grammar/vocab book that writes things out in kana: I can see how this would be a good idea after I've learned a good number of words in kana, but until then wouldn't I have to use something else?
I mean, just knowing the syllabaries (alphabets) isn't going to allow me to understand what's written in such books, so I'd basically be lost.
My boyfriend is minoring in Japanese, and from what I hear, Katakana is probably your safest best to start learning.
Thanks, Kevin! Actually, though, I've already learned the hiragana syllabary/alphabet. I just started learning the katakana one today, though :)
You should really stick to those first until they're really in your blood. It helped me to start using hiragana/katakana as some sort of secret language to write down stuff in my own language. I found this reaaaaaally helpful toquickly learn to fluently read both of them wherever I saw them. (Navigating through (most) Japanese game menus will be a breeze after that! XD)
Learning Japanese takes a lot of time, because it's very important to always repeat everything over and over. Learning the order of stroke brushes (that DS Japanese couch thingy is pretty useful for that btw! It's really a good piece of playful software to go along with the learning), memorizing all the different kanji (or at least the most common ones..) and getting used to the Japanese grammar and pronunciation.... this is something that might actually be a lot easier for German people, as the German pronunciation does share a lot of similarities. :>
I've sadly stopped investing time into it at some point almost 10 years ago and most of the stuff I learned I forgot already... but thinking about it has made me want to go back again a little... maybe some day. :) But I wish you good luck with your studies and hope you won't give up as easily!
Thanks, miruki! And, yes, I'm definitely not moving on from hiragana and katakana anytime soon. I'm not interested in rushing things--I want to take my time with this and really learn it, not just superficially learn a bit of it so I can get by with menus, etc.
Anyway, at the moment it seems I'm going to learn the katakana alphabet/syllabary and then move onto vocabulary--likely starting with a suggestion someone just made to me via Twitter, which involved putting sticky notes on household items that show the hiragana or katakana for that item.
I also have a book that a commenter here gave me that deals with kana vocabulary and basic grammar, so I'm planning to start going through that as soon as I'm confident in my ability to recognize both hiragana and katakana.
Anyway, thank you for the comment, and thank you for the support, too. I'll be sure to share another update around this time next month, just to keep folks informed on my progress :)
Oh, I didn't mean that you should find a book that's entirely written in Japanese. I was just referring to how it presents the vocabulary words.
Some books will literally tell you: "the phrase for hello is ohayou gozaimasu". (Notice there's no Japanese lettering at all.) Others will literally say: "the phrase for hello is おはようございます". And some books list both. The pronunciation can be derived whether it's written out in English (romaji) or written in kana. The trick is to avoid using romaji as a crutch.
At this point I'm just echoing what others have said, but the answer is both! Studying grammar or vocabulary as it's presented in kana is a great way to help practice it while learning new stuff, and that new stuff is what you really want, after all. Once you have Hiragana down there's no wrong time to start on Katakana, and it will probably go faster, just because you already know the syllabary, you just have to learn a new set of characters.
Oh! I get it now. And, yes, that's completely what I want--for the vocabulary to be presented using kana. I've already learned the characters, after all--or I will have learned all of them by the time I pick up such a book--so why not put that knowledge to use rather than using romanji as a crutch.
Thanks, Michael! Guess what? You're about katakana going faster than hiragana--I've already learned 10 katakana characters today! I'll probably only learn five more tomorrow, but I'll have them all memorized by this time next week, I think.
After that, it's onto vocab and basic grammar, I think. A kind commenter here provided me with a book that I'm going to use at the start, but I'll probably use other methods, too.
Oh, and if you have any suggested books or sites or anything like that, please don't hesitate to share them with me :)
Start learning vocabulary by using hiragana. Don't worry about katakana or kanji yet. Vocab., then short sentences next!
Too late, Derek--I'm nearly through learning the katakana alphabet. Once I'm done, though, I'm definitely moving to vocab and then short sentences :)
You like playing games. Learn Katakana. Seriously, it takes, what, a day? And A LOT in Gaming is written in Katakana.
Also, the whole "don't learn Kanji yet" is also bull. Get a good book (I recommend Genki, they're great for self-learners. Do not get Minna no Nihongo if you plan on studying alone) and just follow that for the time being.
It's fun and you learn things at an acceptable pace. Every chapter you learn Vocab, Grammar and starting from Chapter 4 or so (I don't remember it's been many many years since I used the old Genki books) there's also 20ish Kanji per Chapter.
When you get through both you can probably pass the new N3.
Very important: Write a lot. Especially in the beginning. It all depends on what you want to do, for example, I can play Japanese games and even read some books (not the ones I would like to read, hello Shin Sekai Yori) but I couldn't write a letter in Japanese by hand for the life of me.
I'm working on that, but it's kind of not that important to me for now so it's on the backburner.
Anyway. Get a book.
Hello! Thanks for the comment :)
I'm learning katakana as we speak, actually. Should be done with it in just a few days. I'm taking things slowly, admittedly, but I think that's really helping solidify things in my mind.
As for your recommendation to use Genki: a friend recently supplied me with Genki Integrated Elementary Japanese I and II. Is that what you're talking about? If so, I'm going to start using them as soon as I've finished learning the katakana alphabet/syllabary.
Oh, and I'm definitely learning to write as well as read and speak everything. That's important to me. At first I was kind of horrified by my writing--it looked like something a five-year-old would write--but now I think I'm getting quite good. I'm even using proper stroke order--or at least I think I am.
Anyway, thanks again for the advice and for the support. I'll be sure to update folks again after I've started Genki :)
Post a Comment