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Avoiding romaji?

zico268

Registered
28 May 2017
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Hi,

I am an absolute beginner in learning Japanese. Before I started I had obviously done some research as to how hard it is and what advise people who already speak it might have. And an overwhelming notion is that you should avoid romaji or not to relay on it, because it will make your head spin way down the line.

What I don't understand is, how do you then learn how the different Japanese characters sound like if you don't use romaji? Or am I missing something?
 
Hi,

I am an absolute beginner in learning Japanese. Before I started I had obviously done some research as to how hard it is and what advise people who already speak it might have. And an overwhelming notion is that you should avoid romaji or not to relay on it, because it will make your head spin way down the line.

What I don't understand is, how do you then learn how the different Japanese characters sound like if you don't use romaji? Or am I missing something?

While you do need to study hiragana and katakana as early as possible, the first study book I used was written entirely in romanji and I found it to be very helpful for a 2 week trip to Japan before i moved over here.

Get yourself a hiragana/romanji chart like this one
Hiragana Chart
and that will tell you how to pronounce all the sounds.
 
While you do need to study hiragana and katakana as early as possible, the first study book I used was written entirely in romanji and I found it to be very helpful for a 2 week trip to Japan before i moved over here.

Get yourself a hiragana/romanji chart like this one
Hiragana Chart
and that will tell you how to pronounce all the sounds.
great, thank you. That's what I thought I should do too. I guess I first need the basics and then I will cross the romaji bridge when it comes to that.
 
Yes you need romaji to understand the kana charts. Or for flash cards to associate the hiragana/katakana to the appropriate sounds. The point is once you've done that you should avoid learning vocabulary, grammar, etc. in romaji.
 
thanks everyone. Having been learning a bit already I realized that there are sites and people who only teach you vocabulary in romaji but don't even provide the kanji/hiragana. Now I get it, that's what folks tell you to avoid. Thanks again!
 
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