How does one learn Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji?
- Thread starter jbeannie
- Start date
- 5 Feb 2005
- 7,694
- 627
Regarding to Hiragana and Katakana:
Get a nice chart from the net, or buy a book and memorize all the characters. It aren't that many. Kanji is another thing. Please have a look around on the forum, and I am sure you will be able to get a lot of advice from other members.
Regarding to Hiragana and Katakana:
Get a nice chart from the net, or buy a book and memorize all the characters. It aren't that many. Kanji is another thing. Please have a look around on the forum, and I am sure you will be able to get a lot of advice from other members.
Get a nice chart from the net, or buy a book and memorize all the characters. It aren't that many. Kanji is another thing. Please have a look around on the forum, and I am sure you will be able to get a lot of advice from other members.
Regarding to Hiragana and Katakana:
Get a nice chart from the net, or buy a book and memorize all the characters. It aren't that many. Kanji is another thing. Please have a look around on the forum, and I am sure you will be able to get a lot of advice from other members.
Last edited:
jbeannie
後輩
- 27 Oct 2007
- 31
- 0
- Thread starter
- #3
But don't Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji they all have symbols, and don't those symbol's, have definition's.
Or do the symbol's not have definition's.
Like let's say you knew hiragana, katakana, and or the kanji word for butter, and the word for fly.
How would you combine butter and fly into symbol's?
Like you see two japanese symbol's on the dvd of black mask, a jet li movie.
Or is this sort of thing in a book, or easy to understand in a book.
If so, what book would you recommend?
Or do the symbol's not have definition's.
Like let's say you knew hiragana, katakana, and or the kanji word for butter, and the word for fly.
How would you combine butter and fly into symbol's?
Like you see two japanese symbol's on the dvd of black mask, a jet li movie.
Or is this sort of thing in a book, or easy to understand in a book.
If so, what book would you recommend?
- 5 Feb 2005
- 7,694
- 627
Hiragana and Katakana is like the ABC...
they stand for sounds such as a i u e o ka ki ku ke ko sa shi .... etc. Check this link:
http://www.alpha.ac.jp/japanese/img/moji.gif
they stand for sounds such as a i u e o ka ki ku ke ko sa shi .... etc. Check this link:
http://www.alpha.ac.jp/japanese/img/moji.gif
Haruspex
先輩
- 30 Aug 2007
- 2,324
- 96
Kana (Hiragana and Katakana) are a set of syllables and sounds. Kanji are symbols with meanings. First of all, learn hiragana and katakana, no special knowledge is reguired for those, just grab a chart somehow, and possibly something that has stroke order. Even though at first the order might seem weird, follow it. As for kanji. Well you can use the orthodox method, grind, grind, grind, which is proven to work 100%, or get a copy of Heisig's Remembering the Kanji, which many find dodgy. Its up to you. But for now, forget the kanji, build a vocabulary, understanding of grammar, and try to develop a good ear. I dare say you needn't learn hiragana and/or katakana for the first three-five weeks, just stick to romaji, and start writing when you achieved something, that way your determination will not fade away, and you won't become frustrated. This is just a countermeasure, if you have trust in your resolve go ahead and start learning kana, you can even pick up one of those Gordian Knot difficulty "Im-so-pro-cause-i-learnt-kana-in-one-day" books that have 0 roman letters, and expect you to know 4 kyuu kanji + kana right from the beginning. My advice is to get Ultimate Japanese Beginner-Intermediate (ECS's suggestion, for which im still grateful). That book is THE THING. Next get yourself a dictionary, possibly something of Oxford origins. A Kanji dictionary for future days. A grammar book. Once you have all these you can start randomly buying anything thats Japanese language related. While they all arrive do Japanese is Possible (JimmySeal). Yeah, something like this. Feel free to disagree with me.
Homerduff
ケビン
- 2 Jan 2007
- 382
- 11
Maybe you don't know yet, but there's a website named www.google.com out there. If you don't even know what hiragana and katakana is about, just do some research on google. First link should bring you to wikipedia which already gives you a good explanation of the basics. ☝
If things aren't still clear after that, then you can come back to ask some more in depth questions.
If things aren't still clear after that, then you can come back to ask some more in depth questions.
Haruspex
先輩
- 30 Aug 2007
- 2,324
- 96
Told you what it means for a Japanese learner, now its your turn to become one. And if you can't understand what ka ki ku ke ko is, well let me tell you it is ka ki ku ke ko, and it means nothing in English, and don't look for an English meaning, its not in English. Its an alphabet for the Japanese language (with pretty much only syllables). Now as Homerduff suggested check out google, when i had the same question wikipedia answered my every last question, so please, understand it, if you don't i'll lose faith in humanity.
Thorham
Computer nerd
- 1 Nov 2007
- 73
- 3
First of all, do you mean the insect? If so, it's written 'butterfly'.
Don't separate butter and fly, unless you mean butter and fly separately.
Anyway, you can look up a lot of words (and see them in kanji and hiragana/katakana) on Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Japanese Dictionary Server (Monash University).
Just google for "jim breen" and it should appear at the top of the list.
Don't separate butter and fly, unless you mean butter and fly separately.
Anyway, you can look up a lot of words (and see them in kanji and hiragana/katakana) on Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Japanese Dictionary Server (Monash University).
Just google for "jim breen" and it should appear at the top of the list.
bebopdobop
US Citizen
- 14 Sep 2007
- 110
- 1
hi jbeanie, I know how lost you must feel. But don't worry, there are lots of free resources on the internet. The Japanese Writing Tutor offers writing lessons with the stroke order for writing the characters.
Also please check out my blog: i have links to even more free resources, including ones that sound out the characters for you so you can find out what ka ki and ku are.
Best of luck to you.
Also please check out my blog: i have links to even more free resources, including ones that sound out the characters for you so you can find out what ka ki and ku are.
Best of luck to you.
