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I need some guidance....

J

japan_a_fan

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Alright I just started learning Japanese on my own today. I have the hiragana, katakana, and kanji charts. Is there a good free site that gives good detailed information?
Also when writing hiragana, katakana, or kanji does it have to be written in any special way? I looks like they are written with a calligraphy pen. Any tips and advice would be greatly appritiated!
Arigatougozaimas!
 
Kanji-a-Day
is *great* for Kanji. It's got the On and Kun meanings, stroke order, phrases *and* sentences that the kanji can be used in for all four JLPT Levels. (4 is the 'easiest' or 'lowest' level, so please start there.)

Regarding the kanas, those are best to study on your own, taking one at a time, writing that character down and saying its name out loud each time you do. That's how I learned my kanas, and it was realy effective for me. One page full of the character "a", the next filled with "i", the next "u", and so on.

Of course, find the best way for you, but don't push yourself too hard. When things get rough, just take a break and come back to it. *^_^*

Hope something said here helps,

- Aurura
 
Oh cool thanks!
I had another friend tell me about the filling the page thing, but I worry about my sloppy handwriting. Also is there a place I can go where they have sound files for how to pronounce each hiragana, katakana, kanji, romaji and all that?
 
Of course, I didn't have the best writing when I first started practicing the kanas - for someone who's never done it before, who would? Just keep writing it over and over, and your muscle memory will begin to kick in as you go. Don't worry, practice is what makes improvement.

As far as sounds for the kanas, just do a quick search on a Search Engine for words like "hiragana" "chart" "sound" "play" "listen" etc. you'll be suprised what it comes up with.

- Aurura
 
Also make sure you use the correct stroke order while learning the kana and later kanji. It will make your life easier down the road if you get use to the stroke order of characters early on, especially when trying to use certain dictionaries.
 
Last edited:
Sorry if I keep asking dumb and easy question. I do not have a computer. I only have my PSP to use for my online needs. Everything I find on the net I try to memorize or write down.
I saw something else that mentioned the strokes. It was very vague. I'm guess the strokes are the steps in writing each hiragana, katakana, and kanji?
Sorry for all these questions. I just want to make sure I got everything clear. I'm not the smartest guy, but I always try to be perfect.
 
Speaking of the stroke order of the kanas, there is a website called "Human Japanese" that has a trial version that is free, and teaches you the stroke orders of both Hiragana and Katakana:

Learn Japanese with the Human Japanese family of apps

If you can, just check it out - it helped me in my beginning studies a whole lot.
 
I tried the link but I could not get the webpage version to work. I need a PC from Santa. LOL
Thanks for the link though.
 
I've only been studying Japanese for three months now, however, I would suggest that you master hiragana first. Don't just memorize them but learn to spell some words. This means learning the use of small tsu-つ for double consonants ( にっき - nikki ) and the use of "glides" which entail the use of small や- ya、 ゆ-yu、 よ-yo． For example きゃ kya = ki + ya. Don't forget the rules regarding long vowels either. It may sound difficult but once you start to learn hiragana the concepts are not that hard to understand.
 
Oh wow. I have alot ahead of me then. So far I just have 3 hiragana, and katakana charts. I'm trying to find some free info on the strokes, and sounds so I can learn them first. Any site suggestions?
 
Try starting out with this kana for vowels page, and keep following the "next page" links until you're done. You can also get to the main page by following the link in my sig.
 
Oh cool thank you very much. Are those your personal sites? If so may I copy all the information in my personal notebook?
 
first of all if you want to study Japanese by ur self , you've to study Hiragana and katakana very good and try to stuy words in hiragana and learn more grammar and when you see that you're good in japanese try to study kanji very well ......

that is what i know ...... good luck and if you face any thing diffecult ,ask us in
nihongo forum
 
japan_a_fan said:
Oh cool thank you very much. Are those your personal sites? If so may I copy all the information in my personal notebook?
Click to expand...

No, they aren't mine -- I just used them when I was starting out. I can't give you the final word as to permissions, but I don't think copying the information for personal use would be a problem. You could always e-mail the webmaster (his addy is at the bottom of each page).
 
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