Learning Japanese - How to start?

Hello guys and gals,

Japan has always fascinated me. My interest started from animes, but now I know Japan has way more to offer than that, a rich history and an interesting present. But that's not what I want to talk about. I want to learn Japanese. The hard way, by studying all by myself. From a textbook, coupled with online courses and hearing excercises. After reading a couple of threads I still couldn't find how to start learning Japanese. I mean, I wouldn't want to just order a book and see for myself how it works out, right?

I think I'll need to learn Hiragana and Katakana first, is that correct? If so, how would I go around doing that? Ordering a book (for example, Guide to Learning Hiragana & Katakana (Paperback)
by Kenneth G. Henshall (Author) ) and do the excercices?

Or would I do just fine by just ordering (Japanese for Everyone: A Functional Approach to Daily Communication (Paperback)
by Susumu Nagara (Author)) and start in that? Does it cover Hiragana and Katakana or does it require me to have basic knowledge of those?

I need all the advice I can get please.. (I'm aware that living in Japan for a while is probably the best way to learn, but that's not a viable option yet. ^^)

Thanks in advance

You are correct, you need to start from the kana.

I spent a few weeks learning hiragana from a book ("Let's learn Hiragana") and found it a very good reference material; plus it also gives you some basic vocab.

I've learned katakana through a different mean, though.
There is a game called "Slime Forest", which was created specifically to teach people kana. After playing it for about 8+ hours I memorized most of the katakana and filled some gaps in my hiragana knowledge. (I still used the book as reference material, though).

Basically, my advice is to use as many recourses as possible. Try to find a teacher online who will help you, or at least some penpals.
I have a teacher and he charges me a mere 50$ for 40 online lessons.

I'm also looking into a program called "Rosetta Stone", as I heard it's good when learning new languages.

Hudzon said:

You are correct, you need to start from the kana.

I spent a few weeks learning hiragana from a book ("Let's learn Hiragana") and found it a very good reference material; plus it also gives you some basic vocab.

I've learned katakana through a different mean, though.
There is a game called "Slime Forest", which was created specifically to teach people kana. After playing it for about 8+ hours I memorized most of the katakana and filled some gaps in my hiragana knowledge. (I still used the book as reference material, though).

Basically, my advice is to use as many recourses as possible. Try to find a teacher online who will help you, or at least some penpals.
I have a teacher and he charges me a mere 50$ for 40 online lessons.

I'm also looking into a program called "Rosetta Stone", as I heard it's good when learning new languages.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply Hudzon.

Hiragana and Katakana are called the kana? Do I need to master them before I can even start on the rest, or just some introductory knowledge and then proceed with the rest? (grammar, vocab etc.)

I'll look into the game and I'll certainly be looking for a penpal soon, thanks for the advice. Would you consider it a good idea to purchase this particular kana book?


Thanks.

indeed kana is a general name for Hiragana and Katakana..

Its strongly recommended to learn all kana first, before starting with anything else. You could learn Japanese words by heart without knowing the kana, because lots of books/websites have japanese words written in romaji (japanese words written with our alphabet), but its not a good idea to get used to romaji to much.

I dont really see the point in purchasing a kana book because in my opinion there isnt anything really complicated about kana. If you google for some time, you will find lots of usefull sites already that will have all the information on kana. I would only buy books to understand grammar and kanji..

Righto, I didn't know whether or not a book would go more in-depth than a site and if that was needed or not, thanks for clearing that up!
Would it be wise to just print the tables with characters and keep that for reference?

Also, would anyone know whether or not the Japanese for Everyone book is any good, (I've read there are supposed to be tapes with it that are hard to come by) or do you have any suggestions?


Sorry for all the questions, and thanks.

Self-study is good, but I highly recommend taking a class as your core work, and using self-study to augment what you learn there. A class is the best way to improve your pronunciation and conversation skills. They don't have to be expensive; look around for community college offerings, and there are often nonprofits who offer very affordable classes as well.

My favorite of the textbooks is the new GENKI books put out by the Japan Times.

ganbatte ne.

ANd it helps to make your own training aids, too. Me and a few others have made flash cards with hiragana and katakana, as well as some kanji. Those will help keep it fresh in your mind when you're away from your computer or books.

Good Luck!