Learning Japanese, without writing it?

So right now, I'm at the point, where I've completely learned hiragana, I can say it all by memory, but I definitely the know the letter rather quickly if not instant, and I'm also in the progress of reading genki, and have been taking notes.

Though there's one thing I haven't done
writing the hiragana.
I was thinking, I'd practise writing the Japanese you'd need, after I've learned enough japanese to become good at conversation, I was wondering if anyone found this stupid or not.

I wouldn't call it stupid but I think it's in your interest to write it. It only helps with your memory and learning and it's not so difficult. Make sure you learn the correct way though (stroke order etc).
Of course it's true there is less and less need. You might find this hard to believe but many years ago people actually wrote to each other using writing instruments on paper.

mdchachi said:

I wouldn't call it stupid but I think it's in your interest to write it. It only helps with your memory and learning and it's not so difficult. Make sure you learn the correct way though (stroke order etc).
Of course it's true there is less and less need. You might find this hard to believe but many years ago people actually wrote to each other using writing instruments on paper.

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I see, if I do write it, I can be happy that I only have one alphabet to practise writing at the moment, haha.

I lived in Japan for a few months, and being able to read is actually pretty essential. You can probably get away with not knowing how to write all your kanji, but in the scope of learning the entire language, learning to write hiragana/katakana is a pretty small task. If you just practice writing it, and writing the sentences/phrases you know a few times a day for a week or two you'll pretty much have it memorized.

doinurmop said:

So right now, I'm at the point, where I've completely learned hiragana, I can say it all by memory, but I definitely the know the letter rather quickly if not instant, and I'm also in the progress of reading genki, and have been taking notes.

Though there's one thing I haven't done
writing the hiragana.
I was thinking, I'd practise writing the Japanese you'd need, after I've learned enough japanese to become good at conversation, I was wondering if anyone found this stupid or not.

Click to expand...

Since you asked and it was your own choice of words....Yes, that's stupid.

If you're so lazy you can't be bothered to pick up a pencil and write the tiny handful of characters that constitute the hiragana and katakana, then quite truthfully it doesn't strike me that you'd put in the time and effort to learn enough to become "good at conversation" either so it may be a moot point anyway.

But since you're 97 years old I suppose rheumatism may be a factor in your not wanting to write.....

Mike is being pretty blunt, but he's not wrong. Learning the language can be really overwhelming if you gaze into the abyss of all the things you don't know. However, if you put that out of your mind and just study what you can as often as you can, you will soon be surprised at how much you know. I always tell people, if you want to feel hopeless about your Japanese skills talk to a student who's a year ahead of you, but if you want to feel like an expert talk to a student who's a year behind you.

Don't worry about learning the language fast, just focus on learning it consistently. No matter what level you are at (even 0 knowledge), you can have a wonderful time in Japan. And the best part is that the more you know the more you can experience and enjoy, but you don't really know what you're missing out on until you get to a higher level so it's a no-loss scenario.