Learn Japanese

Like any language, there is no fast track method to becoming a competent speaker.  Learning Japanese is no different.  If you think you would like to study Japanese whether it be for business purposes, fun, or even to try and impress some beautiful Japanese women, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Like every long journey begins with a first step, studying Japanese begins with understanding a few basics.

Step 1 to learning Japanese: Learn hiragana

Hiragana is the Japanese alphabet used mostly for grammatical purposes and without it you probably won’t achieve much in the long run.  It is possible to learn some Japanese without learning hiragana as some textbooks use romaji, which is the English alphabet representation of hiragana.  However there’s not a single textbook like this I’ve looked through that I would recommend.  As I stated in the opening sentence, there is no fast track method to learning Japanese so start by learning hiragana and learn it well.

How should you go about learning hiragana you say?

• Start by learning 5 a day.  Practice three times a day for a few minutes and a quick revision the next morning before learning the next 5.
• Learn the stroke order.  Like the English alphabet, hiragana has a stroke order which you should follow.
• Every time you draw a hiragana character, say the corresponding sound aloud and not in your head.  It will help you remember and practice the pronunciation.
• Practice recognizing and reading hiragana by watching anime opening sequences.  It doesn`t matter if you can`t understand what you`re reading.  Before you know it, you`ll be singing along to your favorite anime opening song.

Click here to view hiragana characters and listen on how to pronounce each one

Step 2 to learning Japanese: Learn katakana

Katakana characters have the same pronunciation as hiragana but as you will see bellow, they are drawn differently.  Katakana is used to write foreign words and names that are not Japanese specific.

For example, my name Patrick is not of Japanese origin and so it is written using katakana and looks like

パトリック　   “Pa - to - ri - kku”

Click here in view katakana characters

Step 3 to learning Japanese: Learn Kanji?

Kanji (Chinese characters) is crucial for reading magazines, newspapers, manga and most signs.  Actually, it’s useful to read just about everything.  Without the ability to read kanji many things will go unnoticed but know this…Kanji is extremely difficult and even Japanese people themselves struggle with it at times.  Learning kanji is quite fun but it’s not essential.  To give yourself the best head start possible at learning Japanese, forget kanji for now and focus on grammar, vocabulary and speaking.

Summary

• Learn hiragana
• Learn katakana
• Don`t worry about kanji to much

The key to learning Japanese is to have fun and make your learning as active as possible.  What I mean is to actively speak because you only remember what you use.  Talk to your cat, talk to your dog and even talk to your pot plant if you have no one to practice with because the more you actively try to speak Japanese, the better you will become.

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