When it comes to learning the Japanese language, there are different writing systems and aspects of the language that you need to understand. Unfortunately, these things can lead to confusion when trying to decide how and where you should start learning the language
The most effective way to learn Japanese is to follow a systematic approach. The most common and popular writing system for the Japanese language is hiragana. After learning katakana and kanji, you should learn kana. Practicing pronunciation and vocabulary is the next step. Finally, study some keywords and phrases to make things easier for yourself.
If you can follow this tested and trusted order of learning Japanese, you will be able to have an awesome grasp of the language without much hassle.
As a result, you may be asking – in what order should I learn Japanese? What is the best writing system for me to learn first? To be able to speak Japanese well, what must I learn? This article will shed more light on how and why you should learn Japanese in the order you should, so if you have been wondering about these questions, you have come to the right place. Let’s get started with the article.
Start learning with hiragana
Many Japanese tutors and experts agree that you should start learning Japanese with hiragana despite some controversies about some particular areas of the order. As far as writing systems go, hiragana is the most basic and the simplest. As a result, you should start learning this amazing writing system at the beginning of your learning process.
You may be wondering why you should learn hiragana; here are some reasons:
It is simple to read and understand
A learner can easily learn hiragana since it’s phonetic. Those who speak western languages like English or French may find the learning process challenging at the beginning. You can learn it, however, without much difficulty.
The hiragana letters represent specific sounds. As you learn this writing system, reading Japanese becomes easier. Additionally, learning hiragana is usually fun and easy to keep track of. Consequently, you can track your progress and get motivated to keep learning.
It consists of only 46 letters
It is also a good idea to start with hiragana because there are only 46 letters in this writing system. You can therefore start using it after mastering 46 things. You don’t need to learn over 2,000 characters like you do with kanji. Imagine how overwhelming it would be to learn 2,000 different characters. Therefore, you should start your learning process with hiragana in order to avoid such demotivating problems. When you have mastered hiragana, you can move on to other writing systems.
It enhances your listening and speaking skills
Every hiragana character represents a single sound (phoneme). Thus, each letter represents a phoneme visually. By using your hearing and seeing, you can easily master every sound.
You can enhance your listening and speaking skills by mastering hiragana. Having Japanese words spoken to you will make it easier for you to understand them. During your hiragana classes, your ears have mastered Japanese.
Helps read Japanese
Japanese kids are usually introduced to hiragana when they first learn how to read Japanese. Could you please explain why this is the case? In order to master reading skills, hiragana is essential. The ability to read kanji will be greatly facilitated by learning hiragana. The pronunciation of kanji is made easier by placing a few hiragana characters around it. It is, therefore, essential to learn hiragana before learning other parts of the language.
It doesn’t take too long to learn
Studying and understanding hiragana doesn’t take long if you put your mind to it. The truth is that many people have mastered hiragana within one or two weeks of learning it. Consequently, it is a good way to get inspired to take your Japanese language learning to the next level.
Considering the various benefits of learning Japanese with hiragana, you will agree that it is the best place to begin your journey. In order to learn other aspects of the language, you must first master hiragana.
Let’s go katakana
After learning hiragana, katakana is next on the list. In essence, katakana is an alphabet that represents sounds similar to hiragana. Although katakana is less common than hiragana, it is still quite important. There are three reasons why you should learn katakana after hiragana:
It is used for representing foreign or borrowed words
A certain number of words are borrowed from other languages by every language. It is not unusual to find words in Japanese that are borrowed from Chinese and other languages. The process of learning includes learning these borrowed or foreign words as well. The Japanese language uses katakana to represent these foreign words. Katakana is the key to understanding foreign words in Japanese.
It helps the understanding of kanji readings
Kanji readings form an essential part of the Japanese language. However, these readings can be really difficult to understand for most Japanese learners. Luckily, you can make things a bit easier for yourself by mastering katakana. This is because katakana is important for anyone to have a good understanding of kanji readings.
Many kanji radicals are named after some katakana characters
In general, some kanji radicals resemble katakana characters. Such kanji radicals are named after such katakana characters that they look like. Therefore, if you want to have a quick and easy understanding of such kanji radicals, it will be helpful for you to learn katakana characters.
Another important reason why you should start learning katakana after hiragana is that there is some resemblance between hiragana and katakana characters. This shows that studying katakana doesn’t necessarily mean that you are learning a new writing system from the scratch.
Therefore, when you start learning katakana, you already have a good knowledge of hiragana. The learning process will be faster and easier than learning katakana before hiragana. You just have to breeze through the 46 characters of katana and then take the next step to learn other important aspects of the Japanese language.
Finish kanji
After you have gotten a grip of hiragana and katakana, you can start learning kanji. Kanji is believed by a lot of individuals to be the most tasking part of the Japanese language. Therefore, you should be prepared for what you are bound to deal with as you are trying to learn kanji.
Basically, kanji is a Japanese writing system that was adopted from some Chinese writing characters. It is often combined with hiragana and katakana whenever people are writing Japanese. Therefore, you need to know kanji to be able to read Japanese fluently.
Some people may tell you that learning kanji is not essential to speaking Japanese. However, this is not entirely true as there are tons of things you can gain from studying kanji. Below are a few of the reasons why you should learn kanji:
It assists you to have a better understanding of the vocabulary of Japanese
With a good knowledge of kanji, you will be able to guess the meanings of new Japanese words that you have just learned. In general, kanji looks like the affixes that are found in the English language. Each kanji character has a particular meaning. If you understand the meaning of a character, it will be easier for you to understand any new words that have this character.
You should know that kanji characters often appear inside Japanese sentences. So, if you don’t know kanji, you will struggle with having a vivid knowledge of what some words mean.
It is fundamental for reading Japanese
If you are interested in reading Japanese, you cannot do without learning Japanese because it is the basis for it. It is noteworthy that you cannot boast of understanding a specific language if you cannot read it. Therefore, you can only rest assured that you know Japanese properly if you have learned kanji and can read it.
It is important if you want to enjoy Japan
If you have it in mind to learn Japanese and live in Japan, then it is crucial for you to learn kanji. Apart from the major cities such as Tokyo, most other cities and towns in Japan don’t often use romaji or English for signs. So, if you want to use a train station, bus park, restaurant, and so on, you may have a hard time reading descriptions and other things written on the signboards or posters. Therefore, if you want to stay in Japan and enjoy your stay, learning kanji is paramount.
To master kanji characters, you cannot afford to just learn them once and stop. There is a need for you to continue practicing characters that you have learned to ensure that you understand their meanings and also know the right way to write them.
Learn pronunciation
Once you have completed learning katakana, you should proceed to learn pronunciation. You should note that pronunciation is one of the most difficult aspects of Japanese for most foreigners. So, don’t waste time after mastering katakana, you should just proceed to pronunciation.
Some people start pronunciation earlier than this, and this is good. However, learning pronunciation after katakana is also great. So, what are the ways to learn pronunciation? Let’s check it out below:
Watch Japanese TV shows or movies
Japanese TV shows, anime, and movies offer you a chance to listen to Japanese from native speakers. This can go a long way in helping you to master how to pronounce Japanese words.
Listen to podcasts
Another way to learn the pronunciation of Japanese words is by listening to podcasts. There are tons of Japanese podcasts on YouTube and other channels. Therefore, it should be easier for you to find podcasts that will take care of your need.
Focus on the most common words
Like other languages, you cannot learn everything about Japanese at the beginning. So, when you are learning pronunciation, you should first focus on the most common words. You should first try to study how you can pronounce those words correctly. Afterward, you can move to more difficult words that are not often spoken.
Play Japanese video games
Japan is one of the biggest contributors to the video gaming industry. The likes of Pokémon, Nintendo, and Legend of Zelda were all created by Japanese developers in Japan. As a result of this, it does not come as a surprise that many video games have amazing Japanese characters. These characters can help you to learn how to pronounce a lot of Japanese words.
In addition to the above, you can also look for music and other items that focus on speaking Japanese. Over time, this will help you to listen to Japanese and, as result, you will have a good mastery of the language. As you are listening to what the native Japanese speakers are saying, you should try to mimic them. You can do this by saying the words after them. You must make sure that you pay attention to the vowel sounds. Always get it right before moving to the next word.
In addition, you should record yourself as you are pronouncing the words. This will help you listen to yourself again and see whether you are pronouncing the words the right way or not. this doesn’t only encourage you to learn more, but it also helps you to identify areas you are not doing well for improvement.
It should be noted that you cannot learn the pronunciation of Japanese words overnight. So, you should be ready to spend some time learning how to pronounce the language the right way.
Build your vocabulary
There are thousands of Japanese words. So, how do you intend to understand Japanese if you don’t understand most of these words? This is why the need for you to build your vocabulary cannot be overemphasized. Building your vocabulary will assist you to be able to read, speak, write, and listen to Japanese correctly. It will make it possible for you to build more knowledge and skills on what you have already learned through hiragana, katakana, and kanji that you started well. Besides, studying new Japanese words will make it easy for you to master new words when you are learning pronunciation.
Like in pronunciation, you should start building your vocabulary with common words. By learning these common words, you will be fast in talking with others that understand Japanese.
If you are ready to build your vocabulary, you should:
Read lots of Japanese manga
Japanese people are known for producing lots of manga, which is a genre of Japanese comic books. Manga is often used for telling a wide range of stories. So, reading these books can be a great way to learn several new Japanese words.
It should be noted that manga comes in different forms. Some are for adults while others are for kids and teens. As a beginner in the Japanese language, you should go for Japanese manga targeted at kids and teens. Such manga will be easier to understand for you and you will also find lots of commonly used words there.
Get a Japanese dictionary
You should also consider getting a Japanese dictionary if you want to learn new Japanese words. Typically, you can check the meaning of any new word you come across inside the dictionary. This doesn’t only let you know new words, but it also plays a key role in ensuring that you can know the right ways to pronounce and use them.
Master a few key phrases
As you continue learning Japanese, you should master some key phrases that can aid your communication. These are phrases that are often used in day-to-day conversations in Japan. By learning these phrases, you will always have some basic words to fall back on whenever you are opening conversations with any Japanese speaker. Besides, learning these phrases will also make your trip to Japan to be easier and more enjoyable.
What are some key phrases you should master? They include:
Hello
How are you doing?
Thank you
How much?
My name is…
Nice to meet you
Some books list the most common Japanese words and phrases. So, you should not hesitate to get one of such books.