What do you think would be the best to start with for biginers?

PUBLIC_FLAG_#{@journal.pf_int} RSS feed of Masamune's latest journal entries Nov 08th 2011 13:12

I received a question from someone in YouTube:

"I know you get this lot, but I'm trying to learn Japanese. And I was wondering, what would be the best to start with for a beginner Kanji, Hiragana, or Katakana."


I think Senpai-learners who once were not familiar with Japanese writing system, including Kanji, can help her than I.
The question is "what would be the best to start with for biginers."

Could you give her any suggestions?
I will tell her the link to this page, later.

Thank you.
Nov 08th 2011 14:04 Ananat

  • What do you think would be the best to start with for biginers?
  • What do you think would be the best to start with for beginners?

 

  • I received a question from someone in YouTube:
  • I received a question from someone on YouTube:

 

  • I think Senpai-learners who once were not familiar with Japanese writing system, including Kanji, can help her than I.
  • I think Senpai-learners who once were not familiar with the Japanese writing system, including Kanji, can help her more/better than I.

 

  • The question is "what would be the best to start with for biginers."
  • The question is "what would be the best to start with for beginners."

 
I think it may be best to start with hiragana, then katakana and kanji. Hiragana is seen more often than katakana usually, and knowing hiragana will help them learn katakana. Knowing hiragana will also help when learning kanji, since dictionaries and services like rikai-chan display the reading for kanji in hiragana.
Nov 08th 2011 16:00 Masamune
Thank you^^
So I think you can also tell her how she can learn to get used to them, can't you?
(1)How can she learn to get used to hiragana as beginner?
(2)How can she learn to get used to kaptakana as beginner?
(2)How can she learn to get used to kanji as beginner?
If you tell her your experience, that would be so helpful for not only for her but also other beginners, because I know you've improved your Japanese so efficiently from the ground up^^
Nov 09th 2011 13:03 Ananat
I learned hiragana and katakana by using the romaji of song lyrics that I liked! I practiced writing the song in hiragana or katakana, and that helped me connect the form to the sound. I made some mistakes, but that actually helped me learn better.

As for kanji, I'm still having trouble, but I think it's very helpful to learn kanji as you learn VOCABULARY. Learn several vocabulary words that contain the kanji you are trying to learn. This way, you can connect its shape with a meaning, and also remember any of the different pronunciations more easily. For example learning 大. 大きい (おおきい) 大学 (だいがく) 大会(たいかい) helps you learn that 大 can be pronounced oo, dai, or tai; plus you learn 3 more Japanese words!
Nov 11th 2011 15:21 Masamune
Oh, I see.
Songs!!!
and building up vocabulary bu using the same kanji.
Hmmm, that' s a great advice!
Thank you very much^^
Nov 08th 2011 16:01 student113

Well, my view is that learning hiragana/katakana is a very good gauge to see if you are serious enough about learning this language.

One thing about Japanese classes in colleges is that they'll teach you hiragana (actually make you memorize the entire syllabary) in the first two weeks then give you a test. That usually weeds out who are serious about learning the language and who are not.

But yeah, hiragana first, then katakana, then kanji. Make those flashcards, buy yourself a workbook to write in, etc.
Nov 08th 2011 16:25 Masamune
Ah,
For hiragana, your suggestion is:
(1)making flashcards like "a/あ" "ka/か" "sa/さ" "ta/た"....right?
(2)And buy (or find) a workbook to write in.
I found one here:
http://kids.nifty.com/study/hira_rensyu/index.htm

(3)And after the first two weeks, taking a test, or checking if she memorize them or not by herself^^

Then, learn katakana:
http://kids.nifty.com/study/kata_rensyu/index.htm

Hmm, interesting! thank you!^^
Jan 05th 2012 08:38 詠美
I agree! first hiragana, then katakana, then if she's still into it after a few weeks, months, kanji. but it might be a good idea to learn a bunch of spoken japanese or japanese with just hiragana and katakana before you start worrying about kanji at all. just my two cents. :)
Jan 06th 2012 15:03 Masamune
How elegant!
It's like if she moves to a foreign country, she first needs to have food and shelter, but it's too early for her to buy a lot of clothes before she gets a nice closet.
Nov 11th 2011 07:12 Hunternif

As I was trying to get my friend to start learning Japanese too, I encouraged him to learn hiragana first of all (which he has done by now). But judging by my own experience, it might be an easier start to learn basic grammar and expressions from a phrasebook. This way gives faster practical results too.
By doing so I was able to memorize quite a few common words and expressions, which strengthened my resolve to learn the language. It also provided me with a lot of examples of something valid to write in hiragana. And as for learning kanji, it still helps me immensely if I know the word in which the kanji is used beforehand.
Nov 11th 2011 15:17 Masamune
Oh, thank you!
Well, I found the useful expressions resources:
from:
NHK WORLD
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html

here it is:
やさしい日本語
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/index.html
Nov 12th 2011 12:24 クリス豆腐

I think the other´s made very good suggestions!
I agree to the succession hiragana - katakana - kanji

This book has helped me a lot to remember the Kana (I don´t like the Kanji book of the same series though):
http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kana-Hiragana-James-Heisig/dp/4889960724

Also, i think learning how to write at least the most basic 400 kanjis is very helpful.
Rather than practising the writing one by one, copying whole pages out of textbooks and simple texts worked for me.
Nov 12th 2011 13:26 Masamune
Ah, mnemonic method!
That's one of the best ways to remember something in a long term^^
Yes, to actually practice writing is the other one (of the best ways to remember).
Thank you so much!
Nov 15th 2011 01:07 tsuki

for me, the first thing that is learning hiragana everyday. i wrote one alphabet with a voculary such as あ is あさ.. on a sticker and sticked everywhere in my room.and then i talked with my friend about the letter i remembered. i had just took a week to learn hiragana.after that, i learned katakana and kanji with that method.besides, i had learn with flash card in this web
http://www.mlcjapanese.co.jp/Download.htm
it's very useful^^
let's try together
Nov 15th 2011 15:52 Masamune
I see.
So it seems to be very important for beginners to learn hiragana intensively at the very first one or two weeks.
Thank you very much for your suggestion and the link for material resource!

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