Ok, I am serious about learning Japanese, my reason being I wish to visit Japan one day, but I have to learn it on my own since there are no places near me that teach Japanese, or in school.
So what should I learn first or what should I get to help with my studies? I've been working on memorizing hatakana and I found a genki japanese workbook. Haven't looked in the workbook yet, because I've been more focused on hatakana.
The first thing I would advise you to do is learn Hiragana （ひらがな） and Katakana（カタカナ）.
After that you should build a basic vocabulary and begin with basic Japanese grammar such as the Japanese particles because it will take time for you to get used to how different the structure is from English. Good luck with your studies ^ ^ がんばってね
Hello every one,
Only repetation helps you to learn letters.
In Japan there are drills available at book stores in which we can write the same letters again and again.
There is also correct order of lines to write.
It is recommended to learn the correct order from the beginning, then write, write and write in your blank pages.
Nowadays we seldom write with hand, even Japanese, but it is the most effective way to learn.
To learn Kanjis, yes it is long way any way, it might be good to follow the step how Japanese would learn.
There are Kanji drills according to each elementary school year, 1st to 6th.
If you cannot find in amazon, there are also many online pages such as
http://www.japanese-lesson.com/characters/kanji/kanji_drill4/index.html
But writing by hand is the best way.
Kanji is for Japanese people too, very interesting to learn, especially 4-letter expressions. (yoji jukugo)
Behind the expression we would learn ideas brought from China, old history or religious thoughts.
Have fun.
here is how I learnt it
I studied the hiragana and katakana letters first
then I moved to the kanji one by one
then I learn lots of words
and started to focus on grammatical aspects of this language
you can buy the most complete grammatical book you can find
it may not be cheap but you won't regret your purchase because you will get
the best course from it
good luck on your study !
Hiragana and Katakana first for sure.
You definitely want to listen to as uch Japanese as possible, just to get use to the language. Also the more variety of things you listen to the better, because you will have things to reference in you rmind as you learn vocabulary and grammar.
I like this site alot, it's like drills and flashcards and it has alot of lessons. There is a section for hiragana and katakana, which is neccessary before you start vocabulary (this site does not use romanji). http://japaneseclass.jp/feeds
I use a ton of youtube sites as well to help me learn.
I like the Michel Thomas method videos on youtube from Japan Society (its like 10 hours) but its free. My brother just started learning Japanese like two days ago, and it's really helping him understand things at a tolerable way. He can even say a few phrases already. Good Luck!
I'm in kind of in the same situation. I agree with the other comment that hiragana and katakana should be the first thing to learn.
A personal tip is to download Tae Kims grammar guide. (it's an app, or you can check out his website if you want) It's free, awesome, and has alot of good exercises and goes through the particles.
Also, surround yourself with the sound of japanese. Watch japanese dramas, anime, listen to radio shows and so on. It helped me alot, and you will begin to recognize common frases and words.
The tricky part which I struggle with is kanji. There is a good online lexicon called jisho.org you can check out if you want. But I really havn't found a good website to actually learn kanji yet.. Anyway Tae Kims Guide to learn japanese is a must to check out. Probably the best online/app guide you can get for free. Good luck!
