What's the most efficient way to learn Japanese? How did you do it? Did you learn Hiragana/Katakana first, or did you learn vocabulary first? Or did you learn both at the same time? As for me, I think learning Hiragana is very hard, but I learn one Hiragana each day - that's a small progress. It seems like learning expressions (whole sentences) is the best way for me. But I want to be able to navigate in Japan.. I want to use trains, I want to know where I am and where to go to - so I need to learn the characters as well! I hope I will learn enough to go to Japan this year, because recently I am very fed up with the unfriendliness and tacky behaviour in Germany.