Japanese for Total Beginners || How and Where to Start Studying
Hey guys, I’m going to try and answer my most commonly asked questions that I continuously receive in the next following weeks so if there’s anything you’d like answered feel free to submit your questions. I’m also going to try and find a new theme as a lot of you guys have mentioned that you’re unable to view my FAQ page while on your mobile devices so once I’ve found a good theme I’ll ask you guys to check it out so that you can let me know if it works or not!
This post is going to be regarding how to study Japanese as a total beginner. The single most commonly asked question that I receive (and I get asked this at least once a week since starting my blog back in 2016) is something along the lines of “I’ve never studied Japanese before but I really want to, but I have no idea where to start.” so I’m going to try and answer this question today to the best of my abilities.
WHAT SHOULD I LEARN FIRST?
I recommend starting off with learning the kana system (hiragana and then katakana). While learning how to read, write, and recognise kana, you should also spend time learning how to properly pronunciate the kana. Learning Japanese pronunciation at this step will help you a great deal as you start progressing into learning the language.
Once you’ve learnt kana you can move onto introducing basic grammar structures and basic vocabulary together. If you’re self-teaching I really recommend getting a textbook because most textbooks introduce grammar and vocabulary together in easy to understand ways. If you cannot afford to purchase a textbook there are PDFs floating around online and many websites that offer free Japanese lessons.
Once you can use kana, understand some basic grammar and vocabulary, and are able to produce your own basic sentences, I would then introduce simple kanji. This would include numbers, days of the week, months, and the kanji version of some vocabulary you’ve learnt (such as 私・わたし／食べ・たべ).
After that it’s just a matter of introducing new grammar, vocab, and kanji which will gradually increase in difficulty as you continue to progress through the language.
SHOULD I LEARN GRAMMAR OR VOCABULARY FIRST?
Vocabulary for me is mostly memorisation - memorising the meaning and the word/characters - and then simply applying the vocabulary to the grammar structure, which is why I like learning them together because I think that they tend to go hand-in-hand.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD I STUDY JAPANESE?
This really comes down to the individual as it depends on your own personal schedule and abilities. Some people ate able to study every single day and others can only do it a couple times, or just once a week. The key is finding a routine that works for you and keeping at it to the best of your abilities. They say it takes 21 days for something to become a habit.
What works best for me is studying early in the morning after waking up and then I feel I can go about my day without any concerns. I have an entire tag dedicated to immersing yourself into the Japanese language so feel free to check it out.
WHAT’S A GOOD STUDY ROUTINE?
I often get asked to provide specific details or give study routines regarding where to begin with studying Japanese so below is my recommendations on where to start.
Hiragana:
Begin with learning the 5 vowels in Japanese (A, I, U, E, O) - learn how to read, write, pronounce, and recognise them.
Continue with learning vowels + consonants (K, S, T, N, H, M, R, Y, W) - learn how to read, write, pronounce, and recognise them.
Study the exceptions (SHI, CHI, TSU, FU) - Try to memorise these in particular as they can confuse beginners quite easily.
Study katakana similarly to how you studied hiragana beginning with vowels, and then moving onto consonants and focusing on the exceptions.
Try to create your own flashcards in order to memorise the characters.
There are also a number of apps designed to help you recognise and memorise hiragana and katakana characters as well as to test your knowledge on them.
I would begin with learning basic expressions such as greetings and self-introductions. I’d use the information from this website to find basic expressions and greetings.
Once you’ve memorised some basic expressions you should move onto basic grammar and vocab.
I learnt by using the Genki textbook so I recommend following their order of lessons, otherwise you can search on google for Japanese lessons to follow.
Make sure to study Japanese particles very seriously as they can often stump Japanese learners! Don’t be afraid to spend a long time studying them.
Once you’ve mastered kana and are comfortable with creating basic sentences in Japanese, I would start introducing kanji. As I mentioned before I would start with numbers, days of the week, months, and then kanji versions of vocabulary that you’ve already learned.
If you search “Kanji lessons” on google you’ll come across some useful websites like this one.
After this you just have to continue building up your grammar, vocab, and kanji knowledge.
Resources:
PDFs -
Genki I + II and MP3 files
Japanese For Busy People 1
Japanese For Busy People 2
Japanese For Busy People 3
Japanese For Busy People Workbook
Learn Japanese Pronunciation in 14 Minutes
Introduction to Japanese Pronunciation
Top 5 Japanese Pronunciation Mistakes to Avoid
Hiragana + Katakana Chart Combined
Learn Japanese (introduces phrases and vocab)
Learn Japanese by Mindsnacks (increases vocab)
Hello Talk (talk with native speakers)
TenguGo Kana Hiragana Katakana (introduces kana system)
Kana Quiz (test your kana knowledge)
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese (Study Guide + Lessons)
Jisho (online dictionary)
JapanesePod101 (Japanese lessons)
Tofugu (Japanese lessons + Cultural lessons)
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