What's wrong with Henshall's Guide To Remembering Japanese Characters? Unlike Heisig's nonsensical 'stories', it actually provides the historical etymology, and is therefore much more consistent, and also interesting. Having said that, my Japanese sucks, so I don't really have empirical evidence, but could you at least explain what you have against the book?
@kirion111 I don't think there is much, if any evidence of people learning anything while sleeping. It takes lots of hard work while awake to learn a language. You will notice that sleep however does cement what you have learned while awake. So even if something is hard one day, after you sleep it will be easier the next day and so on. The brain loves repetition.
Kudos on teaching yourself Japanese. I have been studying Russian on my own for about a year now and it has been a difficult -- but extremely rewarding -- experience ! Learning new languages opens up a whole new world of opportunites .
What did you use to learn pronounciation/spelling of the kanji, Im on my second week of kanji (about 250 done, 25 a day) and althugh remembering the Kanji is very useful for reading it, id like to know how to spell/pronnounce them before getting too far in. I didnt see if you mentioned it at all unless it was included in one of the grammar books which i have not gotten to yet.
thanks for this tips, i want to learn japanese soon but i'm still thinking if need to go to a school or try it by myself.
anyway, i'm trying to use it to improve my English (i'm not a native english speaker) and i want to know what do you thinks is better...many decks with some amount of words in it or just one huge deck?
@LordKoKuyou Definitely try to learn as much as you can on your own. I eventually took a course at a Japanese school and it really helped a lot. If you have a good one I'd go, and supplement it with anki and immersion at home.
I personally used different decks for different things. I have a vocab deck, grammar deck, etc. It's really about your preference though.
@RisuMiso I don't know if you'll reply or not but I've settled on learning Japanese like this:
I am currently learning the kanas with the help of thejapanesepage and I am using Rosetta Stone Japanese course for vocabulary.Once I learn the kanas I'll move on to learning kanji.Can you add something to my plan or is it good enough?I can dedicate about 5 hours a day.
@kimberlykay99 I'm mostly a visual learner, but I also learn a lot through physically doing something. I also understand things more thoroughly by reflecting on what I've learned.
When using an SRS you can physically type in the card to make it, read it, say it, and write it. It pretty much covers all bases while providing repetition over a spaced period of time. I've even used it when studying power engineering, and it has been helpful in that, though not as effective as with Japanese.
Dude wtf learning hiragana and katakana can take weeks not 2 or 1 wtf is wrong with u learning japanese doesent take 2 minutes u f@g dont trick us like this if u only spend such little time on learning u r not going to learn it long term
@bluetube147 It can take weeks, it really depends on how much you apply yourself and how quickly you want to learn. For it to get into your long term memory it will probably take 3 weeks of repetition. That's what ANKI (the spaced repetition software) is for. You should be able to get a pretty good grasp in a weekend though. All I know is I don't have a problem reading or writing in Kana, and this is how I did it.
Dude, with Remembering the Kana RisuMiso told about I just spend 3 hours to learn hiragana, just as the author say. Next day I was reading hiragana quit well and hit 98% score in anki katakana deck, within 15 minutes of study. It's just this good.
@Alkis05 LOL listen u cant learn hiragana that well in 3 hours it takes time and effort there is no magic button or website video whatever watch u may of hit a 98% but as soon as u start to stop learning/studying your gonna forget and please dont bother commenting back cuz it wont make me change my mind buddy =)
how many hours per day did you spend learning it? and how many ''letters'' did you learn per day? I really envy you for learning so quickly, because honestly I think it'll take me like a month to learn both hiragana and katakana :p
I have a question... Does Japanese have tones like Mandarin, if so what are they? I have been trying to do some research online but I can't seem to get any luck finding anything on tones in Japanese :/ Thanks in advance!
@jessi95605 No Japanese is a non-tonal language, so in that sense it's easier than something like Mandarin. Some words have slightly different pronunciations though. For example bridge and chopsticks are both hashi and the inflection at the end of the word is what changes. Even if you get it wrong people will understand due to context though.
@RisuMiso Just a week to learn kana? No offense, but I guess I am better off by don't seeing how yours look like O.o There are no characters in the whole language you'll need more than those so you have to know them PERFECT by heart! Maybe you can READ them in one week (though I highly doubt you will be in any kind of definition 'fluent' in that short time) but there is no way they would look anything less than the doodle of a three years old after just one week. Quality over quantity!
@Belikel I don't know what " I am better off by don't seeing how yours look like" means. I'm not teaching Japanese in this video, just showing you how you can teach yourself.
And yes, Kana is very basic and if you put some effort into it you can learn it pretty quickly. And no it's quantity over quality. Ever see how a child learns to write? No quality there. Don't expect to write as perfect as a Japanese person, just legibly. The point is communication, work on aesthetics later.
@RisuMiso I can so totally not sympathize with the idea of learing kana and kanji just to a degree where they become barely legible. If one can not appreciate japanese culture, then why bother to visit the country? And if one does appreciate it, then why should he rape one of japans most beautiful and important artforms - the art to write? Besides, most japanese kids are very well educated and know how to write shapely kana!
@Belikel I didn't say barely legible. Almost every foreigner I met in Japan was able to learn their kana in a reasonably short amount of time. It's not very difficult, end of story. I was often complimented by Japanese people on how my writing was easy to read. If you read the average writing on say a parcel in Japan you would have difficulty reading what the kana were, because it's often MESSY!
Stop romanticizing and come back to the real world. If you want art take up calligraphy.
@RisuMiso Only because a random japanese person lacks a preferable degree of writing skill, you think you can get away with it too?! Guess again! There are even native speakers who can't get one sentence grammatical right! Thats no excuse for a foreigner who consciously wants to visit the country to make the same mistake out of mere slothfulness. Just because japanese people are too humble to tell you in your face that your writting sucks, makes you not any less a loser. END OF STORY!
@Belikel Throughout your posts you make a lot of assumptions without any evidence. There is nothing slothful about learning Japanese. I would also argue that writing is the least important and most difficult language skill to learn in a second language.
You just seem like another Japan fanatic who has it in their head that Japan is some kind of fantasy world. It's not. Maybe I can sell you some of my wife's shopping lists if you believe everything they put to paper is art.
@Belikel Writing is a skill. Like any skill it starts off bad, even for Japanese people. Chances are that as a foreigner you would be more focused on learning to speak and read, so your skill at writing wouldn't be used as much. If you think it's good use of your time to spend an eternity working on it when you are a beginner then go nuts. I don't give a damn what you do with your time.
Writing き was easy for me to learn to write, but I guess it could be mind blowing to some.
@RisuMiso like you've shown us any 'evidence' to claim your statements. From your behavior I would guess you were one of the participants in this Halloween train shit, huh? One year over there, behaving as disrespectful as you can get cause its all just about the fun for the gaijin, making a living as an english teacher since aside of your mother tongue you got nothing to offer and then you come back with a smug grin telling people what a great playground you have found.
@Belikel Once again making baseless personal statements about me. No I didn't participate in the halloween train, nor was I ever disrespectful. If you would like to know a bit about me my wife is Japanese which was the reason that I was over there. I spent almost all of my spare time studying Japanese during my time over there when I wasn't working 6 days a week. You started this whole thing telling me that my writing sucked when you never saw any of it when I practiced it ever single day.
@Belikel I also don't think it's a playground and would not want to live there again because it's a very difficult place to earn a real living as a foreigner.
All I'm saying is if you want to get good at writing you need to do it A LOT. following proper stroke order. Don't get your panties in a knot if it's not art form perfect though. It's a second language. I don't berate my wife if she makes a mistake with her English. Get it?
@RisuMiso Now we speak the same language! If one is not prepared to give nothing less than his best he can not succeed in japan. But it is a different thing if you never intended to stay there in the first place. You should have mentioned that explicitly in your video! If japanese remains just as your second language and your stay in the country is over a limited time span I agree that one doesn't need to be as critical with his handwriting
@Belikel I never intended to move back to Canada, but was offered a job that I couldn't refuse. The method I present in this video is called spaced repetition, which is for long term memory use.
I'm still sticking by handwriting Japanese as being by far the least useful and most time consuming aspect of the language. How often do you need to write by hand? Even Japanese kids are getting worse at kanji due to technology (i.e. cell phones).
@RisuMiso@RisuMiso (though it still would be in his own best interest to put some extra effort in his learning) . Lets expand your video title then to "How to teach yourself Japanese if you have got little time to learn and need the skill only for practical reasons for a short visit to Japan"
@Belikel Who the hell are you to tell me I should put more effort in my learning? I spent almost every spare minute of my time in Japan studying Japanese. I feel that if you are living in another country language acquisition should be a priority. This method is for long term language goals, not short term.
Also there is no reason why using an srs won't improve your writing skills. I wrote about 40,000 kanji from memory just doing my reviews with anki.
@Belikel Once you move there, work 6 days a week, take 3 hours a week of lessons, study on your way to and from work, during your breaks, before bed and on your one day off, and still try to enjoy Japan and see your wife we will talk about language study effort and commitment.
If you continue to make condescending trolling statements I will just block you.
@RisuMiso You now what a contradiction is, right? 'I would not want to live there again" in your last statement and now we are at "I never intended to move back to Canada". It is not your study method per se I am criticising but your stubborn attitude regarding the importance of kana and shapely writing! And as long as you stick with that believe you will always be what a japanese friend of mine called a 'trash gaijin'. If you feel that insecure, hell, make a fool of yourself and block me.
@Belikel Yeah I know what a contradiction is, but what you just used as an example is an intention and a statement. Think about it. Do you know my reasons for no longer wanting to live there? I love Japan, and will be back to visit friends and family every year in Japan. I just don't want to live there again. The reason is that I make over 100,000 here and only work 15 days per month.
@Belikel I never said that the kana were not important, nor that they should be messy. You made many assumptions which makes you look like an ass. You never saw my writing or anything. Just because I found kana easy to learn, you have some sort of problem.
I worked hard in Japan, focused on learning language and understanding their culture. If that is what makes me a trash gaijin, you can go fuck yourself.
I used Heisig's kana book. It is simply tremendous. I never used any rote memo to learn the Kana. It took me two days and I can still read and write them perfectly.
1 day Hiragana, 1 day Katakana is entirely possible. You don't even need to be hardcore at all to do it lol. So yeah, if you're starting out, go heisig for kana, it is überness itself.
i took anki. but i can't seem to see the cards or any japanese character. i suppose it's because my computer doesn't have em installed or something right? i wonder how can i see them...
PLEASE SOME READ THIS ok i am learning kanji right now using remember the kanji and i was wonder what do i do in the mean time. Yes i am in an immerse environment and listening to japanese music and watching japanese videos and some anime. I am guess that it will take me 3 months to complete this book but in the mean time what do i do about learn japanese. I know that i am being confusing but right now i am only understand reading what about understand when some one is speaking please help me
@sora3428 In hindsight I think you should get a japanese textbook (japanese for busy people, etc.) and study it. Remembering the kanji is useful, but I wish I would have just focused on basic grammar at first. Doing a text book will teach you verb conjugations, basic words and phrases, etc. Work on the kanji once you have a bit of base built up. Do what I mention in this video after.
Haha. Romaji looks 'disgusting'. Hahaha. I thought I was alone on this one. I always cringe a bit when I type Japanese and realise I haven't changed the input characters.
Good videos on studying Japanese on your own. I started off well and was manic for 2 years, then I got busy with other things.... Lots of good ideas and resources - good.
@wcgfreetheslaves Indeed, thanks for introducing me to Anki! Staring at that program now consumes a large portion of my life... haha. It has been very helpful, and I wouldn't want to learn Japanese without it (or anything else for that matter).
continuation...Is this where studying Kanji comes in to place? For most of the part I am missing the nouns of the sentences. I just ordered "Remembering the Kanji" from E-bay and I hope this is what will fill the "gap" in my process of learning the Japanese Language. I intend to work it out with Anki. I really hope this will strengthen, solidify my knowledge of the language. It just feels kind of frustrating that the "nouns" are what I never paid attention to the most.
Thank you for the humble response! This just really made me curious because I have listened and stuck with anime/j-pop songs since I was little but now that I reflect upon it I may have been "too laid back" that I'm not able to fully transcend with the language. Now that I actually "listen" to some songs and shows, for most of the part I can pick up common words/expression used however I noticed that I lack depth/knowledge on grasping nouns of each sentence.Is this where studying Kanji comes in?
Awesome video! I have a question on what type of mind set would best suit learning when listening to japanese audio? Like do you need to be at utmost attention in trying to grasp every word said? Is it more like a laid back, let it run through the mind type of deal? This part really confuses me, I know it can be very tedious to try to listen to every word that is being said but if that is what it takes, heck then that is what I will continue to do.
@shinzengumi I often have the TV on in the background and I'm not actively listening to it, but I'm still hearing it. I don't know how much this helps but it doesn't hurt. If a word or sentence pattern I know is said it usually is acknowledged by my brain though. Also words that I've recently learned but I keep forgetting usually get solidified in my memory when I randomly hear them somewhere.
@shinzengumi I think making some effort to watch or listen to stuff actively is useful too, but don't worry about trying to pick out every word. The more words you learn and the better your listening gets you will naturally pick out words. Watching things with Japanese subtitles on at the same time will help you to be able to pick out words more easily though. Check out a webpage called d-addicts for Japanese drama's and download some J-subs with them. My girl is easy!
btw was just goin back to this vid to look at some of those books you had, and the line you say about RTK " if it does...THATS AWESOME" had me cracking up. something about how you said it man... is it beer time yet? what the hell is up with this stupid ass weather!?
Is it possible to SRS binge? I've got alot of free time so i'm using Reviewing the Kanji, Anki AND I started on Hiragana on smart fm. I can't comment whether it's too much work because i'm still enjoying it. I do have alot of free time though.
Did you learn the readings for the Kanji while learning them? It seems like it'd be much slower than learning it afterwards in context. Great videos by the way!
@geogaddia I go through periods where I add lots to my srs, then I get tired and just do reviews for a while (sentences though). RTK I did pretty hard until I finished, I still do my reviews months later though. I learn the readings in context SRSing sentences. I SRS'd Understanding Basic Japanese Grammar, then I was going to do 2001 Kanji Odyssey but I decided to do Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication first. Just srs what you can handle. Thanks for watching!
I agree Romanji is a crutch, but my issue is I like learning with videos and my favorite is the "Let's Learn Japanese" series. The issue? It's 100% Romanji, but there's a lack of video learning resources. YouTube doesn't meet my quality expectations, so I feel I have no choice - I have to learn through Romanji.
That's not to say I don't like books, but I'd take a video over a book any day. It helps me retain the info better and get me pumped to learn rather than snoring.
You could use a program called subs2srs. What this does is it takes a video (let's say a Japanese drama) and cuts it up into flash cards using the English and Japanese subtitles. So on one side of the card you would have a still from the show with and audio clip and the Japanese subtitle for the clip. On the answer side of the anki card you would have the english sub for the same clip.
So you watch the shows then review the cards. I'll email you the links if you are interested.
Oh wow, you reply fast, lol. Yea that subs2srs sounds interesting. I went ahead and Googled it and I think I found it, so I'll give it a shot, thanks.
And to expand, can you recommend any quality video learning tools? I tried YouTube stuff, like GimmaFlakeMan, but that just doesn't do it for me, no offense to him, lol. YouTube is great for cultural lessons, but for learning the language? Not so much, unless you know of some great channels I missed out on.
Yeah, I use romaji like a crutch...you're right about that. I have to get over how intimidating all the kana are...the hiragana and katakana would be ok...but when you add the kanji to the mix, that's what intimidates me and sends me back to romaji.
I used to be in the same boat. I could read and write hiragana and katakana, but would frequently read and write Japanese in romaji. Then I went though Remembering the kanji, and one thing I didn't mention is it gives you confidence. It makes you realize that kanji aren't impossible. It's not the only way, but it worked for me and many others.
You've got to drop the crutches if you want to run!
The book I refer to and recommend is "Remembering the Kanji" by James Heisig. It helps you remember and write them by breaking them down into parts, and creating stories with your imagination. I think it is far superior to using visual mnemonics due to the large amount of kanji you will need to learn.
If you really want to learn them with pictures, the "basic kanji book" series uses visual mnemonics and rote for learning kanji.
i'm at the begining level of kanji, i've learned basic ones and i'm starting to need more reasourses!! so far i have had a DS game that has really helped and a basic grammer book. I will take "Remembering the Kanji" into consideration, but what other books have you found for just kanji/grammer that is at a very basic level?
I used "The basic kanji book" first, but then I found it too slow going so I found "Remembering the Kanji". Those are the only two I have used for learning how to write kanji. I can't tell you how you will learn best, you just need to try things and see what works for you. For me RTK was amazing and I wouldn't do it any other way. Kanji don't really vary in difficulty either, it's just volume.
Also if you go to the link in the sidebar you can download the first 100 pages of the book or so and try it out for free. That will give you about 250 kanji or so.
I'm constantly surprised by how often the detractors of Heisig's book simply don't understand its premise. So many reviews berate it for not giving the complete readings, or for the choice of keywords whilst obviously failing to even read the introduction on page one. An excellent book if people understand its function - and the clue is in its title ;o)
Exactly. I don't care about what the keywords mean, I'm not speaking keywordanese. I also don't need a list of readings, because when I tried learning readings out of context (before heisig) they would go in one ear and out the other. I just learn words. Keywords are good for guessing sometimes though.
What I do like is when I learn a new word, the kanji I'm looking at are burned into my brain, and I have no problem recognizing them and attaching meaning to them. The naysayers can use rote
If Heisig has done nothing else for me, it's enabled me to look at a page of Japanese text and, rather than feel overwhelmed and intimidated, I can start to pick out characters and see the conjugations and actually start to comprehend. I don't understand the attitude of the by-rote brigade who seem to feel proud that they've put in so much work. I just see wasted time! I want to read and communicate in Japanese, not suffer. :o)
Very true! It gave me lots of confidence too! Being able to write them is nice too! I can't output much writing (besides RTK cards of course), but when I move on to making an output deck with close deletion it will come in handy for that too.
Learning by rote is fine for Japanese people who take 12 years to do it and are native speakers. As an adult learning it as a second language, you don't have 12 years. Time to use the brain and work smarter not harder.
This is pretty cool. I understand your struggle though man, As I might have mentioned before I'm teaching myself the German language. Three main factors though out there for people looking or in the process of learning a second language: Repetition, Patience, and Dedication. If you got that, eventually your gonna learn the material, with good resources and with the Internet, aswel as the library there's a variety of resources.
If you want to learn the Kana, I highly recommend Heisig's Remembering the Kana, it took me 2 day's with revision to learn both Hiragana and Katakana. If I cut the time down to just when I was actually learning how to remember the characters, it took me 97 minutes. I really want to start on Kanji but trying to get motivated to learn Japanese after 12 hours away at college is not an easy task.
I figured that book was good! I never used it myself so thanks for the review. I did Remembering the kanji pretty hard. If you are already spending that much time on other studies, it might be better to wait!
I don't agree with Romanji being bad. You don't lose any pronunciation when using Romanji for Japanese like you do when using Katakana for English. "カタカナ" and "Katakana" are pronounced the same exact way, but "ストロベリー" and "Strawberry" sound barely alike.
I would say though that you're better off using Kana anyway, because it'll become more ingrained into your head that way.
Romaji is bad because Japanese in Japan isn't written in romaji. So it doesn't help your reading ability in the slightest.
When Japanese write words like strawberry in katakana they have adopted those words into their language and use them with their sounds. There are many borrowed words in English from other languages that sound nothing like the original.
I'm just saying, you're right that if a Japanese person is learning English, Katakana won't help at all, because like I said, the pronunciation between English and Katakana is obviously way off. But if a native English speaker is learning Japanese for the first time, Romanji helps in making it easier to see how Kana is said.
I'm not saying you can't learn Japanese without Romanji. You totally can. And I'm sure you weren't implying that Romanji is completely useless from the get go. And you're right that once you got Hiragana and Katakana down, there's no use for Romanji anymore. But hey, come on now. Romanji ain't so bad. To each his own, I guess. :P
I get where you are coming from. Initially it is useful to learn the sounds of the kana, and impossible without it (unless you have a native speaker say them to you). In the beginning there is nothing wrong with using it. I just think anyone serious about learning the language needs to use kana and kanji. But yeah, to each their own! I won't lie, I'm a romaji hater! :p
Completely agree. I loath romaji. I can understand people being reluctant to learn kanji, but kana is easy - there's no excuse!
The best advice I ever read was to avoid romaji and now, with hindsight, I think it's damn good advice. It just gets in the way and is probably responsible for that truly hideous gaijin accent. 何何がsookidesoo. 痛い！
Another example is when I'm making sentence cards on anki I will sometimes forget to switch back to kana input and won't be looking at the screen when I'm typing. It will end up being a long wall of romaji. When I see it, it's not something easy to read, in fact I would say it's harder to read.
I don't mean to be pedantic but you've given a good indication as to why it is bad.
It's `romaji' not `romanji'. This sort of mistake just doesn't happen with kana.
Your point about pronunciation is only valid if the syllables are pronounced in the Japanese way - most English speakers don't, hence their appalling accent. And it's a moot point when kana is used.
I'd suggest throwing away any references to English: they'll just get in the way.
Thanks for the link to Anki. Sounds like something that will be useful.
I highly recommend to others the "Read Real Japanese" book you have there. It's great and I like how certain sections are explained in detail. I have the fiction one, but I imagine the essay book is just as good.
Great help:)i started on my own(to study)downloaded the Heising books-hiragana-katakana and kanji:O)its not easy but if you notice your processing its great:)made own flash cards...its great for learning on the go on the bus...you have to be creative sometimes:)But i have one question is it good to learn words before you have the complete kana right???thnx S.
I would use an SRS over paper flash cards. You can get anki on iphone or an Ipod touch if you have one. It also can sync to an online server and your computer!
I'm not sure what you mean exactly by your question. Learn the kana first. After that I would go on to kanji, but if you like you can start on vocab, it's up to you how you want to learn the language! You could learn vocabulary in kana, but after a while I think you will wish you knew kanji. It's easier to read if you learn kanji.
Great info, Risumiso! I have that blue book, Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese. I took classes, but I learn more effectively on my own by reading, watching movies/YT and having Japanese friends. Nowadays, I work nights at a Japanese restaurant so I can immerse. Thanks for posting!
I hate that blue book (tuttle). To me it doesn't serve any useful purpose. All those immersion types are some of the best ways to learn real Japanese. Thanks for the comment!
Man what school can i attend where they teach me the language, pays for me trip there and housing there? please.
tunechi985 1 day ago
What's wrong with Henshall's Guide To Remembering Japanese Characters? Unlike Heisig's nonsensical 'stories', it actually provides the historical etymology, and is therefore much more consistent, and also interesting. Having said that, my Japanese sucks, so I don't really have empirical evidence, but could you at least explain what you have against the book?
encarsiaformosa 6 days ago
have u heard about learning while sleeping..?? in this case listening japanese while sleeping..??
what u think about that ..??
kirion111 1 month ago
@kirion111 I don't think there is much, if any evidence of people learning anything while sleeping. It takes lots of hard work while awake to learn a language. You will notice that sleep however does cement what you have learned while awake. So even if something is hard one day, after you sleep it will be easier the next day and so on. The brain loves repetition.
RisuMiso 1 month ago
thank you ! :D
fabo929 2 months ago
i have a dictionary and i write the basic words and im starting to learn... i hope i am :\
TFbros54 3 months ago
Kudos on teaching yourself Japanese. I have been studying Russian on my own for about a year now and it has been a difficult -- but extremely rewarding -- experience ! Learning new languages opens up a whole new world of opportunites .
bigchickenfu 4 months ago
what that thing on your wall in the back..me want lol.
jokeboxproductions 5 months ago
i like the tips but your so boring ahhhhh torture
Vocaloidfannnn 6 months ago
Great stuff man! - really helps out a beginner who doesn't know where to start - thank you for sharing.
nubalko 7 months ago
konnichiwa, arigato no tame ni anata no ashisutanto. watashi no nihongo warui wa desuka? oi, amezingu bideo.
zeronebula100 8 months ago
What did you use to learn pronounciation/spelling of the kanji, Im on my second week of kanji (about 250 done, 25 a day) and althugh remembering the Kanji is very useful for reading it, id like to know how to spell/pronnounce them before getting too far in. I didnt see if you mentioned it at all unless it was included in one of the grammar books which i have not gotten to yet.
thanks in advance.
MrPsychoticInsomniac 10 months ago
I learned by watching a lot of anime
blue0blaze 10 months ago
@blue0blaze how much Japanese can you speak
ChristinaWolfle 7 months ago
to bad smart.fm is closing down
agentjunieb 1 year ago
come sei bellino
iavagnilio 1 year ago
thanks for this tips, i want to learn japanese soon but i'm still thinking if need to go to a school or try it by myself.
anyway, i'm trying to use it to improve my English (i'm not a native english speaker) and i want to know what do you thinks is better...many decks with some amount of words in it or just one huge deck?
LordKoKuyou 1 year ago
@LordKoKuyou Definitely try to learn as much as you can on your own. I eventually took a course at a Japanese school and it really helped a lot. If you have a good one I'd go, and supplement it with anki and immersion at home.
I personally used different decks for different things. I have a vocab deck, grammar deck, etc. It's really about your preference though.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso Thanks for your answer, i will try to learn all i can before start a course.
i was thinking about making different decks for different things, but i thought it could be inefficient but now i will do this.
thanks.
LordKoKuyou 1 year ago
Try the Kanji Wordsearch iPhone app! Fun, and it tracks your progress.
olleryokel 1 year ago
@olleryokel Sounds interesting
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso I don't know if you'll reply or not but I've settled on learning Japanese like this:
I am currently learning the kanas with the help of thejapanesepage and I am using Rosetta Stone Japanese course for vocabulary.Once I learn the kanas I'll move on to learning kanji.Can you add something to my plan or is it good enough?I can dedicate about 5 hours a day.
narutoLT 1 week ago
what type of a learner are you?
kimberlykay99 1 year ago
@kimberlykay99 I'm mostly a visual learner, but I also learn a lot through physically doing something. I also understand things more thoroughly by reflecting on what I've learned.
When using an SRS you can physically type in the card to make it, read it, say it, and write it. It pretty much covers all bases while providing repetition over a spaced period of time. I've even used it when studying power engineering, and it has been helpful in that, though not as effective as with Japanese.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso thank you:)
kimberlykay99 1 year ago
Dude wtf learning hiragana and katakana can take weeks not 2 or 1 wtf is wrong with u learning japanese doesent take 2 minutes u f@g dont trick us like this if u only spend such little time on learning u r not going to learn it long term
So stfu u dont now shit
bluetube147 1 year ago
@bluetube147 It can take weeks, it really depends on how much you apply yourself and how quickly you want to learn. For it to get into your long term memory it will probably take 3 weeks of repetition. That's what ANKI (the spaced repetition software) is for. You should be able to get a pretty good grasp in a weekend though. All I know is I don't have a problem reading or writing in Kana, and this is how I did it.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@bluetube147 dude im learning nihongo, and its really not that hard lol. if you try there easy to learn in 2 weeks lol
theSVRTV 1 year ago
@theSVRTV ahahaha you learnt japanese in 2 weeks- good luck
yuriythebest 1 year ago 5
@yuriythebest umm i was obveisly talking about where you commented and say you cant learn KANA in 2 weeks! i learned kana in less then 2 weeks.
theSVRTV 1 year ago
@bluetube147
Dude, with Remembering the Kana RisuMiso told about I just spend 3 hours to learn hiragana, just as the author say. Next day I was reading hiragana quit well and hit 98% score in anki katakana deck, within 15 minutes of study. It's just this good.
Alkis05 1 year ago
@Alkis05 LOL listen u cant learn hiragana that well in 3 hours it takes time and effort there is no magic button or website video whatever watch u may of hit a 98% but as soon as u start to stop learning/studying your gonna forget and please dont bother commenting back cuz it wont make me change my mind buddy =)
bluetube147 1 year ago 6
@bluetube147 I learned katakana and hiragana in about a week together. It's different for each person so don't bitch.
siththomas 1 year ago
@siththomas
how many hours per day did you spend learning it? and how many ''letters'' did you learn per day? I really envy you for learning so quickly, because honestly I think it'll take me like a month to learn both hiragana and katakana :p
ChavezMelisa 7 months ago
@ChavezMelisa I just read them out loud for a while then I'd quiz myself. I did that numerous times a day. Good luck!
siththomas 6 months ago
I have a question... Does Japanese have tones like Mandarin, if so what are they? I have been trying to do some research online but I can't seem to get any luck finding anything on tones in Japanese :/ Thanks in advance!
jessi95605 1 year ago
@jessi95605 No Japanese is a non-tonal language, so in that sense it's easier than something like Mandarin. Some words have slightly different pronunciations though. For example bridge and chopsticks are both hashi and the inflection at the end of the word is what changes. Even if you get it wrong people will understand due to context though.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso Just a week to learn kana? No offense, but I guess I am better off by don't seeing how yours look like O.o There are no characters in the whole language you'll need more than those so you have to know them PERFECT by heart! Maybe you can READ them in one week (though I highly doubt you will be in any kind of definition 'fluent' in that short time) but there is no way they would look anything less than the doodle of a three years old after just one week. Quality over quantity!
Belikel 1 year ago
@Belikel I don't know what " I am better off by don't seeing how yours look like" means. I'm not teaching Japanese in this video, just showing you how you can teach yourself.
And yes, Kana is very basic and if you put some effort into it you can learn it pretty quickly. And no it's quantity over quality. Ever see how a child learns to write? No quality there. Don't expect to write as perfect as a Japanese person, just legibly. The point is communication, work on aesthetics later.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso I can so totally not sympathize with the idea of learing kana and kanji just to a degree where they become barely legible. If one can not appreciate japanese culture, then why bother to visit the country? And if one does appreciate it, then why should he rape one of japans most beautiful and important artforms - the art to write? Besides, most japanese kids are very well educated and know how to write shapely kana!
Belikel 1 year ago
@Belikel I didn't say barely legible. Almost every foreigner I met in Japan was able to learn their kana in a reasonably short amount of time. It's not very difficult, end of story. I was often complimented by Japanese people on how my writing was easy to read. If you read the average writing on say a parcel in Japan you would have difficulty reading what the kana were, because it's often MESSY!
Stop romanticizing and come back to the real world. If you want art take up calligraphy.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso Only because a random japanese person lacks a preferable degree of writing skill, you think you can get away with it too?! Guess again! There are even native speakers who can't get one sentence grammatical right! Thats no excuse for a foreigner who consciously wants to visit the country to make the same mistake out of mere slothfulness. Just because japanese people are too humble to tell you in your face that your writting sucks, makes you not any less a loser. END OF STORY!
Belikel 1 year ago
@Belikel Throughout your posts you make a lot of assumptions without any evidence. There is nothing slothful about learning Japanese. I would also argue that writing is the least important and most difficult language skill to learn in a second language.
You just seem like another Japan fanatic who has it in their head that Japan is some kind of fantasy world. It's not. Maybe I can sell you some of my wife's shopping lists if you believe everything they put to paper is art.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@Belikel Writing is a skill. Like any skill it starts off bad, even for Japanese people. Chances are that as a foreigner you would be more focused on learning to speak and read, so your skill at writing wouldn't be used as much. If you think it's good use of your time to spend an eternity working on it when you are a beginner then go nuts. I don't give a damn what you do with your time.
Writing き was easy for me to learn to write, but I guess it could be mind blowing to some.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso like you've shown us any 'evidence' to claim your statements. From your behavior I would guess you were one of the participants in this Halloween train shit, huh? One year over there, behaving as disrespectful as you can get cause its all just about the fun for the gaijin, making a living as an english teacher since aside of your mother tongue you got nothing to offer and then you come back with a smug grin telling people what a great playground you have found.
Belikel 1 year ago
@Belikel Once again making baseless personal statements about me. No I didn't participate in the halloween train, nor was I ever disrespectful. If you would like to know a bit about me my wife is Japanese which was the reason that I was over there. I spent almost all of my spare time studying Japanese during my time over there when I wasn't working 6 days a week. You started this whole thing telling me that my writing sucked when you never saw any of it when I practiced it ever single day.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@Belikel I also don't think it's a playground and would not want to live there again because it's a very difficult place to earn a real living as a foreigner.
All I'm saying is if you want to get good at writing you need to do it A LOT. following proper stroke order. Don't get your panties in a knot if it's not art form perfect though. It's a second language. I don't berate my wife if she makes a mistake with her English. Get it?
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso Now we speak the same language! If one is not prepared to give nothing less than his best he can not succeed in japan. But it is a different thing if you never intended to stay there in the first place. You should have mentioned that explicitly in your video! If japanese remains just as your second language and your stay in the country is over a limited time span I agree that one doesn't need to be as critical with his handwriting
Belikel 1 year ago
@Belikel I never intended to move back to Canada, but was offered a job that I couldn't refuse. The method I present in this video is called spaced repetition, which is for long term memory use.
I'm still sticking by handwriting Japanese as being by far the least useful and most time consuming aspect of the language. How often do you need to write by hand? Even Japanese kids are getting worse at kanji due to technology (i.e. cell phones).
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso @RisuMiso (though it still would be in his own best interest to put some extra effort in his learning) . Lets expand your video title then to "How to teach yourself Japanese if you have got little time to learn and need the skill only for practical reasons for a short visit to Japan"
Belikel 1 year ago
@Belikel Who the hell are you to tell me I should put more effort in my learning? I spent almost every spare minute of my time in Japan studying Japanese. I feel that if you are living in another country language acquisition should be a priority. This method is for long term language goals, not short term.
Also there is no reason why using an srs won't improve your writing skills. I wrote about 40,000 kanji from memory just doing my reviews with anki.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@Belikel Once you move there, work 6 days a week, take 3 hours a week of lessons, study on your way to and from work, during your breaks, before bed and on your one day off, and still try to enjoy Japan and see your wife we will talk about language study effort and commitment.
If you continue to make condescending trolling statements I will just block you.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso You now what a contradiction is, right? 'I would not want to live there again" in your last statement and now we are at "I never intended to move back to Canada". It is not your study method per se I am criticising but your stubborn attitude regarding the importance of kana and shapely writing! And as long as you stick with that believe you will always be what a japanese friend of mine called a 'trash gaijin'. If you feel that insecure, hell, make a fool of yourself and block me.
Belikel 1 year ago
@Belikel Yeah I know what a contradiction is, but what you just used as an example is an intention and a statement. Think about it. Do you know my reasons for no longer wanting to live there? I love Japan, and will be back to visit friends and family every year in Japan. I just don't want to live there again. The reason is that I make over 100,000 here and only work 15 days per month.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@Belikel I never said that the kana were not important, nor that they should be messy. You made many assumptions which makes you look like an ass. You never saw my writing or anything. Just because I found kana easy to learn, you have some sort of problem.
I worked hard in Japan, focused on learning language and understanding their culture. If that is what makes me a trash gaijin, you can go fuck yourself.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso Always the same with the likes of you...
Belikel 1 year ago
this is rly awsome! i remember when i first started learning japanese and i wish i had advice like this! ^.^
KasuganoAkira 1 year ago
I used Heisig's kana book. It is simply tremendous. I never used any rote memo to learn the Kana. It took me two days and I can still read and write them perfectly.
1 day Hiragana, 1 day Katakana is entirely possible. You don't even need to be hardcore at all to do it lol. So yeah, if you're starting out, go heisig for kana, it is überness itself.
Grophrane1337 1 year ago
i took anki. but i can't seem to see the cards or any japanese character. i suppose it's because my computer doesn't have em installed or something right? i wonder how can i see them...
daviddesrosiersrulz 1 year ago
PLEASE SOME READ THIS ok i am learning kanji right now using remember the kanji and i was wonder what do i do in the mean time. Yes i am in an immerse environment and listening to japanese music and watching japanese videos and some anime. I am guess that it will take me 3 months to complete this book but in the mean time what do i do about learn japanese. I know that i am being confusing but right now i am only understand reading what about understand when some one is speaking please help me
sora3428 1 year ago
@sora3428 In hindsight I think you should get a japanese textbook (japanese for busy people, etc.) and study it. Remembering the kanji is useful, but I wish I would have just focused on basic grammar at first. Doing a text book will teach you verb conjugations, basic words and phrases, etc. Work on the kanji once you have a bit of base built up. Do what I mention in this video after.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
Haha. Romaji looks 'disgusting'. Hahaha. I thought I was alone on this one. I always cringe a bit when I type Japanese and realise I haven't changed the input characters.
theendingnote 1 year ago
Good videos on studying Japanese on your own. I started off well and was manic for 2 years, then I got busy with other things.... Lots of good ideas and resources - good.
SillyWillyFan47 1 year ago
Anki, is great! I used it to learn math up to calculus and I know its great for Japanese too. good video.
nmotiontravelguide 1 year ago
It seems my advice helped out a bit. Good job on your Japanese progress.
wcgfreetheslaves 1 year ago
@wcgfreetheslaves Indeed, thanks for introducing me to Anki! Staring at that program now consumes a large portion of my life... haha. It has been very helpful, and I wouldn't want to learn Japanese without it (or anything else for that matter).
RisuMiso 1 year ago
continuation...Is this where studying Kanji comes in to place? For most of the part I am missing the nouns of the sentences. I just ordered "Remembering the Kanji" from E-bay and I hope this is what will fill the "gap" in my process of learning the Japanese Language. I intend to work it out with Anki. I really hope this will strengthen, solidify my knowledge of the language. It just feels kind of frustrating that the "nouns" are what I never paid attention to the most.
shinzengumi 1 year ago
Thank you for the humble response! This just really made me curious because I have listened and stuck with anime/j-pop songs since I was little but now that I reflect upon it I may have been "too laid back" that I'm not able to fully transcend with the language. Now that I actually "listen" to some songs and shows, for most of the part I can pick up common words/expression used however I noticed that I lack depth/knowledge on grasping nouns of each sentence.Is this where studying Kanji comes in?
shinzengumi 1 year ago
Awesome video! I have a question on what type of mind set would best suit learning when listening to japanese audio? Like do you need to be at utmost attention in trying to grasp every word said? Is it more like a laid back, let it run through the mind type of deal? This part really confuses me, I know it can be very tedious to try to listen to every word that is being said but if that is what it takes, heck then that is what I will continue to do.
shinzengumi 1 year ago
@shinzengumi I often have the TV on in the background and I'm not actively listening to it, but I'm still hearing it. I don't know how much this helps but it doesn't hurt. If a word or sentence pattern I know is said it usually is acknowledged by my brain though. Also words that I've recently learned but I keep forgetting usually get solidified in my memory when I randomly hear them somewhere.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@shinzengumi I think making some effort to watch or listen to stuff actively is useful too, but don't worry about trying to pick out every word. The more words you learn and the better your listening gets you will naturally pick out words. Watching things with Japanese subtitles on at the same time will help you to be able to pick out words more easily though. Check out a webpage called d-addicts for Japanese drama's and download some J-subs with them. My girl is easy!
RisuMiso 1 year ago
Kennicheewa, sumo!
keibichan 1 year ago
ki word lol
snypylo 1 year ago
ive been learnign using livemocha but I really need to get off romanji it IS a crutch
niceprince 1 year ago
AJATT!! ;)
xochrisox 1 year ago
How long did it take you to learn bro?
zocurtis 1 year ago
@zocurtis I've been studying for 9 months. I'm not even at an intermediate level yet, so I figure I'll still be learning for many many years to come.
RisuMiso 1 year ago
btw was just goin back to this vid to look at some of those books you had, and the line you say about RTK " if it does...THATS AWESOME" had me cracking up. something about how you said it man... is it beer time yet? what the hell is up with this stupid ass weather!?
CakesBomb 1 year ago
@CakesBomb Cakes! It is beer time!
RisuMiso 1 year ago
@RisuMiso BEER ME!
CakesBomb 1 year ago
I use a lot of these resources, glad to see it'll pay off :)
BittersweetVictory 1 year ago
zettai kareshi!! hahahaha <3
AngelaTheHotty 1 year ago
@AngelaTheHotty I didn't watch it past the first episode. I did watch all of My girl though, and I liked it!
RisuMiso 1 year ago
Is it possible to SRS binge? I've got alot of free time so i'm using Reviewing the Kanji, Anki AND I started on Hiragana on smart fm. I can't comment whether it's too much work because i'm still enjoying it. I do have alot of free time though.
Did you learn the readings for the Kanji while learning them? It seems like it'd be much slower than learning it afterwards in context. Great videos by the way!
geogaddia 1 year ago
@geogaddia I go through periods where I add lots to my srs, then I get tired and just do reviews for a while (sentences though). RTK I did pretty hard until I finished, I still do my reviews months later though. I learn the readings in context SRSing sentences. I SRS'd Understanding Basic Japanese Grammar, then I was going to do 2001 Kanji Odyssey but I decided to do Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication first. Just srs what you can handle. Thanks for watching!
RisuMiso 1 year ago
best book to learn is mina no nihongo
daviddanielmax 1 year ago
I agree Romanji is a crutch, but my issue is I like learning with videos and my favorite is the "Let's Learn Japanese" series. The issue? It's 100% Romanji, but there's a lack of video learning resources. YouTube doesn't meet my quality expectations, so I feel I have no choice - I have to learn through Romanji.
That's not to say I don't like books, but I'd take a video over a book any day. It helps me retain the info better and get me pumped to learn rather than snoring.
Your thoughts?
RelVleDy 2 years ago
You could use a program called subs2srs. What this does is it takes a video (let's say a Japanese drama) and cuts it up into flash cards using the English and Japanese subtitles. So on one side of the card you would have a still from the show with and audio clip and the Japanese subtitle for the clip. On the answer side of the anki card you would have the english sub for the same clip.
So you watch the shows then review the cards. I'll email you the links if you are interested.
RisuMiso 2 years ago
Oh wow, you reply fast, lol. Yea that subs2srs sounds interesting. I went ahead and Googled it and I think I found it, so I'll give it a shot, thanks.
RelVleDy 2 years ago
Oh Please can u inbox me the links as well it sounds very useful.
Starhh21 1 year ago
And to expand, can you recommend any quality video learning tools? I tried YouTube stuff, like GimmaFlakeMan, but that just doesn't do it for me, no offense to him, lol. YouTube is great for cultural lessons, but for learning the language? Not so much, unless you know of some great channels I missed out on.
RelVleDy 2 years ago
yeah you are right when you start learning japanese you have to first learn hiragana and katakana...for kanji i use the basic kanji book vol. 1 & 2.
butovas 2 years ago
I wouldn't say you have to learn kana first, I would definitely recommend it though!
RisuMiso 2 years ago
Yeah, I use romaji like a crutch...you're right about that. I have to get over how intimidating all the kana are...the hiragana and katakana would be ok...but when you add the kanji to the mix, that's what intimidates me and sends me back to romaji.
thajonester 2 years ago
I used to be in the same boat. I could read and write hiragana and katakana, but would frequently read and write Japanese in romaji. Then I went though Remembering the kanji, and one thing I didn't mention is it gives you confidence. It makes you realize that kanji aren't impossible. It's not the only way, but it worked for me and many others.
You've got to drop the crutches if you want to run!
RisuMiso 2 years ago
whats the book that has pictures to represent the kanji? is it the same as what you were talking about earlyer or is it something different?
animeangela227 2 years ago
The book I refer to and recommend is "Remembering the Kanji" by James Heisig. It helps you remember and write them by breaking them down into parts, and creating stories with your imagination. I think it is far superior to using visual mnemonics due to the large amount of kanji you will need to learn.
If you really want to learn them with pictures, the "basic kanji book" series uses visual mnemonics and rote for learning kanji.
RisuMiso 2 years ago
i'm at the begining level of kanji, i've learned basic ones and i'm starting to need more reasourses!! so far i have had a DS game that has really helped and a basic grammer book. I will take "Remembering the Kanji" into consideration, but what other books have you found for just kanji/grammer that is at a very basic level?
animeangela227 2 years ago
I used "The basic kanji book" first, but then I found it too slow going so I found "Remembering the Kanji". Those are the only two I have used for learning how to write kanji. I can't tell you how you will learn best, you just need to try things and see what works for you. For me RTK was amazing and I wouldn't do it any other way. Kanji don't really vary in difficulty either, it's just volume.
RisuMiso 2 years ago
Also if you go to the link in the sidebar you can download the first 100 pages of the book or so and try it out for free. That will give you about 250 kanji or so.
RisuMiso 2 years ago
I'm constantly surprised by how often the detractors of Heisig's book simply don't understand its premise. So many reviews berate it for not giving the complete readings, or for the choice of keywords whilst obviously failing to even read the introduction on page one. An excellent book if people understand its function - and the clue is in its title ;o)
acromel 2 years ago
Exactly. I don't care about what the keywords mean, I'm not speaking keywordanese. I also don't need a list of readings, because when I tried learning readings out of context (before heisig) they would go in one ear and out the other. I just learn words. Keywords are good for guessing sometimes though.
What I do like is when I learn a new word, the kanji I'm looking at are burned into my brain, and I have no problem recognizing them and attaching meaning to them. The naysayers can use rote
RisuMiso 2 years ago
全く同感でございます。
If Heisig has done nothing else for me, it's enabled me to look at a page of Japanese text and, rather than feel overwhelmed and intimidated, I can start to pick out characters and see the conjugations and actually start to comprehend. I don't understand the attitude of the by-rote brigade who seem to feel proud that they've put in so much work. I just see wasted time! I want to read and communicate in Japanese, not suffer. :o)
頑張りましょう! （笑)
acromel 2 years ago
Very true! It gave me lots of confidence too! Being able to write them is nice too! I can't output much writing (besides RTK cards of course), but when I move on to making an output deck with close deletion it will come in handy for that too.
Learning by rote is fine for Japanese people who take 12 years to do it and are native speakers. As an adult learning it as a second language, you don't have 12 years. Time to use the brain and work smarter not harder.
はい、頑張ります！
RisuMiso 2 years ago
This is pretty cool. I understand your struggle though man, As I might have mentioned before I'm teaching myself the German language. Three main factors though out there for people looking or in the process of learning a second language: Repetition, Patience, and Dedication. If you got that, eventually your gonna learn the material, with good resources and with the Internet, aswel as the library there's a variety of resources.
andrewl5201 2 years ago
That's exactly it! It's not really hard, it just takes some time and effort!
RisuMiso 2 years ago
Thanks for all the links! Awesome
=^.^= nyaa
CondemnedByCookies 2 years ago
Hope they help!
RisuMiso 2 years ago
If you want to learn the Kana, I highly recommend Heisig's Remembering the Kana, it took me 2 day's with revision to learn both Hiragana and Katakana. If I cut the time down to just when I was actually learning how to remember the characters, it took me 97 minutes. I really want to start on Kanji but trying to get motivated to learn Japanese after 12 hours away at college is not an easy task.
AirurandoOtoko 2 years ago
I figured that book was good! I never used it myself so thanks for the review. I did Remembering the kanji pretty hard. If you are already spending that much time on other studies, it might be better to wait!
RisuMiso 2 years ago
Comment removed
AirurandoOtoko 2 years ago
No problem, yeah i'll wait until summer holidays to start Kanji and keep up with vocab and grammar until then.
AirurandoOtoko 2 years ago
Kanji takes a lot of your time, so that sounds like a good idea! If you liked Heisigs kana book you should like the kanji one!
RisuMiso 2 years ago
I don't agree with Romanji being bad. You don't lose any pronunciation when using Romanji for Japanese like you do when using Katakana for English. "カタカナ" and "Katakana" are pronounced the same exact way, but "ストロベリー" and "Strawberry" sound barely alike.
I would say though that you're better off using Kana anyway, because it'll become more ingrained into your head that way.
BreazyNova 2 years ago
Romaji is bad because Japanese in Japan isn't written in romaji. So it doesn't help your reading ability in the slightest.
When Japanese write words like strawberry in katakana they have adopted those words into their language and use them with their sounds. There are many borrowed words in English from other languages that sound nothing like the original.
But yeah kana all the way! Romaji is a crutch!
RisuMiso 2 years ago
I'm just saying, you're right that if a Japanese person is learning English, Katakana won't help at all, because like I said, the pronunciation between English and Katakana is obviously way off. But if a native English speaker is learning Japanese for the first time, Romanji helps in making it easier to see how Kana is said.
BreazyNova 2 years ago
I'm not saying you can't learn Japanese without Romanji. You totally can. And I'm sure you weren't implying that Romanji is completely useless from the get go. And you're right that once you got Hiragana and Katakana down, there's no use for Romanji anymore. But hey, come on now. Romanji ain't so bad. To each his own, I guess. :P
BreazyNova 2 years ago
I get where you are coming from. Initially it is useful to learn the sounds of the kana, and impossible without it (unless you have a native speaker say them to you). In the beginning there is nothing wrong with using it. I just think anyone serious about learning the language needs to use kana and kanji. But yeah, to each their own! I won't lie, I'm a romaji hater! :p
RisuMiso 2 years ago
Completely agree. I loath romaji. I can understand people being reluctant to learn kanji, but kana is easy - there's no excuse!
The best advice I ever read was to avoid romaji and now, with hindsight, I think it's damn good advice. It just gets in the way and is probably responsible for that truly hideous gaijin accent. 何何がsookidesoo. 痛い！
acromel 2 years ago
Another example is when I'm making sentence cards on anki I will sometimes forget to switch back to kana input and won't be looking at the screen when I'm typing. It will end up being a long wall of romaji. When I see it, it's not something easy to read, in fact I would say it's harder to read.
RisuMiso 2 years ago
I don't mean to be pedantic but you've given a good indication as to why it is bad.
It's `romaji' not `romanji'. This sort of mistake just doesn't happen with kana.
Your point about pronunciation is only valid if the syllables are pronounced in the Japanese way - most English speakers don't, hence their appalling accent. And it's a moot point when kana is used.
I'd suggest throwing away any references to English: they'll just get in the way.
acromel 2 years ago
Well, you learn something new everyday. Been studying Japanese for 10 years and I've been calling it "Romanji" this whole time, hah.
BreazyNova 2 years ago
Thanks for the link to Anki. Sounds like something that will be useful.
I highly recommend to others the "Read Real Japanese" book you have there. It's great and I like how certain sections are explained in detail. I have the fiction one, but I imagine the essay book is just as good.
MrLeo34 2 years ago
Anki is a great tool!
I also heard that the essay book is just as good as the fiction one. I'll probably pick it up eventually too!
RisuMiso 2 years ago
Ry, sorry, I saw part 2 before I saw part 1. so forget my question, ya?
Gaeilge2000 2 years ago
Oops! If you remember send it my way!
RisuMiso 2 years ago
Great help:)i started on my own(to study)downloaded the Heising books-hiragana-katakana and kanji:O)its not easy but if you notice your processing its great:)made own flash cards...its great for learning on the go on the bus...you have to be creative sometimes:)But i have one question is it good to learn words before you have the complete kana right???thnx S.
StillSimplyMeSue 2 years ago
I would use an SRS over paper flash cards. You can get anki on iphone or an Ipod touch if you have one. It also can sync to an online server and your computer!
I'm not sure what you mean exactly by your question. Learn the kana first. After that I would go on to kanji, but if you like you can start on vocab, it's up to you how you want to learn the language! You could learn vocabulary in kana, but after a while I think you will wish you knew kanji. It's easier to read if you learn kanji.
RisuMiso 2 years ago
Great info, Risumiso! I have that blue book, Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese. I took classes, but I learn more effectively on my own by reading, watching movies/YT and having Japanese friends. Nowadays, I work nights at a Japanese restaurant so I can immerse. Thanks for posting!
MrJingjong 2 years ago
I hate that blue book (tuttle). To me it doesn't serve any useful purpose. All those immersion types are some of the best ways to learn real Japanese. Thanks for the comment!
RisuMiso 2 years ago