Jim Goes to Japan

Learning how to write Japanese is not for the faint of heart, but can be very rewarding. Learning a new language not only immerses you in new cultural experiences, but it can help you to improve your thinking and memory skills as well. By forcing yourself to really examine the nature of language and the sounds you use to describe things you’re actually making new connections in your brain. If you can stick through the hard parts you’ll not only make new friends, you can become smarter.

Learning how to read Japanese characters is the first step. The first thing you should read up on are the “hiragana.” Japanese uses a fixed set of syllables instead of an alphabet to make their words which actually sounds more complicated than it is. To represent these syllables, the Japanese use a system of “syllaberies;” of which there are three: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. It is recommended to start learning hiragana first along side katakana before moving on to kanji.

A hiragana chart

One advantage Japanese has by using a limited set of phonetic syllables is that it makes the language very simple to understand. All words in the entire language are formed by the same sounds. This means there are no tricky pronunciation rules as there are in English (characters in Japanese do not modify the sound of other characters). The trick is to memorize the sounds just like you did when you started learning your ABC’s. Once committed to memory, the Japanese language starts to seem a lot easier than it first appears to be.

There are many free programs to help train your knowledge of hiragana, katakana, and kanji. One such program I’ve been using is called KanaTest. It comes with a built-in hiragana and katakana chart and can remember your test statistics so you can track your progress. Best of all, it’s free (but I’m sure the developer wouldn’t mind a small donation). There are even dictionary programs like Gjiten (for Linux GNOME users) and MayJay (for everyone). Be sure to check them out as they certainly help with studying.

Below is an amazon link to a book I highly recommend. I’m using it myself and I find it indispensable. It will teach you the syllabries, how to write the characters (stroke order is important!), about 160 kanji, grammar, and even onomatopoeia! Plus, it uses Japanese manga to provide examples of more advanced colloquial speech not typically found in stuffy training books geared towards business people. Also, it is an affiliate link so if you decide to purchase the book it will help me out a little towards paying for this site.

Remember to let me know what you think about posts like this and such so I can write better posts in the future! Take it easy and all the best…