Learning Japanese
Why Japanese?
I've been lucky enough to go Japan a couple of times, I love the food, the culture, and you only have to look at the football fans cleaning up after themselves at the World Cup to see how respectful the people are - the world has a lot to learn from them.
To try and not be an ignorant tourist in the future, I wanted to be able to understand more of the language for next time. A lot of the smaller places to eat have menus in Japanese-only, and I wanted understand enough to be able to read them, but where to start was a different matter.
In 2020, I came across a blog by Sally Lait, who broke down how she was learning Japanese, and all of a sudden it felt like it was something that was achievable. I encourage you to read her blog, as its a different take on it from what I have done.
Aside: People think blogging is dead, but words do matter and you don't know who will read them and what impact they will have on them.
Below is a collection of resources that I've used to start learning Japanese. They won't get you ready for the JLPT N1 exams, but I've found they get you to the point of giving you confidence to learn more:
Hiragana and Katakana
First off, learn the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets. These are the building blocks of the language, and although still very different to the English alphabet, they are the closest thing logically to it in Japanese. I started with the website Tofugu which is a great Japanese learning resource. Tofugu has a couple of great articles each with a set of mneumonics with custom art to help you remember the characters:
There are some mneumonics that come across as being a little obscure, but those ones will be the ones that you do remember quicker.
Reinforcement through games
I've found playing games helped with repetition and recognition. Two websites that I keep going back to are:
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Dr. Lingua's Kana Bento - a timed drag-and-drop game where you have to match the characters up. You can match Hiragana to Katakana, or Hiragana to Romaji*, or Katakana to Romaji. Works very well on a tablet touch screen.
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Hiragana Quiz - not timed, but an endless quiz of matching the Romaji to the Hiragana or Katakana. This allows you to includes Digraphs and Diacritics (these are small modifications to the characters that change the sound).
*Romaji is the Romanisation of the Japanese characters, so that they can be written in the Latin alphabet. It's not used in Japan, but is used in the West to help with learning the characters. In the long run, it can cause some issues with learning.
If you enjoy gaming (more specifically RPGs) then on Steam there is a set of JRPGs called Learn Japanese to Survive! where your group of characters battle Japanese characters, and can only beat them by correctly translating them. I don't have as much time as I used to for gaming, but I played it for a couple of hours and if RPGs are your thing, it can be a rather unique way to learn.
Taking it up a level - Kanji
Kanji are the Chinese characters that are used in Japanese writing. They are the most difficult part of learning Japanese as there are thousands of them, they can have multiple readings, and they can change depending on the context of the word. They are also the basis of a lot of tattoos that when translated, don't mean what the person thinks they mean.
The intimidation factor goes up a notch when you hear there are "thousands of them", but 1. You don't need to know all of them (do you know every word in your own language?!), and 2. You can break them down into "Radicals", which are the building blocks of the characters, which can help you remember them.
The best resource I've found for learning Kanji is WaniKani. It breaks down the characters into levels, and tests you as you go along. The whole course does cost a fee, but they are kind enough to give you the first three levels for free to make sure that you like it. It's a great way to ease yourself into the intimidating world of Kanji.
Consume culture you enjoy
This goes to the centre of why you are learning Japanese; what are your motivations? Linking your learning to something you enjoy, eases the learning process, and with Japanese culture being such a different culture from the West, and there is so much to explore.
I've personally found watching the NHK World news channel to not only be a great way to listen to the language being spoken, but they also have a lot of cultural shows that are subtitled in English.
A favourite of mine ties current events with the language in a simple way: Learn Japanese from the News. They have a 15 minute show, they cover some key language points to listen for, show a news segment, then discuss it at the end again.
NHK also have their own Japanese language learning website, which you should check out.
Beyond the news there is anime, manga, gaming, etc. - all of which can be used to help you learn the language.
Japanese From Zero!
At the current learning stage I'm at (Hiragana, Katakana, and starting Kanji), I've found that the internet has been the best resource for learning. I have however found the Japanese From Zero! series of books to be a fun learning resource.
The author George Trombley as a great sense of humour, and he also puts out a lot of content on his YouTube channel and there is a From Zero! discord channel that you can join to ask questions.
Translation services
Google and Bing (Microsoft) both provide translation services, but I'd exercise caution when using them. They can be useful for single words, but the context of the word can change the translation. I personally run the translation through bother services for an added level of confidence.
Hopefully, this will be of use to you. Any questions, or additional suggestions you think I might like from the resources I've listed, please get in touch.