How to learn Japanese for beginners?
– Let’s start with Hiragana and Katakana.
Hiragana is one of the elements of the Japanese writing system so it’s a pretty important skill to learn. Katakana is another component of the Japanese writing system that should be part of a beginner Japanese program.
The good news is that this isn’t a difficult one. There are some excellent resources available for beginning learners. For example (Youtube Pod101, Mochikana,…). If you focus hard, it only took you several days to master them.
– Familiarize yourself with Kanji Practice is essential for beginning Japanese learners.
Adding kanji flashcard practice to a study program is an almost foolproof way to power up skills. You can make flashcards by yourself or using a technique if there are numerous Kanji you need to memorize. A best technique is the Spaced repetition system (SRS) which helps you memorize everything effectively and better by reminding you to review information on time, repeatedly. I recommend the MochiMochi app, which uses the SRS. It really works for me. MochiMochi has a lot of different courses. I wish I had known it since I started learning Japanese. If so, learning Japanese would have been much easier.
– Build a core vocabulary Begin with the very basics to build this core vocabulary.
Think about the conversational tidbits you use to introduce yourself, say “please” and “thank you” or to answer questions. Japanese flashcards are an excellent resource for learning basic vocabulary. They can be entertaining to use, especially if you challenge yourself to learn a certain number of words or phrases each day.
– Learn Japanese Sentence Structure
Unlike English’s “Subject Verb Object” structure, the verb comes at the end of a sentence. The good news is that just about anything can be the subject or the object—what matters most is that the verb finishes it off.
Let’s look at a Japanese sentence to see how it’s put together.
私はパンを食べます。(わたしはパンをたべます）
I eat bread. The subject, “私,” is first up. This refers to who or what is carrying out the action.
Next is the object, “パン” the thing being acted upon.
And finally, we have the verb “食べます,” which is the actual action of the sentence.
This is also where particles come in handy.
は and を in the above sentence mark the subject (私) and the direct object (パン) of the sentence, respectfully. By putting each particle in its proper place, the subjects and objects are clearly defined and ready for the verb to wrap them up in a neat little bow.
Practice getting familiar with this new style of sentences, and you’ll figure out where things go in no time.
