For an English speaker, learning Japanese can seem overwhelming. With kanji, katakana, hiragana, and a new grammar structure, the learning process can seem nearly impossible. Despite this initial shock, Japanese is a completely accessible language to English speakers, even though learning Japanese will take time and commitment. Check out these tips to make the process a little easier.
Getting Started
When I took my first Japanese class in college, I felt stressed and worried that I would never be able to learn how to read and write all the hiragana and katakana characters, let alone begin to tackle kanji or making complete sentences. It is natural for native English speakers to feel this when beginning to learn Japanese, as the languages do seemingly have a lot of differences. Do not let these initial differences scare you off from learning. Start learning hiragana by practicing writing the characters and then move on to katakana. This will be the foundation on which the rest of your written Japanese learning is based.
Study
Once you have gotten over the initial shock of learning Japanese, get in the habit of studying every day. Depending on your schedule, this does not have to be a terribly time-consuming daily event. Taking the time to sit down every day and learn about a new verb structure or vocabulary word will keep your language abilities sharp.
Resources
Of course, for many people, studying can feel dull and boring. With the right resources, learning Japanese can feel less like a chore and more fun. Having up-to-date textbooks with useful vocabulary and structures is important, but other options for learning exist outside of the classroom setting to help you keep up with your Japanese. Websites like Japanese-Online and Easy Japanese have flashcards, grammar resources, and other tools to help in the learning process. Do a quick online search for Japanese learning websites and resources to find one appropriate for you.
If you do not have time to sit down at the computer to learn Japanese every day, try downloading a mobile app on your cellphone. There are many apps available on both iOS and Android for Japanese dictionaries, flashcards, and teaching apps. For a short list of some useful ones, click here.
Kanji
For native English speakers, learning kanji and retaining it can be one of the most difficult parts of learning Japanese. Even if you learned a kanji character together with its pronunciation and meaning, it is quite easy to forget its stroke order and meaning if you rarely see it or use it. Using flashcards and practicing your writing with them will help you to memorize kanji and not forget it later. Read the Kanji is another online resource available to those looking to improve their kanji skills.
Practice
While studying and using Japanese learning apps on your phone helps you to retain your Japanese skills, more active forms of learning are more effective in increasing your language ability. These more active forms of learning may include writing your own sentences in Japanese, speaking to native-speaking friends, and listening to radio or television broadcasts. Try writing a sentence or two about your day in Japanese. Conveying your thoughts this way will help you use all you have studied. Likewise, if you have a friend who speaks Japanese, try having conversations with him or her. Speaking requires you to use the information you have learned, without having a dictionary or other source to rely on. Anime or other Japanese television programs are a good way to practice listening skills. Try watching the programs with subtitles at first and listen for familiar words and phrases, or try challenging yourself by watching without subtitles at all.
Apply it
Once you have confidence in your Japanese, advance your abilities to the next level by going abroad to Japan. Doing a homestay with a Japanese family is an excellent way to quickly immerse yourself and learn things that textbooks or language-learning apps cannot teach you. If you meet the conditions, consider applying for the JET program and teach English to Japanese youth.
Do you have any tips for learning Japanese? Let us know in the comments!
