5 TIPS of how to start LEARNING JAPANESE

[Arsudar]

How to learn Japanese? This is really difficult question and depends on different purposes and interests, the answers might differ from one another. So, in order to help you in this fun but challenging Japanese learning journey, we would like to give you 5 TIPS of how to start LEARNING JAPANESE.

1 - Prepare your mind and determination for a long journey.

Before going into any kinds of journey, you have to prepare for it. And in this learning Japanese journey, you will have to prepare more than anything you expect. The reason? Unlike many other Latin languages such as English, Italian, Frence, .etc.. Japanese is a entire different story. You can say Japanese is symbolic language in which it has its own syllables and patterns. This means that if you are going to study Japanese, you will learn a new alphabets, syllables, patterns system and that will be difficult since it is unlike anything you have seen before. There are many things you have to remember in Japanese, and one of them is the 3 alphabetical systems: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. If you think Hiragana and Katakana are intimidating, prepare to learn Kanji as it has tons of different words, patterns. So ready to stay strong and determent if you choose to learn Japanese, if not, there is high chance that you will give up in just a short period of learning Japanese.

2 - Set up your goals.

Ok, so you have strong determination, you want to learn Japanese and master it. That’s good but before you start to ask yourself “how to start learning Japanese?”, you need to answer another question: “What is your goal when learning Japanese?”. If you are going for a job from Japanese companies or scholarship to study abroad in Japan, you will need to consider taking JLPT examination. JLPT is the certificate which proves the ability to use Japanese and it is divided into 5 levels from N1 to N5. N1 is the advanced level whereas N5 is the beginner level. If you truly want to get a job from Japanese companies, you will have to get to atleast N3 level which will commonly take 1 year. If you want to enroll for Japanese University for higher education purposes, the requirement would be atleast N4 level. Depends on your goal, the required level would be different and you will need to have proper study plans and efforts for it. On the other hand, if you simply like Japanese culture and you just want to be able to use Japanese in real life (for example for communication purpose like saying "I love you in Japanese" or "good morning in Japanese"), then maybe you can just take your time and enjoy your learning process. So as you can see, different goals will require different efforts and study plans and you will need to have a goal before jumping into the question of “how to learn Japanese?”.

3 - Enroll a learning Japanese course.

This is actually optional but enrolling a learning Japanese course could be a good start, especially if you are absolute beginner. Getting a Japanese course will give you a better idea of what you are supposed to learn. The teachers will instruct you what to learn, which books you need for your study, what kind of strategy you should follow. From time to time you will gradually know what you need to focus until you can learn Japanese by yourself. If you don’t want to enroll a Japanese course, you can choose to have Japanese courses or lessons online. On the Internet, there are plenty of websites offer good learning Japanese contents for you to select and it is always worth a try even if you want to learn Japanese by yourself.

4 - Try to have a trip to Japan.

This may sound silly but yeah, which place is better to learn Japanese but Japan itself? Japan is a beautiful country with deep cultures (and yes some weird cultures too) and you can learn a lot of Japanese from real-life conversations. For absolute beginners, it is a good oppurtunity for them to see what they should expect from learning Japanese and what they should aim for when learning Japanese.

5 - Try learning Japanese through manga, anime.

Normally we think that manga, anime is just Japanese comic and cartoon, but if we take a different look, we have to agree that manga and anime can be a good materials to learn Japanese too. We can actually learns lots of vocabularies and the way of using Japanese in real conversation from manga and anime, however, one thing we need to watch out for is the way they use Japanese. Manga and anime include many different genres from fantasy world to real-life, so sometimes we might be affected by their “weird way” of using Japanese. If you are looking for best fit manga and anime to learn Japanese, try manga and anime which is about normal life.

Read more: I love you in Japanese
Japanese Kanji
Good morning in Japanese

[nomi147]

Essentially, trying to translate Japanese literally into English would make you sound rather like Yoda.

Unlike English or the Romance languages, in Japanese there are three lexical systems to juggle: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. On top of that, there are different tenses for levels of humbleness and informality. Japanese is also highly contextual, built on subtle hints rather than more direct communication.