How did I start to learn japanese?
In this article I show you how I started to learn japanese language. I think It can be a good guideline for those who is thinking about to start learn, but hey don't know where to start.
Firstly I checked the numbers in the japanese language in summer of 2022. I saw that after 10k the numbers get very hard. I left it. During the next semester one of my teacher said that(who is in a high position in a big firm) if you can speak english is ok. If you speak english or german/french is it good. If you speak english and one of the east languages you are very good. My classmates(or I don't know how the english call them in university) said that they never start an eastern language to learn, because it is hard. I agree with that it is hard, but in my opinion there isn't anything you can't learn, it only depends on you(and your think about the topic). It is strange for the europians the kanjis, hiraganas and katakanas at first, but with practise that will be nothing.(If we speaking about Japanese language)
How do I started?
In November 2023 I started to learn. First I started to learn with it. I started there with the main course there(or I don't know how to call), but I didn't find it good. Ok I can recognize the kanjis, but I can't write it. I know on duolingo it shows how to write kanjis, hiraganas and katakanas, but that not the same when you write with your own hand. I mostly learnt there to recognize hiraganas and katakanas. After that I made my learning style. I started to learn how to write down hirganas. After hiraganas I continued with katakanas. A Hungarian youtuber who lives in Japan(Veréb) said that around in a month you can learn hiraganas. I can agree with that. The same true for katakanas.
I started every day with that I wrote all the hirganas first what I know that day when I strated to learn katakanas I wrote both daily. Later I recognised there are place for the combined forms so I wrote down finally both hiragana and katakana with their combined version.
Another way how I learnt hiraganas and katakanas was that I wrote in 3 column words in a paper with my characters like inu, neko and etc. After that Wrote them to an another exercise book. I made around 3 pages of words for hiraganas and 3 page words for katakanas.
When I thought I know well both hiraganas and katakanas I started to learn the grammer. I searched a grammer book on the internet which one is good. In one of a japanese language learner facebook group I saw a comment where somebody said that the Japanese from zero books are good for japanese learning. I checked its price. I was shocked around 3 times the cost of any english grammer book. So I had to search for any other option. I checked if there are any of that book on the internet somewhere in pdf. Luckily I found them on different pages.(If you need them contact me)
In Hungary there are 2 japanese language books which you could learn the language. One is the Dekiru. Dekiru has 2 books. Officaly teachers use this book in education to teach japanese language in Hungary. The second is PON's language book, but that book is from a langauge school. I saw in a store their book, but it was very little for me. When I decided to learn from japanese from zero. I checked that dekiru have around 300 pages as japanese from zero books, but japanese from zero books have 5 volumes. So I thought I can learn more from Japanese from zero. True it is a little bit harder to learn a language from an another langauge which is not your mother tongue, but I think I have no problem with it. Maybe it requires more time to undestand the grammers.
I learnt every grammer from the first book lesson by lesson. Around half of the book I bored that I only use hiraganas mostly. So I started to know the kanjis. After that where I could use kanjis. I made a word doc on my computer where is a list of kanjis I have met already. I don't say I know all of them at this moment, but I have already known more than 100 kanjis. In that file there are picture of the kanjis stroke order which I "steal" from the tanoshijapanese.com website.
After that I finished the first book I decided I do again the first book, but now I use kanjis. Now I am around the last lessons at that book. After I finish again I am going to continue with the second book. I want to finish all of the 5 books of Japanese from zero and hopefully my japanese is improve book by book.
Tips for beginners
First tip: not want to know immediately learn kanji without hiraganas you won't know how to pronounce the kanjis.
Second tip: I offer often practise hiragana and katakana. It is very easy to forget them escpecially katakanas.
Third tip: don't give up. It is a hard language, but it is very interesting. I think worth to learn it. DON't CARE ABOUT WHAT OTHERS SAY YOU CAN DO IT. :)
I hope you liked this article. On saturday possibly I go to Szombathely where an event called Japan day will be hold. On Saturday or the next week I am going to write about it.