Three of my friends have recently told me that they want to learn Japanese. I told them I’d write them up a quick guide to get them started. I’m reflecting on what that will look like.
I’d start with Tofugu’s Ridiculously-Detailed Guide. What follows is not a critique, but I have thoughts. I’m interested in your thoughts on my thoughts.
Of course, I tell you and would tell them that they can and should make their own adjustments to suit their needs and priorities.
- Unpopular opinion: handwriting is a crucial skill even if you never use it in the wild. I still write by hand on physical paper almost every day. In fact, I often use this Monotype page and try to imitate fonts.
- When I’m writing, I’m stopping and thinking. When I’m writing radicals, I’m thinking about what makes up the kanji. When I’m writing words, I’m thinking about what makes up the sentence.
- Observing stroke order has made me better at reading native handwriting.
- This could be irrational, but practicing like a native speaker builds my confidence.
2. I disagree with this article’s decision to put kanji before katakana. But I do think the best time to start kanji is as soon as possible after getting kana down. EDIT: I misread the post, which does indeed emphasize teaching kana first. Please disregard.
- If I were building a practice routine, I’d make checklists of resources and sub-skills.
- Resources: textbook; dictionary; native reading content; native listening content; flashcards; native speaker.
- Sub-skills: reading; writing; speaking; listening; spaced repetition.
- I would also think about two “modes” of learning: bottom-up (book learning) and top-down (immersion).
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I understand what the writer meant by, “When learning something new, you should already know 80% of it.” At the same time, immersion practice is a critical skill that I regret not starting years ago. I’d argue for both. For immersion, there is no understanding 80% right away. You have to let that incomprehensible speech wash over you until your ears pick it out.
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And as always, stay away from Duolingo.
EDIT: My bad; I meant to say I favor learning kana before kanji. That article put kanji before katakana, which was the thing I disagreed with. I thought the words backwards. It’s been that kind of day.
EDIT×2: Tofugu’s article did say to learn kana first; I misread it. Sorry!