When
it comes to learning a second language, the most difficult part is
finding out where to start. The overview of the journey
page provides a general outline for what you can do to get started,
but I felt that a more detailed post may help people to get going.
So, if you're struggling to find a place to begin, this is the post
for you.
The
first thing I would recommend doing is buying some Japanese media. The most essential
tool to learning Japanese on your own is creating an immersion environment, and
without Japanese media it is quite hard to do so. I especially
recommend buying manga and novels of varying levels. Find some
manga/novel series that you've already read translations for or new
series that seem interesting to you and buy a nice variety of
volumes. To get the most out of shipping, I'd say aim for at least
ten or so volumes. Also, for this first shipment, make sure you get
mostly media with furigana (kana reading guides for kanji), but get a
few volumes without it.
Note:
If you are not sure how to find interesting series, check the media section or browse
MangaUpdates. If
you don't know any sites to order Japanese media from, check out the
store page.
Once
you've ordered your media, it's time to start learning the kana. With cheaper air
shipping, you'll probably be waiting at least a week or two for your
Japanese media to arrive, and with shipping by sea you'll be waiting
a good deal longer, so take advantage of this time to master the
kana. You'll want to start getting acquainted with Anki
as well, as it's your greatest tool for retaining what you've
learned.
When
your media arrives, go through it and get a taste for the varying
levels of Japanese. Take note of manga that don't have furigana and
those that do. Get excited about one day being able to read it all.
If you've gone through all of the kana a few times, then try flipping
through and reading some of the easier looking series. You don't have
to understand any of it, just test to see how well you can read the
kana, and perhaps look up a few words in a dictionary. Take a look at
the post about Japanese media in the early phases.
At
this point, even the easiest series will be daunting - that's why
we're looking at them from the very beginning. It took me months to
get beyond the first few pages of any manga, so keep that in mind.
Aim to get comfortable with how the text looks on the pages and get
some practice with looking words up in a dictionary.
Once
you've got the kana down, you should move on to learning the kanji. This is one of the
most controversial elements of learning Japanese, but I personally
recommend using James Heisig's Remembering the Kanji to power through
this phase. Remember that when it comes to learning kanji, retention
is of the utmost importance. Be sure to read the post on reviewing the kanji. Aim to add new
kanji each day, but always prioritize your reviewing.
After
the kanji phase, or perhaps even later on during it, you'll want to
start building a sentence/vocabulary deck in Anki.
You should be going through the media you bought and looking up
words, finding example sentences, and adding them to Anki. At this
point, you've got the tools to really begin reading, so take a look
at the posts for reading Japanese
to get some tips. Remember that it's slow at first, but you'll begin
to pick up speed the more you practice.
Once
you've gone through the kanji and begun to read Japanese, it's all
downhill. It's a tough climb to reach this point, but trust me, once
you've done it Japanese is yours for the taking. Remember to have fun
with it, and keep up with your reviewing. Find a pace that you're
comfortable with and stick with it every day.
Showing up to learn Japanese every day is the most important thing of
all.
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Ive been it at for approaching 6 months. Completed RTK in 3 months, did some sentence mining but college work got a bit much so I have just been reviewing what I learnt and watching anime.
ReplyDeleteEven though I haven't really "made progress" the last couple of months my reading speed has shot up considerably.
So yes, doing something...ANYTHING...every day is definately the key.
For six years, everyday, I have exposed myself to the Japanese popular culture. Now it's time to take this seriously. I'm thankful for finding your blog!
ReplyDeleteI already know my kana and I'm at 1030 kanji but I get frustrated because I can't still read crap.. *sigh* I was thinking of starting to take reading more seriously after I hot the 1.5k mark on my kanji.
ReplyDelete