Japanese 101: A Beginner's Guide to Learning Japanese

If you're new to learning Japanese, and trying to figure out where to start, here's a quick guide that'll kick -start your learning journey. Learning a foreign language can be overwhelming and it's hard to motivate yourself to actually start studying. Not knowing where to start can be the main reason why a lot of people give up on learning a new language. So here you go, I've created simple steps you can follow to learn and acquire basic Japanese skills and knowledge.

As long as you followed these easy steps, you'll be able to read and write in basic Japanese letters, and achieve basic Japanese conversation skills!

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Step 1: Hiragana

First up is Hiragana! Learning these magical 46 letters that is essential to pronouncing Japanese, will surely become a key to your success. "46 letters..." I know it sounds like a lot to learn, but try breaking them down and study 6 to 12 letters at a time. This way, you don't overwhelm yourself too much and also, it's totally okay to take your sweet time when writing and reading these letters. In fact, enjoy scribbling them down on a piece of paper to memorize them easier! You can also check out this website Langoal to download hiragana writing sheets.

Step 2: Katakana

Once you master all your hiragana, let's move on to katakana, which is another set of 46 letters but used to indicate foreign languages. In other words, hiragana is used for Japanese native words whereas katakana is used to describe words adopted from another language!

A good example will be アイスクリーム(ice cream)! Yes, we call ice cream the same way as English! (but of course, with a Japanese accent.) Instead of using hiragana あいすくりいむ to write it down, we use katakana to distinguish Japanese native words with foreign words.

Learning katakana won't take you that long if you already have a good knowledge of hiragana. The only problem is that Katakana have blocky shapes and some letters share similar features with each other. Trust me, even native Japanese don't like looking at a long tedious text written in katakana. But practice always help! So click this link to Langoal, a perfect website that'll help you learn Katakana!

Step 3: Kanji

Now that you covered hiragana and katakana, your next goal is to learn kanji. Kanji are those complex Chinese letters that can look like a puzzle at first glance. Don't worry! You don't have to learn all kanji at once. Matter fact, I don't think I can even write all the kanji without googling on my phone nowadays. But it's definitely important to know how to read and write kanji if you plan on living in Japan!

The best way to learn kanji is to learn 100- 200 kanji that are essential to taking N5 or N4 level Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Even if you're not planning on taking the exam anytime soon, it's a great to use these levels as a milestone.

Step 4: Grammar

Learning the grammar is probably the most challenging aspect of language acquisition! A lot of people probably don't know where to start! I suggest using the textbook Genki, I'm sure many of you have heard of the almighty Genki textbook! I have used みんなの日本語or other textbooks in the past but personally, Genki has sticked with me due to it's simple and concise layout.

Even though I'd recommend using Genki textbook over any other textbooks, there is a slight downside of using it as your ultimate textbook...You can easily get bored and distracted when you study on your own. The repetitive questions is perfect to develop your understanding and get some practice going, but having no partner to work with, or a tutor to guide you can easily get you off the track. That's why I recommend using a textbook with a tutor or a partner to consistently learn Japanese.

Step 5: Conversation skills

Once you've learned all the nitty-gritty of basic Japanese, you might wanna start having conversation. This is the most fun and exciting bit of learning a foreign language! Japanese is a highly-contextual language so getting familiar with the way people talk is crucial to completing your learning journey. You also have to be aware of your situation when talking in Japanese. Depending on who you're talking to or what occasion it is, you might have to change your choice of words, conjugate the verb to the right form or even adjust the tone of your voice to sound more respectful. These subtle differences are prominent in Japanese and that makes the language even more attractive and unique, in my opinion.

In order to acquire conversation skills, I think talking to a Japanese speaker is the best way to go about it. It might be challenging to find Japanese speakers abroad, so I suggest finding a tutor online. As an online Japanese tutor myself, I've met many students who are passionate about improving their conversational skills. There are countless times I've been surprised and inspire by

their commitment to learning Japanese. This is why I'm devoted in helping my students and people who are interested in learning Japanese!

Japanese is a beautiful language and you will feel rewarded to enjoy all sorts of perks that comes with it! Whether you're interested in traveling to Japan, watching anime without subtitles or learning Japanese just as a hobby, you can all succeed as long as you have a structured lesson plan and a motivation to keep you going!

I will be posting more information, resources and tips to make your Japanese learning journey a little bit easier. My goal is to help and support people who are interested in learning Japanese language as well as the culture! So please stay tuned for upcoming posts!