{"id":6484,"date":"2020-04-28T11:23:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T11:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/?p=6484"},"modified":"2023-04-13T22:55:34","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T22:55:34","slug":"study-japanese-beginners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/study-japanese-beginners\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning Japanese: Where Do Beginners Even Start?"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>img#mv-trellis-img-1::before{padding-top:150%; }img#mv-trellis-img-1{display:block;}<\/style><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe you&rsquo;ve watched a few too many episodes of One Piece, Naruto or the more recently trendy <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/meaning-deku-japanese\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">My Hero Academia<\/a><\/strong>; or maybe you&rsquo;ve finally discovered the ugly truth that subtitles and dubs often omit information in order to sound more natural, and now you&rsquo;re curious to know what your favorite character is really saying.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regardless of why you&rsquo;re here, you&rsquo;ve come to the right place. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sit down, grab a cup of tea and <strong>follow this handy roadmap<\/strong> that will guide you on your journey through learning Japanese, all the while shedding some light on how this convoluted yet fascinating language came to be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6649\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners.jpg\" alt=\"Japanese for Beginners\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-561x842.jpg 561w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-364x546.jpg 364w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-728x1092.jpg 728w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-608x912.jpg 608w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-758x1137.jpg 758w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners.jpg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6649 eager-load\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201000%201500'%3E%3Crect%20width='1000'%20height='1500'%20style='fill:%23e3e3e3'\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" alt=\"Japanese for Beginners\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners.jpg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-561x842.jpg 561w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-364x546.jpg 364w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-728x1092.jpg 728w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-608x912.jpg 608w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Japanese-for-Beginners-758x1137.jpg 758w\" data-svg=\"1\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Japanese: A beginner&rsquo;s nightmare?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before we start, let&rsquo;s do a quick mental exercise. Try to remember the last time you saw a non-native speaker who spoke fluent Spanish, French, or even German. I imagine a couple people may come to mind. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now try to remember the last time you saw a non-<a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" title=\"Japanese\" href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/study-japanese\/\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">Japanese<\/a> person speaking fluent Japanese. Needless to say, it&rsquo;s certainly not a common sight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is that? Well, according to the <\/span><b>Foreign Service Institute<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (FSI) of the Department of State, Japanese is categorized as a <\/span><b>category 4<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> language, together with Arabic, Korean, Cantonese and Mandarin. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are said to be <\/span><b>&ldquo;exceptionally difficult for English speakers&rdquo;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. That information on its own already frightens a lot of potential learners.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another point that&rsquo;s worth mentioning is that Japanese is from the <\/span><b>Japonic language family<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, that means there are no other languages related to it outside of Japan. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To put it in perspective, languages such as English, Portuguese, Danish, Persian, Greek and Russian are all members of one large language family, the Indo-European language family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But by far the biggest obstacle that Japanese learners have to face are the <\/span><b>three different writing systems<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They&rsquo;re all used in tandem in Japanese writing, which gives the language it&rsquo;s unique look, in contrast to other East Asiatic languages like Korean or Mandarin, that only use a single writing system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But if you can see past all those hurdles, you&rsquo;ll find a <\/span><b>beautiful language<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that goes back millennia. A language whose history is ingrained not only in its words but even in the writing system itself. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A language that even to this day is associated with great wisdom, great warriors of old, and great art and entertainment. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You&rsquo;&rsquo;ll also find that even something as difficult as Japanese can be surprisingly<\/span><b> easy and fun to learn<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> if you&rsquo;re enjoying the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Also, some Japanese vocabulary is actually pretty easy to learn for English native speakers, as there are many English loanwords in the Japanese language, such as <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/husbando-japanese\/\">&ldquo;husbando.&rdquo;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Then we also have other words in Japanese that are basically known universally such as &ldquo;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/kamikaze-etymology-semantics\/\">Kamikaze<\/a><\/strong>&ldquo;, which is a word you surely came across at some point of your life, right?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Learning Hiragana<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first step of our grand adventure will be to learn our first writing system, and perhaps <\/span><b>the<\/b> <b>most important of all<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Hiragana.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The history behind Hiragana is very interesting, to say the least.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back in the old days, Japanese people wrote using only Chinese characters, which was very tasking and difficult. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And since women didn&rsquo;t have access to the same levels of education as men, they started to write using an adapted form of the script, which was easier to write. This later evolved to become Hiragana.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Tale_of_Genji\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The tale of Genji<\/strong><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and other early novels written by female authors used hiragana extensively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hiragana is used to write <\/span><b>word inflections<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>particles<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as well as some <\/span><b>native Japanese words<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for which there are no Chinese characters or whose Chinese character form isn&rsquo;t widely used.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But don&rsquo;t worry about any of that. For now, all you need to do is learn <\/span><b>46 characters<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can learn Hiragana with <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.memrise.com\/course\/43833\/hiragana-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Memrise<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6p9Il_j0zjc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>JapanesePod101<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sFiP5YW1m48\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Japanese Ammo<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And don&rsquo;t forget to practice. You can practice with <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kana.pro\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Kana.pro<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/realkana.com\/hiragana\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Realkana<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hiraganaquiz.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Hiragana Quiz<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also learn and practice Hiragana by playing games such as <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/438270\/Learn_Japanese_To_Survive_Hiragana_Battle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Learn Japanese to Survive! Hiragana Battle<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lrnj.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Slime forest Adventure<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20070128115742\/http:\/chinaland.cjb.net:80\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Knuckles in China Land<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Learning Katakana<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Congratulations on completing the first step. Now that you can read Hiragana, your next step will be to learn its counterpart, Katakana.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Much like Hiragana, the history behind Katakana tells us a lot about Japanese society.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember how back in the old days of Japanese, people used to write everything using Chinese characters, and how troublesome that was?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As it turns out, women weren&rsquo;t the only one who found it a pain to write everything using Chinese characters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buddhist monks needed not only to write but to read extensive passages all written in Chinese characters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Needless to say, they arrived at the same conclusion as the women. They started to write simplified versions of those characters on bark with bamboo sticks. Something that later evolved into what we know today as Katakana.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Katakana, much like Hiragana, is a set of syllabaries used to write Japanese words phonetically.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But in contrast to Hiragana, Katakana is used to write <\/span><b>loan words<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>foreign words<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (including foreign names such as John or Alice), <\/span><b>onomatopoeias<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, technical or <\/span><b>scientific terms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the names of <\/span><b>plants<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>animals<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just like you did with Hiragana, you&rsquo;ll need to learn <\/span><b>46 characters<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can learn Hiragana with <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.memrise.com\/course\/43875\/katakana-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Memrise<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=s6DKRgtVLGA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>JapanesePod101<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And you can practice it with <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kana.pro\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Kana.pro<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/realkana.com\/katakana\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Realkana<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also learn and practice Katakana by playing games such as <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/554600\/Learn_Japanese_To_Survive_Katakana_War\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Learn Japanese to Survive! Katakana War<\/i><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lrnj.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Slime Forest Adventure<\/i><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20070128115742\/http:\/chinaland.cjb.net:80\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Knuckles in China Land<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Learn the basics of <a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/bunpro\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Japanese grammar<\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that you&rsquo;ve learned both syllabaries, you&rsquo;re all set to start learning how to build your very first sentences, and most importantly, make sense of your very first sentences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you visit Japanese learning communities such as r\/learnjapanese, you&rsquo;ll find that there are a particular set of books that virtually everyone uses to learn Japanese, such as Genki or Minna no Nihongo. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But you&rsquo;ll also notice that these kinds of communities are always filled to the brim with <\/span><b>beginner students<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That&rsquo;s because, as we discussed a few topics ago, the majority of those who try to learn Japanese end up giving up. And this is exactly the kind of trap that leads them through a path of <\/span><b>boredom<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>lack of motivation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that lasts for years, until the fatidic day when they finally <\/span><b>give up<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unless you&rsquo;re studying Japanese in school and you&rsquo;re obligated to do so, <\/span><b>you shouldn&rsquo;t be reading textbooks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They can be useful if you have a question about grammar, but even so, you&rsquo;re much more likely to find someone else online who already answered that same question.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reading about grammar isn&rsquo;t going to teach you grammar. <\/span><b>The only way for you to learn grammar will be to encounter it &ldquo;in the wild&rdquo;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, that is, in a natural environment, be it reading a book or watching a movie. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the context isn&rsquo;t sufficient for you to understand that particular grammar point, it&rsquo;s okay to watch a video or read about it online.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That being said, much like in a video game, you&rsquo;ll need to go through a tutorial first before you tackle the real game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve separated some grammar guides that will take you <\/span><b>from tabula rasa to reading Japanese <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in no time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first of which is the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLg9uYxuZf8x_A-vcqqyOFZu06WlhnypWj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>Cure Dolly<\/i><\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Youtube channel. Admittedly, it&rsquo;s a bit on the eccentric side, with the whole android voice and a 3D character as the teacher, but it&rsquo;s nonetheless a great channel that <\/span><b>teaches Japanese in a very curious yet effective way<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cure Dolly<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is also not afraid to venture into native materials, such as the famous Japanese ghost stories, all the while analyzing grammar structures and teaching the nuances of the language.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If for some particular reason <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cure Dolly<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> doesn&rsquo;t appeal to you, our second recommendation is<\/span><b> a bit more traditional<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, namely <\/span><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/category\/grammar-guide\/basic-grammar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Tae Kim&rsquo;s Guide to Learning Japanese<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which can only be described as a grammar book laid out in blog format.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What differentiates <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tae Kim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from your common grammar book though, is that the whole grammar guide is not only packed full with example sentences but also <\/span><b>incredibly concise<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, sparing you from much of the things that make grammar books boring.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is nonetheless quite a bit<\/span><b> dull<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> if compared to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cure Dolly<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, so be careful not to lose your motivation to learn Japanese, it is the fuel with which you learn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Improving your reading skills<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you&rsquo;ve followed all steps so far, you must be feeling on top of the world. You&rsquo;ve not only learned 2 whole syllabaries but you&rsquo;ve also learned how to form sentences and read simple pieces of text.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now it&rsquo;s time <\/span><b>level up your Japanese skills<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a bit further, and the key to doing that will be <\/span><b>improving your reading skills<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Much like a machine, in order to output, your brain needs input, and that input comes primarily from reading. In other words, if you learn to read more intricate pieces of text, you&rsquo;ll also learn to write and speak better as a result.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You could just pick up the latest volume of One Piece and start with that, using online dictionaries such as <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jisho.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Jisho<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ejje.weblio.jp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Weblio<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> whenever you need to, and you would learn tons of new vocabulary and grammar points with each page. But that would be too hard for most people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That&rsquo;s why your next step will be to read <\/span><b>graded readers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. These are books written in Japanese with an English glossary at the end of each section, allowing you to <\/span><b>read whole books without ever having to open the dictionary<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We recommend you get <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B01NBPIPMY\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>First Japanese Reader Japanese Graded Reader<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B07J244XTG\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Second Japanese Reader<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are a collection of traditional Japanese stories. Each new story introduces new vocabulary and grammar points, building on what you&rsquo;ve learned previously.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also use the free alternative <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wasabi-jpn.com\/japanese-lessons\/fairy-tales-and-short-stories-with-easy-japanese\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Wasabi&rsquo;s Read-aloud Method with Easy Japanese<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Learn <a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/how-many-kanji-to-be-fluent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kanji<\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you&rsquo;ve been following everything so far, you should have improved your reading skills a lot. As a result, you should have learned a few Kanji along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanji were imported from China a long time ago and they became <\/span><b>Japan&rsquo;s first writing system<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast to the Roman alphabet or even Hiragana and Katakana, Kanji <\/span><b>convey primarily meaning <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">instead of sound. That&rsquo;s why even though many characters are pronounced differently in China, they still hold the same meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanji are generally seen as &ldquo;the big bad&rdquo; of Japanese learning. We&rsquo;ve ignored them so far because we didn&rsquo;t need to focus all our efforts on them, but now we do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that you&rsquo;ve improved your reading skills, the only thing separating you from being fluent is Kanji.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not that they&rsquo;re the only thing you&rsquo;re lacking, but Kanji are <\/span><b>the key to mastering the Japanese language<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They&rsquo;re not the enemy, they&rsquo;re your allies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They will help you <\/span><b>read quicker and easier<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, they&rsquo;ll help you <\/span><b>learn more vocabulary<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and anchor down any vocabulary that you may have learned subconsciously.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And most importantly, they&rsquo;ll allow you to learn Japanese in a whole new way. You will now be able to <\/span><b>learn Japanese by reading native content<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be it manga, light novels, video games, you&rsquo;ll eventually be able to read them all, and the more you read the more Kanji you&rsquo;ll learn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that you know they&rsquo;re the good guys, let&rsquo;s meet the tools that will help you with such endeavor:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jisho.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Jisho<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a free online Japanese dictionary where you can look up not only words but also Kanji, together with stroke order and related characters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And the best part is that with <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jisho<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you can also look up Kanji by drawing them, which will help you get used to writing them using correct stroke order.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ejje.weblio.jp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Weblio<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is another online Japanese dictionary, but differently from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jisho<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, here you can also look up idioms and expressions and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Weblio<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will show you not only their meaning but also how to use them in a sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also look up an English word or expression to learn the most natural way to say that in Japanese, which will help tremendously when composing a piece of text in Japanese.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another great asset is the <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/keystojapanese.com\/klc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Kodansha Kanji Learner&rsquo;s Course<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which will <\/span><b>guide you through all 2136 <\/b><b>j&#333;y&#333; Kanji<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (everyday use Kanji)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and an extra 164 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">jinmeiy&#333; kanji (Kanji used to write names), together with their pronunciation, stroke order and most common vocabulary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But what really brings the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kodansha Kanji Learner&rsquo;s Course<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to life is its companion series, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/keystojapanese.com\/klc-reader\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Kanji Learner&rsquo;s Course Graded<\/strong> <strong>Reading Sets<\/strong><\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It consists of a series of reading exercises that <\/span><b>gradually increase in difficulty<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. With each new chapter, a new Kanji is added to the reading exercises, in a cumulative manner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since you&rsquo;ll regularly see Kanji you&rsquo;ve learned in previous chapters, you&rsquo;ll be constantly <\/span><b>reviewing both old and new information<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This allows you to ditch the flashcards and really focus on the reading, as the rest will simply fall into place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can download the first volume of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanji Learner&rsquo;s Course Graded Reading Sets<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for free on the <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/keystojapanese.com\/klc-reader\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">author<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>&rsquo;s<\/strong> website.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your next and final assignment will be to use these resources to learn all 2136 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">j&#333;y&#333; Kanji, as you slowly grind your way into being able to read <\/span><b>meaningful and enjoyable content<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>You don&rsquo;t have to finish these books to the end<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Much like when you were learning how to ride a bike, eventually you&rsquo;ll feel confident enough to remove the training wheels and ride on your own.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You should also <\/span><b>try reading something more challenging<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> every now and then, you&rsquo;ll be surprised by your progress, which I&rsquo;m sure will boost your confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Closing thoughts<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I hope this guide helped you on your first steps towards Japanese fluency. The road is long but very rewarding. Keep your head up and focus on your goals, but don&rsquo;t forget to enjoy the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We&rsquo;ll be working on adding more Japanese related content to the website but, in the meantime, take a gander at our other articles, I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;ll like them.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"canva-embed\" style=\"padding: 900.0000% 5px 5px 5px; background: rgba(0,0,0,0.03); border-radius: 8px;\" data-design-id=\"DAD6uo7IMG0\" data-height-ratio=\"9.0000\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/sdk.canva.com\/v1\/embed.js\"><\/script><br>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canva.com\/design\/DAD6uo7IMG0\/view?utm_content=DAD6uo7IMG0&amp;utm_campaign=designshare&amp;utm_medium=embeds&amp;utm_source=link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Study Japanese for Beginners<\/a> by Marcel Iseli<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maybe you&rsquo;ve watched a few too many episodes of One Piece, Naruto or the more recently trendy My Hero Academia; or maybe you&rsquo;ve finally discovered the ugly truth that subtitles and dubs often omit information in order to sound more natural, and now you&rsquo;re curious to know what your favorite character is really saying.&nbsp; Regardless &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable-in-feed":false,"article-schema-type":"","disable-critical-css":false,"_convertkit_action_broadcast_export":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japanese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6484"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25122,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6484\/revisions\/25122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}