Which to study first? Katakana or Hiragana?

[mccanono]

My friend and I had a little bit of a debate on which should we study first; Katakana or Hiragana.

My answer is Hiragana first and then Katakana. This way, you will be able to learn the basic words that are most commonly used in Japan and then learn loaned words.

But according to him, it is the different way around. In order for you to "penetrate" the Japanese culture, you have to start with Katakana first since you would probably encounter more words written in Katakana at first than those words in Hiragana.

What about you guys? Which do you think, we foreigners, should we study first? Katakana or Hiragana?

Kanji would be last. Definitely. hehe

[Czarownica]

I started with hiragana, but it didn't really matter much, since I've learnt katakana maybe a day later. I think it's important to learn both of those as early as possible, but the order doesn't matter much.

I think that at the beginning, katakana lets you understand more, though.

[Miya]

I learned hiragana first because that's what my book taught first. Because I don't live in Japan, I honestly don't think it matters which one is studied first as long as you get a good grasp of both.

If I lived in Japan though, it's probably better to learn hiragana first since it's more widely used. Plus Kanjis have furigana (small hiragana written next to or above the Kanji) so if you struggle with Kanji, knowing hiragana would be more helpful.

[mccanono]

Thanks for answering guys. It's just that I don't have that much free time to study both at the same time. So I would just like to focus on one.

All right! Seems like I'm on the right track for choosing hiragana.

Again, thanks guys!

Appreciate it.

[Miya]

When you do have the time though, do try studying katakana. While it's not as useful as hiragana (in my opinion, that is), it's still worth studying since Japan has adopted a lot of loan words. Plus your name (assuming you're not Japanese) is always written in katakana so that's definitely something you would want to know.

[mccanono]

When you do have the time though, do try studying katakana. While it's not as useful as hiragana (in my opinion, that is), it's still worth studying since Japan has adopted a lot of loan words. Plus your name (assuming you're not Japanese) is always written in katakana so that's definitely something you would want to know.

Aha! You're right! I actually memorized writing my name in Hiragana before not realizing that it should be written in Katakana. Haha. Total waste of efforts. (Well, not totally though)