Learning Japanese? Kick-start your journey in 5 easy steps 🇯🇵

With so many online resources available for learning Japanese, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to begin. I know, right? Kick-start your learning journey by following these five easy steps for planning your study.

In each step, focus on learning the items listed in the key focus section. To assess your progress, refer to the learning goals and ensure you can accomplish the tasks.

There are 3 elements in the Japanese writing system: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Each has its own functions. Like any other language, knowing the alphabet is the first step. However, you don’t have to be perfect before moving on to Step 2.

• Hiragana is the phonetic character and it's more curvy compared to katakana.

• Katakana is also a phonetic character but it has more straight lines.

• To understand their roles, read: Why do you use both hiragana and katakana scripts?

Key Focus:

• Learn the pronunciation and writing of hiragana and katakana.

• Learn the combinations of hiragana and katakana.

• Watch all 5 videos from Learn Japanese from Scratch 1.1.2 - Vowel Sounds to understand the alphabet chart.

Learning Goals: 

• Read, write, and pronounce the Japanese alphabet.

• Identify look-alike characters such as れ and わ in hiragana.

Start by learning vocabulary that is relevant to you, such as self-introduction phrases.

Key Focus:

• Learn basic vocabulary for simple conversations (e.g., “I,” “country,” “Canada,” “university student,” “office worker”).

• Pay attention to intonation. Different intonations can change the meaning of words. Use audio resources to reinforce correct pronunciation.

• No need to memorize an entire dictionary! This will only drain your motivation in the beginning. 

• Watch this video: How to Introduce Yourself in Japanese

Learning Goals:

• Use basic vocabulary forsimple conversations.

Building on Step 2, learn essential expressions to complete a self-introduction and common greetings. Even if you don’t fully understand the grammar yet, exposure to these phrases will help you become more familiar with the language.

Key Focus:

• Learn and modify basic expressions to fit your personal examples.

• Practice common greeting phrases like “Hello!” and “Thank you."

• Use expressions that you can apply immediately in conversations.

Learning Goals: 

• Introduce yourself and use basic expressions in daily situations.

It's time to explore different conjugations of verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Conjugation means the changes in ending to express a wider range of ideas, such as tenses, affirmative or negative, politeness, and more.

This step takes time, as learning all conjugation rules unlocks the ability to form various structures.

Key Focus:

• Understand verb groups.

• Learn how to conjugate verbs, nouns, and adjectives.

• Learn basic grammar structures.

Learning Goals: 

• Identify verb groups and their conjugation rules.

• Conjugate a verb, noun, and adjective from dictionary form to other forms and vice versa.

• Conjugate a verb, noun, and adjective from present tense form to past tense and vice versa.

Photo by Niketh Vellanki on Unsplash

Kanji is often the most difficult part for learners, especially when it comes to writing. However, mastering kanji will greatly improve reading comprehension and fluency.

• Kanji are characters introduced from Chinese.

• They're ideographic, with each character representing multiple meanings.

Key Focus:

• Understand the concept of kanji.

• Write basic kanji in proper stroke order.

• Understand the pronunciation of basic kanji.

For some useful methods to master Kanji, check out this Byte on learning Kanji effectively.

Learning Goals: 

• Read and write simple kanji.

Davis is an anime enthusiast and planning to travel to Japan in 6 months. He is planning to teach himself Japanese from scratch and aims to communicate with local people at a basic conversational level.

How should he approach learning the language?

A. Learn the alphabet and focus on greeting expressions and essential vocabulary.

B. Study the alphabet and focus on memorizing the vocabulary in a dictionary.

C. Study the alphabet and Kanji thoroughly and start learning basic grammar.

D. Learn the words and expressions from the anime he watches.

Discover more online material to learn Japanese: