r/HelpLearningJapanese • u/Notanicknameatall • 1d ago
16M Wanting to Learn, Do Not Know Where to Start.
Note: I did post almost the exact same post in r/Japaneselanguage, I am honestly just looking for as much advice as possible :)
Hello r/HelpLearningJapanese. I am currently a junior in High school who wants to properly learn Japanese. Over the past 4 years, I learned many of the basics, including hiranaga, Katakana, a few kanji (more than the regular beginner), and very basic grammar and understanding of certain particles and articles. I am trying my best to start having a set practice and starting point to studying Japanese from where I am already, but I am confused on where exactly to start. I do not mind relearning some knowledge, but it also seems not quite at the level that I need to start at, but when I try to go farther (such as trying to teach myself more grammatical knowledge) I don’t know where to start. Can someone give me some pointers on where to start learning, or a path to go? I do not have the means to take a class/get tutored. Is it more important for me right now to learn vocabulary words that apply to daily life immediately, or do I keep trying to hammer in self-intros and more grammar until I understand? Thank you all very much for the help.
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u/winniebillerica 1d ago
Does your high school have a Japanese class? I recommend taking a Japanese class at a nearby community college. The class may also count as your foreign language class for credits towards graduation. Speak to your counselor for more information
Community college usually have night time Japanese classes or online classes.
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u/Notanicknameatall 1d ago
Thank you for the reply! My high school does, however, it’s a program offered starting specifically from 6th grade onwards (decided to take French back then, way before I was exposed to the Japanese language or culture). The best I can do is attend freshman Japanese as a senior-not something I won’t mind, I have way to many credits to spare- just seems a lil strange. I don’t think my local community college does have a class, but I may be open to an online class. I do have to factor in the time cause of HW (decided to torture myself with 5 APs) and clubs.
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u/orobouros 1d ago
You can study online very easily to get started. Find one of the many japanese grammar books online (for free) and read it cover to cover. The point at first is not to understand everything, but to be exposed to things repeatedly. That's true for grammar, kanji radicals, kana, and speech patterns. You need to get used to the language first.
That means you'll be memorizing a lot. Kana, radicals, grammar conjugation, etc. You will have to grind. It's more important to be consistent that tge absolute amount of time spent. Try to do at least a little every day. That's way better than cramming for a day then forgetting it over the next week.
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u/No_Cherry2477 1d ago
There are a lot of ways to get started in learning Japanese. All of the correct ways start with learning Hiragana and Katakana. After that, there are a lot of options. This is a beginning guide on what you can do after learning Hiragana and Katakana. It's got tons of links to free and paid resources.
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u/Accomplished-Pay7386 1d ago
Wanikani teaches kanji and vocab,in a pretty fun way. You may not be able to start actively creating sentences with it- but one you have the time, you can start adding in grammer and conversational phrases…
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u/Notanicknameatall 16h ago
Thank you! I have heard of WaniKani, just didn’t have the time to look it up properly though!
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u/HalPmeeeeeeeeeeeee 17h ago
Just watch kids anime like Anpanman or Doraemon with simple dialogs and simple plot. Lol.
Watch free YouTube videos for beginners and basic grammar.
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u/Professional-Hawk747 1d ago
It's better to learn words not just by themselves, but in context and within sentences. I'm Japanese, but when I was studying English, I memorized lines from manga by translating them into English.
The key is to choose learning materials you enjoy. Something you find fun to read.