30 day trial: Learn Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji.

[Kura Ookami]

I've just ordered Essential Kanji from Amazon.co.uk and I intend to use it to learn the kanji when it arrives. Before that I'll learn the hiragana and katakana using Anki. I'll learn 20 new characters each day and see how that goes. For each kanji, I'll learn one meaning and one reading. I'll use Anki for the kanji too.

[Boreas]

Sounds like an awesome challenge. Keep us posted on how you find it, and if the pacing is too fast.

I think the idea of symbols for words is really poetic, it keeps the mind thinking in metaphors.

[Matt Willard]

Don't expect to learn it all in a month, of course, but it'll be neat to see how much you know after 30 days. Keep us posted.

[Eisho]

Good luck with it. I have found that short bursts several times a day are the best way to learn and retain the information. Also, read children's stories for a good overall review of your knowledge in the early stages.

Cheers,

Eisho

[rosegold]

Good luck with that; when you get proficient enough, you'll preach Pavlinism to the Japanese corporate cogs (salarymen) to get out of their mental fogs and live consciously.

[Kura Ookami]

Thank you all for the support.

Boreas: The pacing might get too fast with the kanji. I'm not too worried about the hiragana and katakana. I like Japanese writing too. It's beuatiful.

Matt: I hope to learn all the hiragana and katakana anyway and ratain them. I'm interested in how many kanji I learn.

Eisho: Thanks for the advice. Are there any good childrens books you recommend? Where could I find stories like goldilocks and little red riding hood or would those have too much kanji for a beginner?

Rosegold: Yeah, maybe I could translate Personal Development for Smart People - Steve Pavlina to Japanese one day? I wonder if Steve would mind that?

[Kura Ookami]

Learn 20 hiragana: DONE

I've done twenty hiragana today and added all the hiragana to Anki. I'm pretty familiar with the hiragana already so they're not too difficult. I'm less familiar with the katakana and I only know a handful of kanji so it's going to get harder.

[rosegold]

Originally Posted by Kura Ookami

Thank you all for the support.
Rosegold: Yeah, maybe I could translate Personal Development for Smart People - Steve Pavlina to Japanese one day? I wonder if Steve would mind that?

I suggested that his brother in Japan, Mondaiji (problem maker): David Pavlina become a pavlinist apostle and make songs of pavilinist principles...I can't believe Steve is silent to that dynamite suggestion of mine.

That way David Pavlina can leave off entertaining people and get serious about life like his brother Steve. He can help the Japanese corporate cogs get out of their mental fogs; which means Japanese strong point of "strong work ethic" will fail and Sony, Toshiba, Toyota, all that profit-seeking corps will turn into corpse; Japanese prestige will go down, but so much the better, as long as the Japanese nation becomes more conscious.

[Taikin]

Yeah, maybe I could translate Personal Development for Smart People - Steve Pavlina to Japanese one day? I wonder if Steve would mind that?

I doubt you'd be the first person to have made such an offer.

Are there any good childrens books you recommend? Where could I find stories like goldilocks and little red riding hood or would those have too much kanji for a beginner?

Last I checked Wikipedia, or perhaps it was the Wiki library (or whatever it's called), offered short stories available in Japanese. There is also a book or two on Amazon you can buy which are designed to actually teach Japanese through the use of Japanese short-stories.

I don't know if Essential Kanji covers all the jouyou kanji, but if it doesn't, then I recommend Remembering the Kanji Vol. 1. Best of luck.

[TheIronStar]

For kana, I self-taught it purely by repeated drawing. (Though I used books as reference, I didn't have any of the "handwriting workbooks" that some use in schools.) I pretty much ended up memorizing it over time (I suppose I could say I used it as a method of doodling so to speak over time whenever I felt distracted). Definitely an important project. Don't get bummed about it if it takes more than 30 days, though, but definitely it sounds like you've got a start.

Good luck!

[Kura Ookami]

Rosegold: That does sound like an awesome idea. Of course if that were to happen we might not get so much great stuff from Japan. How concious are the people of Japan at the moment? What would happen if everyone in the world became more concious? Would we lose all our cleaners and dustbin men?

Taikin: Do you know what the books on amazon.com designed to teach Japanese through the use of short stories were called? Isn't Remembering the Kanji bad because it doesn't have any readings with any kanji?

TheIronStar: I'm trying that, but I seem to get confused between similar looking characters like ろ(ro)　and　る(ru) Still, writing them does help me remember them. Hopefully I can make this into a habit and continue learning the kanji after the trial.

[Kura Ookami]

Learn a further 20 Hiragana: DONE

Today I didn't have that much motivation, but I still managed to do it. Is there any way to keep motivation high with regards to a goal?

[Kura Ookami]

I think I can answer my own question on how to keep motivation high. Remember why you're attempting the goal in the first place. Perhaps have something related to your goal nearby.

Learn 20 characters: DONE

I'm not always getting them right first time in Anki, but I'm not doing badly either. I think I can do this.

[Apollia]

Originally Posted by Kura Ookami

TheIronStar: I'm trying that, but I seem to get confused between similar looking characters like ろ(ro)　and　る(ru) Still, writing them does help me remember them. Hopefully I can make this into a habit and continue learning the kanji after the trial.

I gave up on learning Japanese years ago, but, there's a book called Kanji Pict-O-Graphix you might find useful.

You can browse a preview at Amazon: Amazon.com: Kanji Pict-o-Graphix: Over 1,000 Japanese Kanji and Kana Mnemonics (Zzz): Michael Rowley: Books

If I recall correctly, that book is where I learned a way to easily remember the difference between ろ(ro)　and　る (ru):

Imagine the little loop at the bottom of "ru" to be a precariously-balanced ruby.

る

And, to get "ro", imagine the ruby has rolled away.

ろ

Quite a while ago I made some HTML/JavaScript frames to make browsing the web in foreign languages easier for English speakers: Foreign Language Web Browsing/Translation Frames

I made one for Japanese, maybe you'll find it useful: Japanese frame.

(Edit: Unfortunately, it's not completely functional anymore. Some of it works, but now the Japanese->English translation part of it doesn't work correctly no matter what character encoding settings I use in my web browser. Sorry about that. I'll try to fix it but I'm not confident I'll be able to figure it out.)

(Another edit: Surprisingly, I managed to fix it. If anyone still has any problems, sorry about that, feel free to PM me about it).

I also made some tables of kana and their pronunciations: Japanese Kana Pronunciation Tables

Good luck with everything.

Best wishes,
Apollia

[Apollia]

I recently remembered another thing you might find useful - JWPce, which is free Japanese word processing software with a built-in dictionary.

Not only does it make it relatively easy to type Japanese, but when you highlight one or more Japanese characters in JWPce, you can press F6 on your keyboard to instantly look those characters up in JWPce's dictionary. It provides not only definitions in English, but also writes out the pronunciations of the kanji in kana.

The download links for JWPce are way down at the bottom of this page: JWPce Support Information

Edit: I just remembered another useful thing. Kana Quick and Dirty Guide to Japanese

Again, good luck.

Best wishes,
Apollia

[Ilya]

Good luck, Apollia!
I believe that with the help of James Heisig's books this is more than doable.

[Kura Ookami]

Apollia: Thank you for all the resources and for the support. What does that book say for kanji characters like the numbers? (一　二　三　四　五　六　七　八　九　十)

Ilya: I think Apollia has given up, although if she wants to try learning Japanese again she should definately go for it.

[Kura Ookami]

Learn another 20 characters: DONE

I like how easy Anki is to use. You add your own flashcards and then it goes through them giving you a number to review depending on how well you do with them. Let's see at 20 characters a day I'll have 600 characters done by the end of the month.

[Apollia]

Originally Posted by Ilya

Good luck, Apollia!

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Kura Ookami

Apollia: Thank you for all the resources and for the support.

You're welcome.

What does that book say for kanji characters like the numbers? (一　二　三　四　五　六　七　八　九　十)

The section about numbers in Kanji Pict-o-Graphix by Michael Rowley is located at pages 154-155.

The book will probably be more helpful to you than the below, since the book has actual illustrations, whereas I am just providing my own verbal descriptions of the illustrations and sometimes quotes of the short mnemonic sentences provided in the book.

一　二　三 - Pictures of a hand showing one, two, and three fingers.

-------

And now, for something completely different - and not from the book.

To remember that one of the pronunciations of 二 is "ni", I guess you could try to picture the two lines as being a very minimalistic rendition of the helmet of a Knight Who Says Ni.



Then again, this mnemonic might work better with a "ni" kanji which actually looks more like a Knight Who Says Ni. Perhaps this one:

荷

Looks a bit like a Knight of Ni with a horned helmet and background of trees.

Borrowed Chinese pronunciation: か Japanese pronunciation: に It means "load, baggage, cargo".

荷 - This Knight of NI demands that you deliver him a precious cargo - a shrubbery!

Haha... I'm going to remember that kanji forever now...

-------

OK, back to mnemonics from Kanji Pict-o-Graphix by Michael Rowley.

四 - "Squares have four corners."

五 七 - For these two, the book shows through drawings where some of the kanji's strokes are written more boldly than others, that in these kanji, you can actually see the numbers these characters represent (5 and 7).

六 - A small hand with 5 fingers next to a large hand displaying 1 finger. "Five plus one is six."

八 - "Eight is easily divided in half." The "half" part of this is also a bit helpful in remembering that the borrowed Chinese pronunciation of this is はち (hachi).

九- A picture of a construction worker carrying something that looks like a broken number nine.

十 - The Roman numeral X (ten) tilted over.

Again, that's from Kanji Pict-o-Graphix by Michael Rowley, which I highly recommend.

I better not post more examples than that, in case any more would violate fair use copyright laws.

Ilya: I think Apollia has given up,

Correct.

although if she wants to try learning Japanese again she should definately go for it.

Perhaps I will. It might lead to a good career for me, and it might not be as hard as I think. I also like the fact that learning Japanese would also teach me a lot of Chinese at the same time.

Best wishes,
Apollia

[Kura Ookami]

Appolia: Thanks again. That book sounds really good. Yeah, the kanji are all Chinese characters so we'll be able tio read Chinese even if we can't speak it.

[Kura Ookami]

Learn 20 additional characters: DONE

I've got essential kanji from amazon. The kanji seem like a huge scary army of characters at the moment. Hmm perhaps I should get kanji pictographix now?

[Kura Ookami]

Learn another 20: DONE

Learning the hiragana katakana and kanji is going well. One tip for learning Japanese is go to Learn Japanese, learn katakana and the o-koto and listen to the songs and play the games. There's also Genki English, ESL games, songs and ideas to turn ESL lessons into super lessons. as well. I'm pretty sure there's other languages too.

[Eisho]

Originally Posted by Kura Ookami

Eisho: Thanks for the advice. Are there any good childrens books you recommend? Where could I find stories like goldilocks and little red riding hood or would those have too much kanji for a beginner?

Where do you live? If you are in Japan then try the 100 yen stores. They have tons of translated fairy tales in picture book form that are ideal for beginners. They use katakana and hiragana as well as simple kanji but the kanji also have the hiragana characters replicating the sound (but not meaning) of the kanji. The amount of kanji is perfect, plus they are in context.

I don't know where you can get them outside Japan though...

Cheers,

Eisho

[Eisho]

Originally Posted by Kura Ookami

Learn 20 additional characters: DONE

I've got essential kanji from amazon. The kanji seem like a huge scary army of characters at the moment. Hmm perhaps I should get kanji pictographix now?

Welcome to learning Japanese!!

This is the problem that everyone has...and is the reason so many quit...it just seems like a never-ending nightmare.

Remember though that you 'only' need around 2000 to be comfortable in most situations. Flash cards are a very good way to learn and to keep reviewing.

Eisho

[Kura Ookami]

I live in England. Oh well. Maybe there's an online 100 yen store somewhere?

Yeah, 2000 is a large number, but it's not an infinite number. Learning one isn't hard, but learning all 2000 and retaining them will be tough. I should be ble to do it, though I'm not completely confident.

[Kura Ookami]

20 more characters: DONE

Perhaps instead of looking at the kanji as a whole I could take it step by step, learn 10-20 kanji a day and take it one day at a time?
Why did the japanese keep the kanji and not just use hiragana and katakana? To make it harder to learn the language? Because the Japanese like kanji?

[Kura Ookami]

Day Eight:

Go through another 20 characters: DONE

I've reached a point where I've got more to review than to learn in Anki. 29 to review, 20 to learn.

[Matt Willard]

Are you also watching Japanese shows along with your standard learning? The idea of watching Gurren Lagann in its original without any subtitles sounds heroic.

[Kura Ookami]

Task Completed.

I'm mostly watching animes with subtitles at the moment. Watching it without subtitles does sound heroic, but it will be great to achieve that. To be able to watch it in the original and understand it.

I found an image from a book here: http://www.nijibox3.com/moeren/uploader/src/mr6242.jpg
Does anyone know what the book is and where i can find it and other books at that level? (spaces between words and no kanji)

That's one thing about Japanese that makes it harder. Usually there are no spaces between words so you don't know where one word ends and another begins.

[Kura Ookami]

20 characters: DONE

I've run out of new cards in Anki because I haven't been adding any for a while. So tomorrow I need to add more cards and do the new ones. Of course adding them makes me think about the characters and what they mean.