6 Months to Learn

[RotexJapan07-08]

Hello everyone,
I just joined, so this is my premiere post.

I am a sophomore in high school, and in late August of this year, I will be spending 11 months in Japan through Rotary. Obviously, I need to learn as much Japanese as I can before departing. I decided to start with the alphabets, and I have recently learned to read and write the entire Hiragana alphabet from memory. One down, one to go, along with some basic Kanji. Here is my dilemma: I am having trouble memorizing Katakana and not getting it mixed up with Hiragana. Also, what would you suggest staring with after I have mastered both alphabets?

[4letterwords]

All it takes is memorization. I wish there was some tricks and stuff to not mixing it up but there aint.

Just use them as much as possible. Read childrens books in Japanese... that helps too.

[Danistar]

You just need to practice writing both alphabets, that's it. It shouldn't take more than a day or two to learn. And after you learn both, you should move on to sentence structure and basic words. Or, you know, buy a book that teaches Japanese.

[Faumdano]

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/nihongo/contents.html
I found it quite useful way back when I first tackled the kana.

After that, grammar grammr grammar. Then, read, read, read, and read some more.

If you're not looking to get a textbook, I recommoend the following as a good base for your study of grammar: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/

Best of luck.

[羽之助]

Get an email friend like through Keypal Net http://www.alc.co.jp/keypal/ or a pen pal http://www.gakubun.co.jp/JPA/index.html while you get Skype to practice speaking, and go to your local postsecondary institution library and see if they have Pimsleur Japanese, or find a torrent.

If you study like hell - like 3 hours every day - you can be speaking, reading, and writing within those 6 months.

Oh, and get the Heisig (http://www.kanjiclinic.com/reviewheisigwiig.htm) kanji book :P

As for katakana, or as my friend put it, Nike symbols, you'll just have to apply the same method that you used to study hiragana with. Write out the first row, cover it up, and see if you can write it beneath without looking. That's how I learned.

I decided to start with the syllabaries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabary)

Fixed.

[Scott]

Yeah, they're not alphabets.

Learn the katakana and make sure you have them down before you bother with kanji. Katakana are used in kanji, so if you know the katakana, it can vastly simplify some things.

If the problem you're having is that two symbols exist that mean "ma", then kanji's going to be a nightmare for you.

Use flashcards frequently -- go through them all periodically, even the ones you think you know. Write as much as you can, since it gives you a tactile connection and makes it easier to bring them to the top of your mind without thinking.

[Danistar]

Yeah, they're not alphabets.

Then what are they?
Definition of Alphabet:
1. the letters of a language in their customary order.
2. any system of characters or signs with which a language is written: the Greek alphabet.
3. any such system for representing the sounds of a language: the phonetic alphabet.

[Scott]

Look at Hane's fix.

[Pierrot le Fou]

I think that's just splitting hairs. But hey, whatever.

Call it a syllabary if it gets your rocks off.

[mpz]

If you study like hell - like 3 hours every day - you can be speaking, reading, and writing within those 6 months.
If you're starting from scratch, 3 hours a day for 6 months might be enough to learn to parrot the language, but "speak" in my vocabulary doesn't mean that at all, not to even mention reading and writing. There is no silver bullet.

Of course that's no reason not to try. The more the OP learns before going to Japan the more he'll get out of it.

Myself, I'd put some effort into going through at least the two Basic Kanji Books right after you're somewhat confident in your hiragana/katakana skills. I think you could finish them in the remaining 6 months and have a solid basis of 500 kanji, not just some vague or obscure "meaning" but real usage and so on...

[Scott]

At least if my rocks fall off, I can put them in a tumbler and hopefully get something useful out of them.

Three hours a day of actual involved study can get you a lot of places. Considering that a year of college study is basically only an hour five days a week, with lengthy breaks and vacations... three hours a day, daily, for six months, should be pretty good.

[mpz]

Three hours a day of actual involved study can get you a lot of places. Considering that a year of college study is basically only an hour five days a week, with lengthy breaks and vacations... three hours a day, daily, for six months, should be pretty good.
You're forgetting that most people who study Japanese in a college spend a *lot* of time on it outside the classroom as well. And they still manage to suck at it.

I'm not saying you shouldn't even try. Just don't think too much of yourself or the level you're going to reach in such a short time and you'll be OK. Humility is what some people seriously lack when studying a foreign language. The fact that the Japanese are quick to commend even broken language skills doesn't make the situation any better..

[mikem]

Here is my dilemma: I am having trouble memorizing Katakana and not getting it mixed up with Hiragana. Also, what would you suggest staring with after I have mastered both alphabets?

Start checking out the basic grammar and start memorizing verb and adjective inflections. (Basically the first 4 chapters of any beginners text book.)

Don't worry too much about having hiragana and katakana perfect right now. You are going to be in Japan soon and they will become perfect very very quickly. Also, you'll be going over them constantly once you start studying.

[Plekto]

Ouch. If I had 6 months only, I'd concentrate 100% on verbal and forget writing and reading. Well, other than a few basic things like they teach travellers to get around, and of course get the hiragana and katakana down pat(as instinctive as english if you can), because almost all words spell out like they sound. Gosh - I can't read this - wait... (mouths out the hiragana) - ah - I know that word!

Kanji - skip it for now. You'll learn more than enough once you are over there.

P.S. Lucky punk. ;)

[mikem]

Am I the only one who listens to the japanesepod101 podcasts? You guys always recommend pirating Pimsleur, but I've learned so much more from those free podcosts than I ever did listening to Pimsleur.

[羽之助]

Mikem, excellent suggestion.

And my "3 hours" suggestion was just a random, appropriate-seeming number. During my last year of high school when I discovered Japanese, I probably spent a lot longer than that each day studying it - to the extent that I didn't do anything else, including my regular schoolwork, to anything more than a "satisfactory" degree.