How to start with Learning Japanese

The best place to start learning Japanese is with the basics. Start with building up some basic vocabulary and learning some simple grammar and basic expressions. I recommend keeping a notebook just for Japanese vocabulary and start learning around 5 new words a day or about 20 a week. Write down the word in your notebook with the Japanese and a simple sentence. Something like this really helps

Word   Kana  Kanji  Sentence   English

Hon     ほん    本     本を読む   Book

Once you have developed a decent vocabulary you will find your Japanese really taking off. At the same time you should also be learning some basic grammar, and useful expressions to expand your level of communication. Some great resources to get you started are:

• Japanese Demystified by Eriko Sato a self-teaching guide

• An Introduction to Modern Japanese by Osamu Mizutani & Nobuko Mizutani

I would also advise getting a start on the Japanese sound system as you are beginning. Japanese is usually written in a combination of kanji and hiragana with foreign loan words and specific modern words written in katakana. Ideally you should start learning these straight away as this will significantly aid your learning further down the track, Start with hiragana followed by katakana and then attempt kanji.

These resources will really help you along

• Hiragana, the Basics of Japanese
• Kodansha's Katakana Workbook
• Kanji 100: Learn the Most Useful Kanji in Japanese