Learn Katakana!

[arancarlisle]

Before going to Japan I spent about a month learning how to read both Hiragana and Katakana.

In general, I found that knowing Katakana was IMMENSELY helpful to me. I was blown away by how much of the everyday Japanese language is composed of English words written out in Katakana.

It was especially helpful while eating out. Not every restaurant in Japan has a picture or English menu available, and more than once, I found myself needing to read both hiragana and katakana to figure out what to order.

The bonus with katakana is that when I could read something like "Ma-n-go-sa-u-a-a" on the drink menu, I learned to recognize that as a "Mango Sour." At cafe's (many of which DO NOT have english menus) I had no problem distinguishing the Latte from the Hot Coffee.

Obviously none of this is required, but it definately made the trip more fun for me to be able to read some of the language. Now I am learning Kanji for my next trip!

[lucasburns]

I agree completely. If you are only learning Japanese to visit Japan for a holiday, then I would recommend reading katakana even before you learn hirogana. Because hirogana is often joined to kanji, it is often still impossible to work out the meaning of the word, or even the pronunciation. Katakana is always entire words. This means you can work out words at least, and have a [rough] idea of what is on the menu/store etc.

[WCR91]

For some reason, I found the hiragana script extremely simple.

I'm having a lot of trouble with Katakana, however.
Katakana just seems....assanine.