Hi everyone

[dj gman]

Hi I'm new to japanesepod101 and just wanted to introduce myself.
I have a few questions as well about learning japanese.

1. Is Do you HAVE to learn kanji to speak japanese? Or can you just stick with hiragana?

2. How is the best way to learn all the hiragana symbols?

3. is katakana nessicary to learn japanese as well?

4. I watch a lot of subbed naruto episodes and was wondering if that would help me to find out the meanings of japanese words for object's, emotion's etc.

thanks in advance hope to enjoy my stay here.

[maxiewawa]

1) If you want to learn to read, then yes. Definitely. Sorry, but there's no getting out of it.

2) I make little jpg flashcards that I load into my iPod, and carry around with me wherever I go. I made a video at youtube, unluckily youtube is under maintenance at the moment so I can't find the link!

3) Yes. See question 1. Without getting too far into it, it's absolutely necessary if you want to read something written in modern Japanese.

4) This site offers free daily mp3 lessons. Sign up. It's free. Learning the language won't be easy though, there's not a set of words that you can memorise and be able to pick up Naruto. But if you keep at it, anyone and I mean anyone can learn it.

You sound like you're contemplating learning Japanese. I hope my answers didn't put you off! It's just that there's no simple way of learning... I know it sounds complicated but seriously, it really isn't.

Good luck though, you've made a fantastic start by just coming here and asking these questions. This is a forum for listeners of JapanesePod101.com (I mentioned it in answer 4) and we've all been there. Every single one of us here had the same reaction of "what the f#$%?" when it was explained to us that we'd be learning two different alphabets of 30+ letters each, and thousands of Kanji before becoming literate. And all of us that have taken the plunge and learnt them all now realise that it's not impossible.

[kageri]

I agree with maxiewawa, just want to add a few points...

1. my opinion is, that if you want to learn japanese seriously you will someday get to the point where you have to learn Kanji. It's often a help to see how the words are mixed together not to speak of the many same sounding words. These things become so much clearer if you know the Kanji. I also thought I could avoid Kanji, but thats not satisfying. The more you get into the japanese learning thing the more you'll get confronted with the written language (e.g. internet sites, chatrooms, games etc...).

2. additionally to flashcards was writing the thing that helped me (its the same with Katakana and Kanji) - try to write the signs again and again (and take care about the stroke order).

3. Hiragana AND Katakana are absolutely necessary. There's no more to add

4. If you watch subbed anime you will surely catch a few words. (Especially the words for emotions^^) Thats good for the beginning, but you wont learn japanese from anime alone. In my opinion anime is a good way to get a feeling for the spoken language. But be aware thats a very informal and not usually spoken language (this goes for Naruto, there are also anime out there with a very polite language). I guess/hope no Japanese will shout dattebayo in every 2nd sentence

The best way is to go with the lessons here (and maybe a few books) and then watch anime - you will be glad if you recognize the words you just learned here in your next episode.

greetings
Kageri
(uhm, and english is not my native language - in case something sounds strange...)