Books in Romanji

[dbanner]

I know it is important to learn the written language; however, I was wondering if anyone knows any books written in Romanji: I believe reading in Romanji will help accelerate my learning of the spoken language. Does anyone know where one could buy a Romanji book if it exists?

[Jason]

I don't know of any rouma-ji books. But I'd seriously suggest you steer clear of rouma-ji as much as possible. Depending on it will hurt you in the long run. And I'm not really sure how reading would help you with spoken Japanese. For that you need practice listening and to build your vocabulary.

[Bueller_007]

Agreed. Avoid roma-ji. I also fail to see how it would help your spoken Japanese any more than reading the same thing in kana.

[annie]

I believe that Shin Nihongo no Kiso has a romaji edition. (Or maybe it's Minna no Nihongo?) And Yookoso starts out the first chapter or two with both kana and romaji.

I took a course that used a romaji text after I'd been studying Japanese for awhile, and it was really confusing.... I spent ages trying to figure out what a terebi was.

I agree with everyone else, romaji is really just a crutch. You're a lot more likely to pronounce things as you would in English (or whatever your native language is) if you're reading romaji.

[JB]

Don't do it - go for the kana versions and you will learn the pronouciation quicker.

If you must there is also Japanese for busy people - but you should avoid that for other reasons!

[Bueller_007]

Don't do it - go for the kana versions and you will learn the pronouciation quicker.

If you must there is also Japanese for busy people - but you should avoid that for other reasons!

I thought JFBP was pretty good. What didn't you like about it?

[JonB]

First of all apologies I kind of screwed up when setting up the account so JB is now JonB...

I guess if you were doing a total immersion , living, breathing learning Japanese at Uni (in Japan) or language school then it would be OK. I was studying 2x1 hours a week and for that kind of environment - i.e. busy people - it is no good. A word or construct introduced in 1 chapter is not reused for many chapters and in my case that could be several months later. Guess what? I had fogotten it!

I live in a Tokyo suburb and I can safely say that JFBB has not helped me in my daily life and I can not have a conversation with my neighbours in Japanese. Fortunately most speak a little English so it is Japlish/sign language - very frustrating after 5.5 years.

I found minna no nihongo a much better book with real life living scenarios. Let's face it if I go into a business meeting I will take a bilingual team member with me - as I am sure would most busy people...

Having said all that if you are going to use it definetly use the kana version

JB

[Bueller_007]

You might be right. I don't remember the problem with not reusing grammar points, but I zoomed through all of them.

I've looked at Minna no Nihongo (not owned, so I can't speak for it 100%), but I really wasn't that impressed. Genki looked to be (again, I didn't own it) much better value. MnN would probably be okay if you had a teacher, but as someone studying alone like me, you kinda need the English help when you're first starting. With MnN, that means you have to buy an additional book.

[Bucko]

Stay away from romaji at all costs. It will end up mutating your Japanese in the long run. Trust me. I used it for like 8 months before switching to Japanese and it really messed with my mind. For example, the つ character uses three three letters (tsu) when written in romaji, so when you write something like つう it comes out tsuu in romaji, and when that pronunciation is in the middle of a word, such as ふつう (futsuu) your mind is forced to think twice as to whether it's 'fu tsu u', or just 'fu tsu' - the extra character confuses your mind.

It should only take a week or so to learn each of the kana charts, then another few weeks on top of that to perfect them, so why not put in the hard yards to begin with, knowing that it'll pay off in the long run?

[Comazon]

It should only take a week or so to learn each of the kana charts, then another few weeks on top of that to perfect them, so why not put in the hard yards to begin with, knowing that it'll pay off in the long run?

Quoted for truth. All I did was make flashcards and quizzed myself over-and-over again until I memorized it. It took me about a week, and I wasn't even trying all that hard.

Though I personally didn't use these to help learn kana, some people have told me about online flashcard programs you might find useful:

http://www.msu.edu/~lakejess/kanjigame.html
http://www.softempire.com/dreamkana.html

(one guy claimed to have mastered kana in a weekend thanks to the 2nd link, but I think he spent the ENTIRE weekend quizzing himself)

I know you didn't ask for a lecture like this, but it's just that kana really isn't all that difficult to learn. Yes, romaji might be easier to learn from in the very beginning, but it will only carry you so far. Eventually it's just going to impair your learning, so you might as well not depend on it from the start.

In any case, good luck.

[Yoshiko]

But there are books only in hiragana (and katakana)?
I found some children's stories online in hiragana. But as I don't know that many words, it wasn't of any use.
At the library there are easy english, spanish, french etc. books (for adults) with on the back the amount of words you have to know. Mostly it's adaptions from more difficult books. And sometimes there are pictures to explain some of the words.

Do this kind of books exist in hiragana?