Hi, I'm new (Got a question, too)

[TimT]

Hello everyone. I'm new here, and I've probably got a story you've heard all too many times before (I.E. I've always wanted to learn Japanese, found this place, and it's amazing, etc...)

Well, I started to go through a few of the beginner lessons (really quite enjoyable, actually). I've been wondering (since I'm at around lesson 4 or 5), should I stop now and take time to learn the hiragana and Katakana alphabets? I've been reading through a few posts here, and it seems as if relying on Romaji (romanji?) is a bad idea. I was planning on learning them eventually. I just don't want to get too involved with the lessons and not the alphabets, and then find out I need to go back and re-learn everything.

So, should I start memorizing the alphabets now and stop with any new lessons? Or should I learn the alphabets slowly while continuing with the alphabets? Should I wait a little longer and start learning them? I've honestly got no idea where to start...

Any other tips to help this newbie along?

[jkid]

I believe that Hiragana and Katakana can be learned in conjunction with the lessons. The sooner you learn them the better.

Some practice sheets can be found here: http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=437

[circa86]

I highly recommend just taking the time to learn them, it honestly doesn't take as long as you think, as the system becomes more and more apparent as you learn more and more.

i also recommend using Dream Kana http://dreamkana.dreambreed.qarchive.org/

it is a really basic program that helped me enormously, I memorized katakana in one night thanks to this program, and have gone on to help me memorize hiragana as well.

one very important thing I would like to suggest from my experience is you should practice memorization in conjunction with writing practice, use those practice sheets at the same time that you are memorizing them, so you can recognize them when you see them and you can also remember how to write them when you are thinking of them.

[jkid]

i also recommend using Dream Kana

Thank you for the link. I need to brush up on my Katakana so this will be more than helpful.

[TimT]

Thanks for all the prompt replies.

Does it matter which one I tackle first? I'm not heading to Japan any time soon (I think).

If I were to learn one first, would it make it easier to learn the other? When I looked up a Katakana character sheet, I found a bunch of other characters such as "gya" and "nyo" off in another column that weren't on some other sheets. What are these? Oh, and in the middle column (the sheet I printed had 3 columns), it had things such as "go" and "bo". These too weren't present in other sheets. What are they for?

[Abrassart]

Does it matter which one I tackle first? I'm not heading to Japan any time soon (I think).

I think the best is to tackle all kana at the same time. That's the first step, because the real second step is to learn the kanji (and that's a hard one).

For the kanji, for myself it's better if I already know the word before learning the kanji, so I link the kanji with the japanese word (and not his translation). But that's my case, and there is many ways there (we are all different in our learning process).

[circa86]

another good site to check out for learning kana is here http://www.manchaca.com/~sradowski/japanese/chart.html

[jkid]

Does it matter which one I tackle first? I'm not heading to Japan any time soon (I think).

I would say tackle Hiragana first if you are not going to Japan in the near future. If you were I would advise you learn Katakana first. Katakana is used for "foreign" words and is therefore very useful for reading restaurant menus and the like when in Japan.

[Abrassart]

I would say tackle Hiragana first if you are not going to Japan in the near future. If you were I would advise you learn Katakana first. Katakana is used for "foreign" words and is therefore very useful for reading restaurant menus and the like when in Japan.

Good point.

Myself I like this small "kawai" game for learning kana:

http://www.kanamichan.com/

[GoddessCarlie]

It really feels rewarding learning the kanas. I have mastered hiragana, and I'm now teaching myself katakana (for some reason I'm having more trouble with it. I guess I like the curvy hiragana better! Or something ). Here is a game that I've been using. It's very basic but a bit of fun. It's called Knuckles in China Land (and can be used to learn other languages.)
http://www.kicl.info/

[billabott]

Knuckles in China Land is great! I had to look into BitTorrent to find a complete copy.
Only waited an hour or so for the free torrent to complete. Be sure to look at the readme file so you have the required .NET Framework 1.1 installed.

[Redviper15]

You can't beat confusing everyone you know by doodling Kana everywhere!! For me I used Heisig's book and then teach2000 for flashcard review, took about a week, but makes everything else so much more fun!