Should I Buy Books for Kanji, Kana or HIrigana First???

[williamst4334]

Simple question: I'm currently using romaji to learn Japanese. I'm an absolute newbie. To move to reading/writing, should I start with kana or the kanji? Or the hiragana...? The general internet is no help as I've read opinions are pretty much split down the middle. Surely, there must be a true answer.

Why shouldn't I study them together? I suppose if I knew what the kanji is for and what the kana is for, that might help me determine as well.

Pleaes also see my other recent post: From Romaji to Kana/Kanji

Thanks!

[dark_angel29977]

At the very least, learn the kana. Learn Hiragana first, and then move on to Katakana. Kanji you can learn as you go, but if you know Hiragana technically you can write anything in Japanese. (It will look like you're a kindergartner, but at least you're writing Japanese ). I recommend getting rid of romaji as soon as possible. You don't have to study Kanji if your sole focus is upon speaking Japanese, but learning them does help a lot as you go along for reading/writing, and as you progress they are pretty important just because of all the homophones in the language.

Personally, I use the textbook Genki which I find to be pretty solid for self-study. Learn the Hiragana and then begin using it (It does supplement with a bit of romaji, but it'll quickly move to just Hiragana/Kanji). I like the way it introduces a few kanji for each of the later lessons, although it seems a bit random at times which Kanji are in the lesson. It has really good explanations for grammar points

[Imparatus]

In my case, I took a good deal of advice from AJATT, and purchased Heisig's Remembering the Kana and Remembering the Kanji. The Kana went quickly, both Hirigana and Katakana in 2 weeks. I NEVER used romaji, because I didn't want to develop a habit I had to break, and it's just much more fun using Kana. Nothing wrong with looking like a kindergartner either.....you ARE a kindergartner in Japanse! BTW, have you ever heard a kindergarten age Japanese child speak? Wouldn't you like to be able to speak like that?

Anyway, I'm about 400 kanji into Heisig, using Anki and Reviewing the Kanji on the web to work on retention and new acquisition. Once I'm done with all of the Joyo Kanji, I'll start to work on mining sentences from native Japanese literature. I'm a big believer in the input hypothesis, so I don't have any desire to work on speaking until I have a good 10,000 hours of input (I constantly listen to Japanese via iPhone that is just slightly beyond my current level of comprehension).

That's what I did...ymmv!

がんばって!

[a_cubed]

10,000 hours of input is 8 hours per day five days a week for five years. I strongly suggest you don't wait that long until trying to speak. Reading, writing, speaking and listening are all part of learning a language. If you rely on only some of these you're not reinforcing the learning across different areas of the brain and forming the connections you need.

I also advise starting with hiragana then katakana then starting with the simple kanji. Avoid romaji like the plague. It will get you into bad habits of thinking the Japanese sounds are like the English (or whatever language you interpret the roman letters as) when they're actually their own sounds. らりるれろはひふへほが　are all different sounds from the way they're written in romaji. I did a romaji-based course in the late 90s and progressed very slowly cocmpared to when I re-start in the mid 2000s in a kana-based course.

[Javizy]

I agree that it's very much worth practising speaking, regardless of your approach. Although, if you are a total beginner, a "silent period" isn't a bad idea (what sort of conversation can you maintain knowing only a handful of structures?).

You also need to keep in mind that the Natural Approach put forward by Krashen relies on the idea that first and second language acquisition work in the same way. This is far from a proven fact, and although there are examples of people who have attained fluency in this way, there are many more who have failed to surpass a basic level of communication and become stuck (suffer from fossilisation). Perhaps something to think about before before you decide to put all your eggs in one basket.

In any case, speaking can be fun with the right attitude. It's not only a great source of listening practice 100% relative to your needs, but natives are a great "resource" when it comes to the language and the culture. I believe there are also things that can only be learnt through practice. How, for example, do you develop a personal speaking style without speaking? How do you accustom yourself to switching between politeness levels, naturally using ellipsis, intonation etc? These are all things you can work on while having a fun chat with your friend, so why not take up the opportunity?