Where should I start?

[TehSnips]

I've practiced quite a bit using sites like memrise and apps like anki, but I don't know where to start as I am new to this website, I also know quite a bit so far. I think I got all the basics down so far. So far I've-

-memorized all Hiragana as well as ones with the tenten and maru marks
-memorized all Katakana with a few mistakes here and there
-memorized at least one word each for greetings, farewells, and the basic things
-I think I know about 100 or more words, but my problem is putting them together. I know what "wa" and "ga" mean, but for everything else I haven't learned yet.

I was also wondering when I should start practicing kanji, so far I still have trouble with the stroke order and want to know how to practice it. I just want to know what course or lesson I should start on here.

[slugs]

You're looking at Beginner at most, but I would consider Absolute Beginner just to be safe. While you may have learned the essentials for beginning your journey in the Japanese language, there are many nuances associated with it (as there are with any language) that you may have missed or overlooked in your personal studies. Starting from the basics makes sure that you have a strong fundamental base to work from

がんばって！

[mmmason8967]

I think I know about 100 or more words, but my problem is putting them together.

I don't think you need to worry too much about that if you've only just started. Japanese is very different to English, so you not only have to learn vocabulary, you also have to learn sentence patterns. Without a model to work from, it's extremely unlikely that you'll be able to work out how to say something you'd like to say if you haven't yet been told how to say it.

...I don't know where to start as I am new to this website.

New members regularly ask where to start on the website, and I have a canned response that gives a basic introduction and will hopefully help. Here it is:-

The lessons on JapanesePod101 do not follow an obvious sequence such as Lesson #1, Lesson #2, and so on. New students often find it difficult to work out where they should start. Hopefully this short summary will remove some of the confusion.

Overview
JapanesePod101 is based around audio lessons that generally last around ten to fifteen minutes. Lessons are grouped into seasons (explained below) and are categorised by Level (also explained below).

Each lesson has a variety of supporting materials including Lesson Notes and Lesson Notes Lite. These PDF files contain exactly the same information: use Lesson Notes Lite if your PDF reader won't display Lesson Notes correctly.

Levels
Lessons are categorised using four levels: Absolute Beginner, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

The Absolute Beginner level contains two sub-levels, Absolute Beginner and Newbie. The main difference is that the Absolute Beginner sub-level is aimed at those who want to learn to say things in Japanese but don't feel ready for detailed grammar explanations.

Seasons
There are several seasons (or series) at each level. You are not expected to work through each season in order! When you have completed between two and four seasons at one level, you will probably feel ready to move up to the next level.

For most seasons there is a summary of the curriculum for that season. You can find the curriculum from the season's home page by clicking on the Explore Curriculum button. The Explore Curriculum button is also available alongside the seasons listed for each level on that level's home page.

Curriculum
Many members like to follow a structured curriculum. For these members there is a sequence of series called Nihongo Doujou.

Newbie S2 --> Newbie S3 --> Beginner S4 --> Beginner S5 --> Beginner S6 --> Lower Intermediate S6

Alternatively, there is another earlier sequence:-

Beginner S1 --> Beginner S2 --> Beginner S3 --> Lower Intermediate S1 --> S2 --> S3 --> S4 --> S5

Writing
You can find out about Japanese writing on the Japanese Writing System page.

The first stage of learning to read and write Japanese is to learn the kana (hiragana and katakana). A very good resource is the Kantan Kana video course.

マイケル

[community.japanese]

TehSnipsさん、

Konnichiwa.
Thank you for the post.

slugsさん、マイケルさん、
Thank you for the giving advice to TehSnipsさん.

Yuki　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com