Ichi, ni, san! I want to learn Japanese. Where to begin?

A guide on how to learn Japanese on your own from scratch at home will help you choose the right methodology and materials for self-study. The acquired language competence will allow you to become more familiar with the culture and heritage of the Land of the Rising Sun, or even become an opportunity to get an education or do business in Japan.

The Difficulties of the Japanese Language

Difficulties in learning Japanese are associated with such features as:

• Complex writing system. The language has 3 alphabets: hiragana, katakana and kanji (hieroglyphs, curly characters). The first is used for Japanese words, the second for borrowed ones, and curly signs are constantly used when writing. Moreover, in 1 sentence you can find all 3 alphabets. As for the first 2 alphabets, you can still cope with them; the main difficulties arise with hieroglyphs. The exact number of kanji is about 5000. You need to learn a minimum of 2000 curly characters.
• The importance of understanding context.
• Counting suffixes. First you need to learn numbers, then counting words, and then counting suffixes.
• High pronunciation speed - 7.84 syllables per second.
• Small number of possible sound combinations. Most words sound similar. Sometimes they can be distinguished only by the fact that in one word the letter is pronounced a little longer than in the other.

Kanji symbol as one of the writing systems.

JLPT N1.

I haven't taken any JLPT (except online), so I can't say for sure, but judging by the approximate requirements from the Internet, I can make a list like this:

• Hiragana and katakana - 12 hours.
• Grammar - 70 hours (basic grammar is learned in about 30 hours, taking into account exercises, but as your level increases, you can try to delve deeper into it).
• 2500 kanji - 500 hours (rec. 2000 kanji, but it’s not a fact that you will come across exactly the ones you’ve learned).
• 14 thousand words - 933 hours (rec. 10 thousand words, but it’s not a fact that you will come across exactly the ones you’ve learned).
• Sound pronunciation training – from 8 hours.
  Total: 1523 hours (4 years 2 months, 1 hour per day). Perhaps I will update this data with more accurate ones later.

Not included here:

• Listening - about 3000 hours (6 years 7 months, 75 minutes a day).
• Reading - from 300 hours (1 year 8 months, 30 minutes a day).
• Speaking skills (if needed).
  For a detailed description of these unincluded items, see “Maximum level, almost like native” (only the hours differ).

In reality, the study may require 284 hours less, because:

• About 1000 words will already be familiar from the English language.
• In 3,000 hours of listening, you will learn about 2,800 words on your own.
• When learning kanji, on average you will have to learn about 460 new words, and this is already included during the learning of kanji (-31 hours).
  In total, instead of 1523 hours (4 years 2 months, 1 hour per day), you will need 1239 hours (3 years 5 months, 1 hour per day).

Features of the Japanese language for children

When teaching children, classes are conducted in a playful way. The work uses colorful manuals, songs, poems, fairy tales, and interactive video programs. Children participate in theatrical performances.

The child is introduced to the history of the country, culture, and national characteristics. During training, thanks to a special alphabet and the logic of constructing sentences, memory, thinking, and imagination develop. At the same time, native speech improves and hearing develops. Children get acquainted with the sound diversity of the world. Their research interest is awakened. For many children, Japanese calligraphy later turns into a hobby.

Reasons to learn Japanese

Japanese can be useful both for private life and for doing business.

Trips

A trip to the Land of the Rising Sun can be an incentive to learn Japanese. Knowledge of the language, even at the everyday level, will provide an opportunity to communicate with the local population and feel comfortable during the trip.

Business

Japan produces cosmetics, cars, household appliances and other goods, which attracts businessmen from all over the world. Knowledge of the language is necessary to enter into partnerships. For this reason, a Japanese-speaking employee is a godsend for many employers.

A Japanese artist can earn up to $30,000 a month.

Pop culture

Japanese culture surrounds modern man from all sides in the form of anime, origami, and manga. Knowledge of the language helps to better understand the peculiarities of the cultural heritage of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Traditional Arts

Traditional arts include karate, tea ceremony, and ikebana. Language competence allows you to freely communicate with the sensei and read literature in the original language. All this makes classes more effective.

Getting an education in Japan

Many people want to go to the country to learn how to draw anime, write manga, and create computer games. Knowledge of the language is a prerequisite for receiving education in Japan.

Life and employment

To live and work in Japan, you need to know at least 2 languages ​​– English and Japanese. The country is not friendly to illegal workers, but experienced professionals are always welcome. Language learners can apply for studies at universities and further employment in their specialty.

Chat with friends

Knowing the language will help you make good friends in the Land of the Rising Sun and thus expand your social circle.

Self-development

Language competence broadens your horizons. Learning Japanese will help break stereotypes because Asians have a different perception of the world. During classes, memory is trained, logical and imaginative thinking develops.

What basic words should you learn?

To make the process easier, it is useful to know everyday words that are spoken every day. It will be easier to learn Japanese from scratch on your own if you remember the main groups of words:

• greeting phrases (hello, goodbye, thank you, etc.);
• days of the week, time designations;
• question words and phrases;
• verbs to denote “everyday” actions (buy, go, ask, call, etc.);
• numerals;
• adverbs (often, quickly, rarely, etc.);
• pronouns (I, you, me, you, etc.).

National proverbs will help you better understand the culture. They are learned unchanged.

Instructions for learning Japanese

To acquire language competence, you need to provide yourself with high-quality teaching aids, study regularly and follow the correct algorithm.

Learning the alphabet

Japanese uses 4 writing systems:

1. Hiragana is for Japanese words.
2. Katakana – for foreign words.
3. Kanji are figured characters that came from China. There are about 2000 hieroglyphs in everyday use.
4. Latin alphabet - for writing acronyms, company names.

Graphic form of the Japanese syllabary katakana.

Practice pronunciation

Work on pronunciation begins with reading katakana and hiragana characters. The meaning of a word depends on the pronunciation. The same word with a long and short vowel has different meanings.

Learn to write

You can start learning to write by installing the appropriate keyboard on your computer and mobile devices. It is convenient to use extensions that convert Japanese words written in Latin into hiragana and kanji.

Studying grammar

Knowledge of grammar will help not only understand the language, but also compose sentences on your own. In Japanese, the subject is optional; the predicate is always at the end of the sentence. Personal pronouns are used depending on the degree of formality of the situation.

Select dictionaries

Dictionaries will be required throughout the course. If you know English, it is better to use the Japanese-English version.

Watching movies and reading books

Along with studying grammatical structures from textbooks, it is useful to watch Japanese films. A phrase in a manual may seem foreign and incomprehensible, but when watching a movie, the phrase becomes recognizable in speech, after which it is easier to use it unconsciously. Watching movies helps improve your vocabulary.

When you have some confidence in Japanese, you can read manga and comics. It is recommended to choose texts without furigana (phonetic clues).

Lexicon expansion

To replenish your vocabulary, you can use the flashcard method, as well as install mobile applications. It’s good to have a notebook and write down unfamiliar words that you come across while reading books or watching movies.

Communication with native speakers

Communication with native speakers will help you use intonation correctly. A Japanese interlocutor can correct mistakes in a conversation.

JLPT N2.

I haven't taken any JLPT (except online), so I can't say for sure, but judging by the approximate requirements from the Internet, I can make a list like this:

• Hiragana and katakana - 12 hours.
• Grammar - 50 hours (basic grammar is learned in about 30 hours, taking into account exercises, but as your level increases, you can try to delve deeper into it).
• 1400 kanji - 280 hours (rec. 1000 kanji, but it’s not a fact that you will come across exactly the ones you’ve learned).
• 8.4 thousand words - 560 hours (rec. 6 thousand words, but it’s not a fact that you will come across exactly the ones you’ve learned).
• Sound pronunciation training – from 8 hours.
  Total: 910 hours (2.5 years, 1 hour per day). Perhaps I will update this data with more accurate ones later.

Not included here:

• Listening - about 2500 hours (5.5 years, 75 minutes a day).
• Reading - from 150 hours (10 months, 30 minutes a day).
• Speaking skills (if needed).
  For a detailed description of these unincluded items, see “Maximum level, almost like native” (only the hours differ).

In reality, the study may require 240 hours less, because:

• About 930 words will already be familiar from the English language.
• In 2500 hours of listening, you will learn about 2400 words on your own.
• When learning kanji, on average you will have to learn about 270 new words, and this is already included while learning kanji.
  In total, instead of 910 hours (2.5 years, 1 hour per day), you will need 670 hours (1 year 10 months, 1 hour per day).

Japanese language learning methods

The language learning method must be selected to suit individual characteristics.

Group classes

You can learn the language through coursework in a group under the guidance of an experienced teacher. It is important to study the material at home on your own after each lesson. The disadvantage of such training is that in each group there are people with different levels and abilities of learning. The teacher often works for the average student.

Studying Japanese in groups.

Individual lessons with a teacher

The teacher teaches according to an individual program, based on the pace of learning of 1 student. The frequency of classes and their duration depend on the needs of the student. The disadvantage of this form of training is its high cost.

Self-paced study programs

You can take the course yourself for free. However, in this case you should not count on quick results. It is important to choose a good textbook. The main condition for homeschooling is regularity.

Study in Japan

The most effective way to learn a language is to study in Japan. This could be an exchange program, a language tour. Even if the trip is for a month, it will open up a lot of new things, including for those who are already diligently studying the language.

LITERATURE

We need to start building a library not with textbooks, but with dictionaries. Japanese writing is primarily hieroglyphs. You should have at least one hieroglyphic dictionary on your desk. Better get something Japanese. But let’s limit ourselves to domestic developments, the best of which at the moment can be considered the dictionary of Natalia Isaevna Feldman-Conrad (Japanese-Russian educational dictionary of hieroglyphs) - and don’t let the word “educational” scare you.

It would also be nice to have a couple of good textbooks... Perhaps somewhere in secret military linguistic institutes they study from brilliant textbooks, but for the ordinary beginning Japanese student, practically nothing worthy of attention has been offered so far... Today, the terribly lopsided situation has been more or less corrected by the appearance of two extremely good textbooks that complement each other: “Reading, writing, speaking Japanese” by E.V. Strugova and N.S. Sheftelevich, as well as “Japanese for Beginners” by L.T. Nechaeva. I recommend purchasing both textbooks, although it will cost a pretty penny.

You can get some recommendations for purchasing more or less decent literature here, where, in particular, you can order the recommended literature right now

Techniques for memorizing hieroglyphs

The most popular method is to write 1 hieroglyph in the copybooks. The auditory memorization method allows you to increase your ability to reproduce Japanese speech.

Cards

You can make cards with new words. They should definitely be accompanied by a transcription and an explanatory drawing.

Learning Japanese characters with flashcards.

Associations

Each hieroglyph is treated as a small story.

Replacing words

You need to find a word in your native language that is consonant with a word in a foreign language, then the first will become the key to remembering the second. For example, how to remember the word Mori - forest in Japanese: “forest” is a “sea” of trees.

DO YOU NEED TO HEAR SPEECH?

Speech is an amazing thing... It would seem that you need to learn to speak correctly right away, so as not to have to relearn it later... But tell yourself, especially if you study on your own, do you have the opportunity to listen to Japanese speech? No amount of CDs will reveal to you the secrets of Japanese speaking...

Speak as it is written and described in the textbooks and do not philosophize in vain. The time will come and you will start listening to Japanese songs, and watching Japanese cartoons, and talking to the Japanese. And believe me, your speech will correct itself quite quickly and spontaneously. If you think about this from the very beginning (and by default you don’t have anyone who can correct you), then you will only worry that it will only slow down your progress in Japanese.

Programs to study

Convenient programs that can be installed on your laptop and smartphone will simplify language learning.

Wakan

This application can:

• search for hieroglyphs based on dozens of features;
• show translation and pronunciation;
• mark which hieroglyphs have already been studied;
• look up kanji in a dictionary;
• translate texts.

YARKSI

The Japanese-Russian computer dictionary contains 60,000 words, a database of hieroglyphs with Russian names and interpretations, and supports searching by multiple characteristics and by graphic image.

Anki

The program for storing flash cards is a recognized leader in its field. It has versions for all operating systems and mobile phones, including the Internet version. All you need to do is install the program on any convenient device, and then just learn.

Japanese language learning program Anki.

ZKanji

The program is a competitor to “Wakana”. They differ in that they do not contain a translator.

WWWJDIC

The program allows you to search for combinations of words in the browser and translation from the address bar.

AppLocale

If the application does not show Japanese characters, but scribbles, then you need to launch it from AppLocale. The utility allows you to run applications in a different system locale.

AGTH/Chiitrans/Chiitrans Lite

The application allows you to play novels, finding out the meanings of unfamiliar words and translating sentences.

Rikaichan

Browser module with pop-up translation of Japanese words into other languages. Has a dictionary of names.

Mistakes when learning Japanese

The following mistakes are made when learning Japanese:

1. Neglecting regular exercise. To achieve results, you cannot exercise from time to time.
2. Japanese is not Russian. Most Russian phrases simply translated into Japanese will not make sense. To use Japanese words correctly, you need to learn them in context.
3. Vowel lengthening. Beginners do not always pay attention to the longitude of vowels, and later they have problems remembering the longitude.
4. Lack of system. Understanding will be brought by constant repetition of the material covered, and not by the desire to quickly go through the textbook.
5. Excessive imagination. You can’t overthink anything, because you may not only not understand the meaning of what is written, but also learn the material incorrectly.
6. Reading to yourself. It is recommended to read aloud, pronouncing each word clearly. You need to read it out loud. You can record on your phone and listen to it.
7. Using Cyrillic transcription.
8. Signing the pronunciation of words in the text. This bad habit prevents you from memorizing new words, because the hint does not give you the opportunity to think. It is better to write down new words in a notebook.
9. Ignoring speech style. The language uses different pronouns when referring to a man and a woman, to an older person and a younger person. Correct speech formation will help you avoid stupid situations in the future.

JLPT N3.

I haven't taken any JLPT (except online), so I can't say for sure, but judging by the approximate requirements from the Internet, I can make a list like this:

• Hiragana and katakana - 12 hours.
• Grammar - 40 hours (basic grammar is learned in about 30 hours, taking into account exercises, but as your level increases, you can try to delve deeper into it).
• 900 kanji - 180 hours (rec. 650 kanji, but it’s not a fact that you will come across exactly the ones you’ve learned).
• 5 thousand words - 333 hours (rec. 3.5 thousand words, but it’s not a fact that you will come across exactly the ones you’ve learned).
• Sound pronunciation training – from 8 hours.
  Total: 565 hours (1 year 7 months, 1 hour per day). Perhaps I will update this data with more accurate ones later.

Not included here:

• Listening - about 1500 hours (3 years 3.5 months, 75 minutes a day).
• Reading - from 75 hours (5 months, 30 minutes a day).
• Speaking skills (if needed).
  For a detailed description of these unincluded items, see “Maximum level, almost like native” (only the hours differ).

In reality, the study may require 163 hours less, because:

• About 770 words will already be familiar from the English language.
• In 1500 hours of listening, you will learn about 1500 words on your own.
• When learning kanji, on average you will have to learn about 180 new words, and this is already included while learning kanji.
  In total, instead of 565 hours (1 year 6.5 months at 1 hour per day), you will need 392 hours (1 year 1 month at 1 hour per day).

Recommendations for beginners

To take your first steps in learning a language, you should adhere to the following recommendations:

1. Set a goal - why you are learning the language.
2. Exercise regularly. It's better to do it a little often than rarely and for a long time.
3. Learn syllabic alphabet. First you need to learn 92 katakana and hiragana characters.
4. Do not set the option to remember all hieroglyphs (5000) at once. Even the Japanese learn kanji throughout their lives. To study, it is worth using proven memorization techniques. To understand the language, only 1000 characters are enough, and to pass the test at a high level – 1500-2000 characters.
5. Practice your pronunciation regularly.
6. Constantly expand your vocabulary. This should be done in parallel with practicing pronunciation.
7. Make contact with others who are at the same stage of learning Japanese. Communication on sites will help you stay motivated, receive valuable advice, and avoid common mistakes.
8. Immerse yourself in the environment. The language environment - media, books, films, music, anime - should be everywhere.
9. Study the history and culture of Japan.

Many Japanese schools offer language tours. Winning competitions can provide this opportunity for free.

ANSWERS TO THE SAME QUESTIONS

Before we set out to answer the question of how to learn Japanese, we will try to decide what we will need for this:

1. Desire 2. Need 3. Computer 4. Literature 5. Teacher

Let's skip the first two points and start right away with the Computer... It is advisable to have a computer nearby that meets the very minimum requirements... In fact, there are two of them: your computer must be able to digest Windows from XP and higher. This is necessary in order to remove all problems with the Japaneseization of the computer and not think about it anymore (during installation, you need to check a couple of boxes responsible for Asian hieroglyphic writing, as well as for entering the corresponding text).