How to Learn Japanese (5 page)

Learning the
kana
It is possible to learn the
kana
(
hiragana
and
katakana
) through brute memory in a fortnight or so simply by writing them out over and over again but I really don’t recommend doing this. As we have seen, the
kana
have only one pronunciation each. They have no inherent meaning like
kanji
and are only used to represent the sounds of Japanese.

Flashcards
Several publishers produce some rather good mnemonic cards for the
kana
and using these should save you time as well as aiding your retention. Try
Kana Flashcards
. Free printable
kana
flashcards can be downloaded from
here
, however, these cards do not come with mnemonics or stroke order. You can try
making your own; e.g. the character
ki
looks like a key, the character
ma
looks like a mast etc.

It's a good idea to follow the
kana
table and review each row before going on to the next one i.e. start with
a, i, u, e, o
and go on to
ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
and so on. You could even try learning
katakana
and
hiragana
simultaneously as some of the shapes are similar and some flashcards come with both on them. If this confuses you, learn them separately.

Once you think you’ve mastered them try writing out the 2 sets.
a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
etc. Go back and pay special attention to the ones you forget.

A nice trick I found was to write out the
kana
on the palm of my hand using my finger when I had a spare moment. This can be done almost anywhere and is great for queues, train journeys, time when you should really be working etc.

Installing Japanese fonts on your computer
Once you start learning to write Japanese, you may find it helpful to install a Japanese font onto your computer. Windows comes with Japanese on the original CDs. The Japanese language interface is called IME.

Declan’s guide
is quite helpful in explaining how to install Japanese.

 

With Japanese installed, you will now be able to write emails in
hiragana
and
katakana
, visit Japanese language websites and use the various online translation/dictionary programs.

Another option for those who want to write Japanese is a web based IME program. This allows you to convert input Japanese text via the web and then copy and paste it wherever you need. One can be found
here
. Simply click the IME on/off button to switch between
romaji
and Japanese.

One final note about the
kana
, don't panic if you forget one or two sometimes. They will sink in with regular practice. Use your mnemonics and flashcards and keep at it. A little effort to read and review them each day will go a long way.

Learning
Kanji
Kanji
literally translates as
kan
– Chinese and
ji
– characters (remember
romaji
– roman letters). There are 1945
kanji
designated for general use (
Jouyou kanji
) in Japan following reforms carried out in 1946 aimed at simplifying
kanji
learning and making it easier to read literature and newspapers.

Despite these reforms, non-general use
kanji
are still in circulation although they may be given
furigana
(small
hiragana
found above
kanji
denoting their pronunciation).

 

Learning
kanji
is probably the biggest hurdle in mastering Japanese and it is one that many fall at. Unlike Chinese people, who grow up using
kanji,
English speakers must learn all 1945
kanji
from scratch.

Kanji
vary in complexity and can contain from one to twenty or more strokes (
utsu
, meaning depression, has a mammoth 29). Some
kanji
have several pronunciations depending on where and how they are used. Many books have been written on the subject of
kanji
learning, both for foreigners and for the Japanese themselves.

How many
kanji
do I need?
Learn about 1000 of the most common
kanji
and you will start to be able to make sense of real Japanese. Bear in mind that the
kanji
must not only be learnt individually but also together in compound words.

Learn all the everyday use
kanji
and develop a vocabulary of about 10,000 words and you should be able to read newspaper articles and pass the highest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency test.

Approaches to learning
kanji
We know that learning
kanji
can be a daunting task. Japanese people grow up surrounded by
kanji
as well as studying them at school and even they will admit that
kanji
are difficult. The increasing use of computers means that many struggle to write
kanji
by hand.

So if the Japanese themselves find
kanji
difficult, what chance does an English speaker have of learning them? Well, you might be surprised. The key is adopting an efficient learning method. Traditionally, the Japanese have always learned
kanji
by writing them out again and again on pieces of paper.

This, in my opinion, is an awful way to learn. One Japanese teacher recommended this to me once. I asked him if it was a good way to learn. He thought about it and replied that he often forgets
kanji
! If sheer, crushing boredom and poor results are your thing, this method will suit you down to the ground. Fortunately, as logical adults, we have other options.

Component analysis AKA the fast track
Kanji
are composed of building blocks called radicals. These radicals can have meanings of their own or we can assign them arbitrary meanings to make them easier to remember. Highly complex
kanji
can be easily remembered by breaking them down into their constituent radicals and linking them together with a mnemonic phrase and image.

Mary Sisk Noguchi calls this the component analysis method. Heisig's excellent
Remembering the Kanji
is
based entirely on component analysis and mnemonics. The first part of his book is available for free download on line and is essential reading for anyone interested in
kanji.

Let's look at an example of component analysis. Once you have learned the simple shapes that mean “woman” sand “child" Pyou will be able to join them together to form the more complicated
kanji
meaning “like” }. Using the simple mnemonic “women like children” it should be no problem to remember this one.

I and my Japanese learning friends used the
Kanji Study Cards
that accompany James Heisig’s work and
were quite successful using his method. You could make your own cards but I do not recommend it. There are better ways to spend your time.

There are free cards available for download from the net
here
, obviously these will require a lot of printing
and cutting (not to mention card). They are not quite as good as the boxed set which is still well worth the investment in my opinion. Once you have your cards, you will need to review the
kanji
daily. This is not difficult as 100 cards can easily be slipped into a pocket for study on the train or whenever you have a spare minute.

Using the internet
There are several websites offering flashcard programs to test your
kanji.
I personally don't think they are superior to hand held cards but the more computer literate among you might find them useful.

King Kanji
is a neat little program available for the pocket pc to help you learn
kanji.
I did buy this and found it helpful although the majority of my
kanji
learning was done with flashcards.

 

Kanji Coffee
is a site supporting students of Heisig's
Remembering the Kanji
. The forums are worth checking out as well.

Learning the pronunciations
Kanji
often have two (or more) different pronunciations: the
on yomi
, or Chinese reading, and the
kun yomi
, or Japanese reading.

A single
kanji
can have more than one
on yomi
and/or
kun yomi
.

 

Single
kanji
followed by
hiragana
(
okurigana
) are usually read as their
kun yomi
.

 

Two
kanji
words are usually read “
on on
” but sometimes “
kun kun
”

 

Knowing the radical of a
kanji
can often give you a clue as to the
on yomi
.

 

The same word can often be expressed with more than one
kanji
, sometimes with subtle differences in meaning. The verb
hakaru
, to measure, can be written with six different
kanji
!

James Heisig’s second book,
Remembering the Kanji 2
, offers short cuts to mastery of
kanji
pronunciation by organising the
kanji
into logical groups that can be quickly learned together. The book can be used with his first book or in conjunction with other methods.

The
Kanji Study Cards
mentioned above can also be used to memorise
kanji
pronunciations. When learning to write the
kanji
, you will go from the English keyword that best describes the
kanji
to the writing. When learning to read and pronounce the
kanji
you will start on the other side of the card and go from a picture of the
kanji
to its reading.

Kanji
town
Kanji
town refers to a sophisticated method of learning
kanji
pronunciations. Students create for themselves an imaginary town comprised of different locations. Each location corresponds to a particular
on-yomi
. Each location will have its own story, dreamt up by the student, which includes all the
kanji
that share that particular
on-yomi
.

Let's take the
on-yomi “shuu
”.
Kanji
that share this reading include collection, week, protect, hand, bad smell and many more. Say I select the shoe (
shuu
) store in my
kanji
town as the location for this reading my story might go something like this:

Every week a large collection of shoes is brought to the store. The shoes replace the bad smelling shoes which must be kept under protection so that no-one touches them with their hands.

This is just a very brief example of the learning method. With different locations for characters with very similar pronunciation e.g. s
huu
and
shu
even these can be easily differentiated. Learning these via brute memory is difficult. Hopefully, you can see how
kanji
town makes learning
kanji
pronunciations a lot of fun. You are really only limited by your imagination.

Kanji
game
A neat game to test your
kanji
knowledge with a friend or Japanese person is to choose a radical and write as many
kanji
as possible using that radical. Once you get good at this, you can start to hustle Japanese people (some of them will not be amused to lose to a foreigner).

Buying a
kanji
dictionary
A good
kanji
dictionary will help your study a great deal. I personally like Hadamitzky and Spahn’s
The
Learner's Kanji Dictionary
which should last you throughout your
kanji
learning career.

There are numerous electronic dictionaries available on the market in Japan; however, most are aimed at Japanese people and thus could be quite tricky for a beginner student to use. When looking up the Japanese for an English word, the explanations will be entirely in Japanese. Most dictionaries have a jump function which allows you to quickly find the meaning of any unknown
kanji
which helps somewhat. Once I bought an electronic dictionary I wondered how I’d ever managed without one.

One great function most dictionaries have is a notebook that allows you to store and review interesting words. Mine holds up to 1,000 words and soon gets filled up.

Prices for electronic dictionaries vary depending on the features. More expensive is not necessarily better. I have seen expensive dictionaries that give very strange and convoluted examples. It’s worth trying them out or at least reading online reviews before you buy one. One tip: don’t spill your drink on your dictionary, they work much better when kept dry.

Starting to read
Once you have a decent grasp of
kanji
it's time to go out into the world of real Japanese. As we noted with listening, you want to be reading material that is just about comprehensible or a little beyond your capabilities. Too easy is almost as bad as too hard. Bearing this in mind, there are a lot of ways you can get started.

The major English newspapers carry regular columns for English speaking students of Japanese. The Japan Times page carries a short article with explanations of the vocabulary and an English translation. The Daily Yomiuri runs fairly easy translation competitions (although some of the winning entries from Japanese people can be a bit suspect). It's well worth taking the time to cut these out and store them in a folder for study. There are several good books on the market for beginner readers.