I was wondering what is your stance about Kanji. Do you plan to incorporate them right away from the start and learn vocabulary the way they are actually written (so mostly with Kanji), or do you plan to focus on the pronunciation and first learn vocabulary using hiragana? Or maybe do you plan to learn kanji separately (character one by one without learning them as part of vocabulary first).
So many questions haha but I am also learning Japanese and I am at a beginner stage so I'm very curious about other's approaches and experiences 😁
Honestly, I've always found the process of learning Japanese as a beginner a bit confusing since I already have the experience of learning Mandarin to an intermediate level. When learning Mandarin, "Kanji" (Hanzi) were mandatory to learn the reading and writing system.
Because of this, I've been frustrated with beginner Japanese materials that are in Kana or romaji. I know that most Japanese is written with Kanji, so it felt odd to be avoiding them at the start. I've learnt to see Japanese as different from Mandarin and just go with the standard beginner process that focuses on Kana first.
When I'm looking for things to immerse myself in (YT videos or books/manga), I like to see Kanji as much as possible. Kanji to me is always part of vocabulary, and it's never made sense to learn them separately. Even when I learned Hanzi, I always learned them in full words and rarely only studied individual characters. It's why even when I go to read something in Japanese, I can get a rough idea of the meaning because I'm able to read the Kanji in Mandarin. 😅
It is interesting to see how different languages choose to teach learners in the beginner stages. What is your approach to learning Kanji? 😊
That's interesting! Just like you, I've always been frustrated with beginner Japanese materials that are in Kana or worse (worse for me personally, I'm not judging anyone using them) in romaji. I kind of don't see the point of learning only with kana and later have to kind of re-learn with Kanji.
Where our approach different is that I decided to not go with the standard beginner material. I am not using textbooks-type materials at all and learn Japanese through graded readers with Kanjj, beginner podcasts etc. For grammar it feels quite use because it is similar to Korean, so I just use a Korean website explaining Japanese grammar.
I learn Kanji (reading and pronunciation) as I learn new words that use them. I have a separate Kanji app (Kanji study) where I created a deck with the new kanji I encounter in materials. In the app I can review them regularly and also learn how to write them. Not that 100% want to know how to write them, but writing them helps me to memorise them better. If I don't write them, I can passively recognise them but lack the active recall. Writing helps in that way.
Getting serious about Japanese is so exciting 🥳
I was wondering what is your stance about Kanji. Do you plan to incorporate them right away from the start and learn vocabulary the way they are actually written (so mostly with Kanji), or do you plan to focus on the pronunciation and first learn vocabulary using hiragana? Or maybe do you plan to learn kanji separately (character one by one without learning them as part of vocabulary first).
So many questions haha but I am also learning Japanese and I am at a beginner stage so I'm very curious about other's approaches and experiences 😁
Honestly, I've always found the process of learning Japanese as a beginner a bit confusing since I already have the experience of learning Mandarin to an intermediate level. When learning Mandarin, "Kanji" (Hanzi) were mandatory to learn the reading and writing system.
Because of this, I've been frustrated with beginner Japanese materials that are in Kana or romaji. I know that most Japanese is written with Kanji, so it felt odd to be avoiding them at the start. I've learnt to see Japanese as different from Mandarin and just go with the standard beginner process that focuses on Kana first.
When I'm looking for things to immerse myself in (YT videos or books/manga), I like to see Kanji as much as possible. Kanji to me is always part of vocabulary, and it's never made sense to learn them separately. Even when I learned Hanzi, I always learned them in full words and rarely only studied individual characters. It's why even when I go to read something in Japanese, I can get a rough idea of the meaning because I'm able to read the Kanji in Mandarin. 😅
It is interesting to see how different languages choose to teach learners in the beginner stages. What is your approach to learning Kanji? 😊
That's interesting! Just like you, I've always been frustrated with beginner Japanese materials that are in Kana or worse (worse for me personally, I'm not judging anyone using them) in romaji. I kind of don't see the point of learning only with kana and later have to kind of re-learn with Kanji.
Where our approach different is that I decided to not go with the standard beginner material. I am not using textbooks-type materials at all and learn Japanese through graded readers with Kanjj, beginner podcasts etc. For grammar it feels quite use because it is similar to Korean, so I just use a Korean website explaining Japanese grammar.
I learn Kanji (reading and pronunciation) as I learn new words that use them. I have a separate Kanji app (Kanji study) where I created a deck with the new kanji I encounter in materials. In the app I can review them regularly and also learn how to write them. Not that 100% want to know how to write them, but writing them helps me to memorise them better. If I don't write them, I can passively recognise them but lack the active recall. Writing helps in that way.
Those all sound like great techniques. It is also amazing to use another language to learn another! I think you'll make great progress. 😊