How I study Japanese

Hello there everybody! Today I thought I would show you guys the best ways to learn Japanese!

To start with, I actually learned the basics of Japanese in college for 2.5 years. I was at a pretty comfortable place with speaking basic conversation in Japanese once I finished the full 2.5 years. The books I used in college were Nakama and Basic Kanji Book for the kanji summer course (I recommend both of these books). However, it's been 10 years since I've stopped going to college and I have lost some confidence in speaking. Reading and Writing is what I currently excel in. I strongly recommend doing the same and take classes for learning basic Japanese. It's great to have a teacher on hand if you have questions. Beware though, some of the Japanese teachers can be tough! I remember a lot of students didn't come back after the first couple of classes with my 先生 (teacher). She was tough but she was a really good teacher. Just remember not to take it personally though. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be where I am today in the language. If you can't afford to take a class, there are several tools you can use to learn the language. Youtube is a great start to learn.

Lately, I've been watching videos on YouTube of Japanese store tours and try to translate the kanji that are seen in the video. I use my dictionaries as well as google translate to help me get the general idea of what the word means. If I don't know what it means, I will make a flash card for it and memorize it that way. If you don't have money for physical flash cards, you can use quizlet.com/ to make digital flash cards. Signing up and using the site is free! 

Normally when I study, I like to try to learn at least 15 new words per day. Once I feel confident in the new words I learned, I make sure to review them every day so I won't forget them. I also make sure they are words that I really want to know so that I'm motivated to learn it. I find that using this method is the closest thing you can do to feel like you're in Japan learning the language and surrounding yourself with the language. Surrounding yourself in their country is the best way to learn any language. 

Kanji drill sites are also a great way to practice writing. I recommend learning the basic alphabet, hiragana and katakana first before learning kanji. 

Here is a hiragana writing practice sheet, pdf file link for characters あ～の and here is a pdf for part 2, は～ん. Also, here is the katakana writing practice sheet for part 1, アーノ and part 2, ハ～ン. 

If you're wondering what the difference is between the two, katakana is used mainly for foreign words and hiragana is for Japanese words. The characters are pronounced exactly the same. For example, あ and ア are the same character and pronounced as Ah. For the record, I refuse to use romaji as it is nowhere to be seen in Japan and I strongly recommend everyone to learn at least the basic alphabet, hiragana and katakana. Once you learn how to pronounce and read each character it will become easier to speak and pronounce Japanese words. Trust me, you really won't regret that you took the time to learn it. Plus, they're both fun to learn how to read and write! :)

http://www.jakka.jp/ and happylilac.net is another great website for learning how to write kanji and the basic alphabets.

Another great tool to use is your Nintendo DS/3DS if you have one. I use 漢字そのままらくびきじてんDS to learn the ふりがな (furigana) of each kanji character. ふりがな is a Japanese reading aid that looks something like this...

かん	じ
漢	字

ふりがな is the text written in red on the above example. It can be found in most manga and books geared towards kids and teenagers. 

In this next part, I'm going to recommend my top favorite Japanese learning books that I used to help me learn the basics. 

1. Kana de Manga. This book helped me learn the basic alphabet before I even started going to college learning Japanese. This book helped me get a bit ahead of the game and I was able to learn all of the characters in two weeks using this book.

2. Genki volume 1. Genki is more for those who have already learned hiragana and kata-kana. This book is also used in universities for foreign students learning Japanese in Japan. 

3. Japanese Food If you're planning on visiting Japan or living in Japan or just want to learn Japanese cuisine, this is a great book to learn vocabulary on Japanese food. This is the current book I have been using to help me learn food vocabulary.

4. Point and Speak Phrase Book 21. This is a great book for learning basic Japanese phrases and vocabulary. Honestly, any of the Point and Speak phrase books are great ways to learn Japanese.   

5. Kanji from Zero is an easy way to learn Japanese Kanji. The author also has Japanese From Zero books that I recommend as well.

6. Animals This book is all about animals. It's fully written in Japanese. This book is a great way to force you to read hiragana and katakana but also learn the names of animals. If you don't know the exact name, you can type out the word in Japanese on google translate. This book does have ふりがな. Actually, any of the 新ポケット版 books are great for learning vocabulary.

And I believe that about does it for how I study Japanese! I'm thinking about making weekly flashcard sets on quizlet.com so you all can learn with me. Do note that I will only be using kanji, katakana, hiragana, and english (if necessary) on my cards. So make sure you learn hiragana and katakana first! :)

Anyway, Thanks again for reading. Hopefully this post will help you all get your start on learning Japanese.    

PS: Here is the link for my first Japanese Vocabulary study set! This week, we'll be focusing on Japanese fruits. I used my Japanese Food book as a reference for this set. So let's study together and good luck!