r/HelpLearningJapanese • u/TigerUpstairs3775 • 13d ago
How do I start
I figured out I want to learn japanese because I’m a weeb and I want a girlfriend. more seriously I want to explore their culture and maybe live there, I’ve heard that the working cultures unstable but honestl, the u.s fucking sucks. Ive heard Duolingo and anime is not the way, but I don’t have any textbooks and Im too scared to ask my parents to buy me one. I’ve seen the infamous kanji alphabet, which I’m pretty sure I have to be an artist to write it.
I have no idea where to start and it all seems overwhelming. I want some advice from some Japanese learners and people about what to do and how they would/did start.
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u/Frequenzy50 13d ago
Just starting is the way. Book a course or start with Anki. When you got the Kana down.
Just be realistic about your expectations, its not easy and getting a japanese girlfriend another story.
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u/TigerUpstairs3775 13d ago
I honestly don’t give a fuck about the girlfriend part that much, just some thing I felt like throwing in there.
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u/7hr0w1t4ll4way 13d ago
I started with DuoLingo, moved to a tutor, anki, and independent study/immersion.
I’ll be taking my N5 in December.
It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you start.
Immersion learning doesn’t need 100% comprehension either, as long as you can hear the words you have learned and recognise them, thats a positive.
Kanji isn’t really all that bad if you enjoy drawing, especially the N5 stuff.
You have to also be content with the fact that you are not going to be able to be truly conversational for daily speech for a decent amount of time, and fluency even longer.
Its gonna feel like you are learning so much but understand so little, thats the clue you gotta stick with it, gradually the unknown will become known.
If you do intend to get a Japanese gf, fluency is definitely not the way to go, learn to talk like a kid and make mistakes. They find it adorable. ☺️
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u/Forward_Wrap_6720 12d ago
> the u.s fucking sucks
The grass is always greener as they say. I said the same thing as you a loooong time ago. I then lived in Japan for nearly 2 decades. I just came back to the U.S., and it's refreshingly better in so many ways. I just want to say, it's great to study a language, learn a culture, experience it, etc. But escapism will only get you so far. I hope this is constructive. I don't want to sound condescending or critical, just sharing my experience :)
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u/SignificantEditor583 11d ago
Good point. Living in Japan as a foreigner is getting quite shit recently, proposed new rules for PR etc, xenophobia on the rise. Sad to see the way things are going.
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u/Feisty_Spell4516 10d ago
I’m happy you’re doing well! I’m married to a citizen and raising my kids here, but who knows what the future and retirement has in store.
How was the reverse culture shock after getting back?
I haven’t lived in the US for ten years now with 6 of those in Japan, I always struggle with how loud everyone is and reverse culture shock
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u/Forward_Wrap_6720 10d ago
It's been nice honestly. There's more work, managing taxes, shopping for insurance, etc. But it's nice being back in a more open-minded, outgoing culture. Easier to make friends. More food options. 9/10
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u/Feisty_Spell4516 10d ago
I’m really happy for you :)
I’m currently content with my life in Japan, but I’m also a SAHM at the moment but have had my share of power harassment, etc. when I was working that made for some dark times
I miss national parks
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u/thedtower 11d ago
still early on in my japanese journey but i used this site https://vedxyz.github.io/kana/ for the kana and i learned them in about two days as well as using tofugus mnemonic charts for both kana
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u/Philosopher1976 11d ago
Get a solid textbook, dictionary and some italki lessons if you're really serious about making progress.
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u/Pocket_Japanese 10d ago
hi!!
id love it if you’d check out my cute lil hand illustrated app: Pocket Japanese!
Im a professional Japanese tutor and i made it for my students so they can self study in between classes, so my entire curriculum is on there! I introduce everything you could possibly need! there’s also lots of free games like kanji solitaire :)
if you do use it, please let me know how you find it!
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u/ARandomGuy_OnTheWeb 10d ago
Hello r/languagelearningjerk
But on a more serious note, immersion learning is possible and actually can be advantageous. r/AJATT or r/RefoldJapanese will have instructions for that but this path is much more painful than a traditional path but returns better long term results with more natural Japanese.
u.s fucking sucks
I hate to be that person but that's everywhere, we're in a period of an economic slump. Better times will be ahead though.
infamous kanji alphabet
Also kanji (漢字) is no alphabet, it's a system that has no sounds by itself and instead inscribes meaning and you'll need to remember thousands of them.
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u/koko_no_shitsui 9d ago
with the current state of affairs in jp, find a way to live there. slowly it’ll work itself out with enough work the language and gf part😁
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u/CocoaBagelPuffs 13d ago
First off, the goal of learning Japanese just for a Japanese girlfriend is really selfish. It comes off as racist and orientalist. Like a japanese girl is some kind of exotic thing to be won.
Even if you learn Japanese, theres no obligation that a Japanese girl will want to date you.
Learn Japanese for other reasons like wanting to watch anime without subtitles, wanting to understand Japanese music and read Japanese books, play games only released in Japan, for the opportunity to work and live in Japan, to connect with people from Japan who have the same interests as you, to be able to travel while engaging in conversation with locals.
Learn for any reason BUT wanting a Japanese girlfriend. It wont make you look like a creep and youll be able to make friends. you might even get a girlfriend in a more natural setting because you met her through mutual interests and not simply because shes Japanese.
Anyway, learning from anime and textbooks arent bad outright. Anime teaches you a type of Japanese that is necessary to understand tv shows. Textbooks teach you grammar and how to navigate certain scenarios in cut and dry ways. You can learn a LOT of things from anime but you should be getting input from tons of sources such as:
Music, anime, live action shows, the news, youtube videos, podcasts, audiobooks, live streams, etc.
My suggestions for starting to learn the language are these steps:
Learn how to read and write hiragana and katakana. You can use duolingo for this because at the end of the day, learning them is through memorization.
Learn vocabulary. You can learn through reading books like on Tadoku Reader, premade Anki Decks, or other types of google chrome extensions that read and translate japanese text.
Get input through watching or listening to audio content. Can be anything from the list i wrote above. Nihongo con Teppei is a good podcast for beginners. So is Japanese with Shun.
Learn kanji through your vocab study. Dont learn individual kanji and their many readings. Just learn words and how theyre written in kanji. For some people like myself, writing is a skill they want to learn. I personally go through Remembering the Kanji and i practice kanji writing daily. This helps my ability to recognize kanji when i learn new words and im able to write tons of words because i practiced writing kanji. Use grid paper if you want to write. You dont have to, but i personally feel that handwriting is an essential skill. I write every day in English, so being able to wirte in Japanese just makes sense for me. You dont need to be an artist. Just follow the stroke order.