I thought I'd outline the basics of how I intend to learn Japanese and, while I'm not an expert, how believe anyone can learn a new language.
However, before I outline these steps, think back to how you learned to speak English. When you were born, you knew nothing. You were a blank slate waiting to learn how to speak. You're mental capacity was also much lower than what it is today...I hope.
From this blank slate, you listened and learned through osmosis. First you started making sounds, such as ga, da, buh, duh, and so on. Eventually, these sounds turned into primative words, such as dada or mama. The amount and variety of words you learned continued to grow until you were forming primative sentences, like 'i want mommy' or 'not tired', until you eventually were able to form basic sentences and carry out simple conversations outside of the simple commands and statments.
Finally, you entered school and you are introduced to the alphabet for the first time. You may have come into contact with it a little earlier, but it's around this time you start actively learning it and how to write and read words. Once you knew how to read the words, you went about learning more and more words as well as gradually learning more and more grammar until you arrived at where you are today.
However, before I outline these steps, think back to how you learned to speak English. When you were born, you knew nothing. You were a blank slate waiting to learn how to speak. You're mental capacity was also much lower than what it is today...I hope.
From this blank slate, you listened and learned through osmosis. First you started making sounds, such as ga, da, buh, duh, and so on. Eventually, these sounds turned into primative words, such as dada or mama. The amount and variety of words you learned continued to grow until you were forming primative sentences, like 'i want mommy' or 'not tired', until you eventually were able to form basic sentences and carry out simple conversations outside of the simple commands and statments.
Finally, you entered school and you are introduced to the alphabet for the first time. You may have come into contact with it a little earlier, but it's around this time you start actively learning it and how to write and read words. Once you knew how to read the words, you went about learning more and more words as well as gradually learning more and more grammar until you arrived at where you are today.
Obviously, this is a simplified version and there are likely to many variations to this, but, in general, this is how you learned your first language. Let's apply this to learning Japanese.
- Pronounciation - learn how to speak the language properly
- Basic Vocabulary - learn basic Japanese words
- Basic Sentences - apply those new words to learn basic Japanese phrases
- Intermediate Vocabulary - learn more advanced Japanese words
- Basic Conversation - apply those new words to learn more advanced Japanese phrases and carry on simple conversations
- Basic Writing Systems - learn the hiragana & katakana writing systems
- Advanced Vocabulary I - learn more advanced Japanese words
- Basic Grammar & Sentence Structure - learn basic structure of Japanese sentences to further understand how to form your own basic sentences
- Intermediate Conversation - learn more advanced Japanese phrases and how to carry on more advanced conversations while applying what you learned of Japanese grammar
- Advanced Vocabulary II - learn very advanced Japanese words
- Advanced Grammar & Sentence Structure - learn very advanced grammar useage, such as conjugation of particles and their various uses
- Advanced Writing Systems - learn the final Japanese writing system, kanji, while continuing to improve your vocabulary.
Once you reach this step, it is a simple matter of rote memorization to increase your vocabulary and number of kanji you can read while applying those to proper sentence and grammar structure.
It's a long road, but it shouldn't take nearly as long as it did for you to reach the stage you are currently at in your native language. Remember, you're older, wiser and, with the proper motivation, learn much more quickly than when you were a child.
I fully believe that these steps are the perfect way to learn a language. Many people get overwhelmed by trying to jump right in and trying to learn how to read, write and speak a language and expecting to be fully functional speakers in less than a month. When the reality that they are not making any apparent headway sets in, they quit or trail off, never to learn the language again.
Short, simple, progressive steps that build on previous knowledge in a basic and easily relatable manner, just like how you did it the first time around, is the only way to learn. You can mix it up a little, but if you stick to a basic structure like listed above, you'll succeed at learning any language. A couple of Don't's for anyone still confused:
Don't
Conclusion
That's all for today. It's not much help in your learning, but it's a general outline for how I'll be teaching myself and what you can expect from future posts. I'll post some resources and other useful websites and books throughout the week. Until then, keep at it and I look forward to seeing how everyone progresses.
It's a long road, but it shouldn't take nearly as long as it did for you to reach the stage you are currently at in your native language. Remember, you're older, wiser and, with the proper motivation, learn much more quickly than when you were a child.
I fully believe that these steps are the perfect way to learn a language. Many people get overwhelmed by trying to jump right in and trying to learn how to read, write and speak a language and expecting to be fully functional speakers in less than a month. When the reality that they are not making any apparent headway sets in, they quit or trail off, never to learn the language again.
Short, simple, progressive steps that build on previous knowledge in a basic and easily relatable manner, just like how you did it the first time around, is the only way to learn. You can mix it up a little, but if you stick to a basic structure like listed above, you'll succeed at learning any language. A couple of Don't's for anyone still confused:
Don't
- Don't try to learn kanji on your first day, week or even month. Just don't.
- Don't try to immediately carry on conversations or even expect to.
- Don't rely on romanji. DON'T!
- Don't turn this into a chore. You want to learn. Enjoy it.
- Don't get discouraged! This is going to be minimum 2-3 years before you're fluent (at a semi-casual pace).
Conclusion
That's all for today. It's not much help in your learning, but it's a general outline for how I'll be teaching myself and what you can expect from future posts. I'll post some resources and other useful websites and books throughout the week. Until then, keep at it and I look forward to seeing how everyone progresses.
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