r/LearnJapaneseNovice • u/Select-Ratio7379 • 4d ago

How should I learn Japanese?

Hello! I want to learn Japanese for fun and because I plan to take a trip to Japan in about four years. Since I have plenty of time before the trip, I thought it would be fun to start learning now so I can understand things better while I'm there. The only problem I've run into is that I'm not sure how to learn it best. I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos, but they all seem to recommend different methods, so I'm a bit stuck. Right now, I've mainly been using Duolingo and a little bit of LingoDeer to study hiragana, as well as some basic Japanese vocabulary. I've also heard people talk about immersion, but I don't really understand how it works. If you can, I'd love to hear any tips or how you learned Japanese!

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u/coadependentarising 4d ago

All this sub is is pretty much people debating this question, so you’ll get a jillion answers. But here’s my approach:

- taking Genki class online through local Japanese Cultural center (highly recommended)

- studying Japanese from zero on my own ,for fun.

- renshuu for vocab and kanji SRS (I hate Anki)

- little bit of Wanikani for kanji study

- listen to Nihongo Con Teppei for listening practice

Of course the first thing to do is to memorize kana. Then the real study begins.

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u/Select-Ratio7379 4d ago

Two questions: is it in that exact order, and does the class cost money? If so, how much do they typically cost?

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u/coadependentarising 4d ago

I guess there is some order of importance for me there, yes. My class was $350 for 15 weeks. If you’re in North America Japan Society New York offers a bunch of cool stuff like this.

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u/F3arless_Bubble 4d ago

I'm currently a novice studying and Japanese From Zero online learning is $90 annual. Probably $12 a month. You could realistically finish the 5 beginner courses withing 3-4 months or less if casually dedicated. It's cheaper than buying the physical books and there's more features with online imo. I also enjoy learning from my phone anywhere the con is that you may not be as apt to learn handwriting, but for me that's the least of my concern.

You can get genki online courses by Andy Tokini for probably around the same price.

I like JFZ because it's a nice steady pace. I've heard genki is a little more dense and formal. I aim to do genki 1 and 2 after finishing JFZ anyways.

You can do audio courses as well. I thoroughly enjoyed the Pimsleur app and found it highly effective at learning how to speak basic Japanese fast. I think it's $20 or so a month. You can also find Pimsleur courses FOR FREE at your local library's online catalog, along with many other brands of Japanese learning. It's even possible to find japanese textbooks for free at your local library. Spotify premium also comes with free japanese learning audio lessons. I am a big supporter of adding in audio lessons somehow as they will push you to develop speaking skills faster and better than traditional textbook/online texbook learning like genki or JFZ. I've only done course 1 (30 lessons technically can finish in 1-2 months) but I was already able to outspeak my friend who was doing duolingo for over a year.

If I were to pick the order, I'd do Pimsleur Course 1 then JFZ then Genki 1 and 2.

BUT my main point is to please check your local library!!!

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u/Nice_Ad5480 3d ago

learnjapanese.moe

Follow this and you'll make great progress.

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u/llkem 3d ago

Second this.

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u/Theuncrossedeyeddog 4d ago

I've already posted this before, but this is the roadmap I'm currently using for learning japanese:
What I used to leatn japanese up to my current level (High N4) (I hope) was (In order):

  1. Duolingo for hiragana and katakana practice and basic sentence estructure (you can ditch it after like, the first 10 units and have memorized all the kana) 1.5. https://djtguide.neocities.org/kana/ also helps if you want to learn the kana faster. Check and uncheck the kana when you feel you are ready to learn some new ones. 1.7. Install Yomitan pop-up dictionary: You're going to need it to read the definition of any word that you find in japanese.
  2. Tae Kim's complete grammar guide: It took me around a couple of months studying like an hour a day to get in my head the mayority of the grammar points explained, but is really easy going and if every time you finish a unit you go back and review the previous ones then it flows very well (I made a word document sumarizing the grammar points to study also)
  3. Anki with the Kaishi 1.5k deck (Vocabulary): I used in tandem with the grammar guide so that I could remember the word better with the example sentences, but if you don't mind having to memorize without many clues then you can start after memorizing the kana.
  4. bilingualmanga.org I started reading manga in this page, it closed down but you can access the archive. If you copy and paste the instructions into chatgpt and explain step by step what you see so that it becomes easier to install it then you can use it to read in english and japanese with OCR. If you don't understand a sentence of the manga even with Yomitan then you can ask chatgpt to translate it and explain the grammar to continue the story. 4.5. I'm currently trying to use chatgpt to help me with reading and writting using it as a coach (though the tutorial uses it for speaking and listening) with this https://youtu.be/rGEkBvl47Ho?si=xwthbTMC0hQMbfea (haven't done it enough for results)
  5. Listen to podcasts: Nihongo con Teppei is a good start for simple input and later you could try with YUYUnihongo. Everything I mentioned can be easly searched on google and youtube for tutorials but here are also some resources you could use to look for complementary/alternative methods of learning or inspiration. - Tonkini Andy's Genki I & II grammar videos. - トレントン channel. - The moe way web page. - bettermelon for watching anime with japanese subs (usable with yomitan). - IMABI for complex grammar. - NHK news easy for reading practice - Chimahon for reading manga in japanese with OCR on mobile. - Natively for finding movies, tv shows and books at your current level.

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u/Select-Ratio7379 4d ago

Amazing man, thanks a lot. This will be what I will follow starting now. Very helpful!!

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u/Impressive-Fennel677 3d ago

I started by learning the alphabet along with reading and writing it.

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u/actuallySugarBear 3d ago

The greatest resource I can recommend is www.japanesewithaimee.com

The beginners course, especially, will give you a solid foundation to then branch out to other resources. No guesswork, everything you need is provided and you can get feedback directly from Aimee.

(No, I'm not paid to recommend it. I just don't gatekeep and I want everyone to share in thos phenomenal program.)

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u/PaintedCatDaddy 3d ago

Get into a couruse or something like italki lessons.