Im curently learning japanese but its so hard like hiragana and katakana i just wondered what out of those the gaki guys use in their videos, i wanna be able to read them without english subtitles so i really need help (.
And on wikipedia is that the right hiragana and katakana do i need to learn katakana?
and please come with tips to me so i can be better at japanese im currently learning hiragana and like i said its hard >.<
please help me <3.
I’m a total newb at speaking Japanese but here you go:
Gaki subtitles and almost any written Japanese uses hiragana, katakana AND kanji. Each alphabet has its own uses–[i:24slfp9e]generally[/i:24slfp9e] speaking, hiragana is for simple Japanese words and spelling out kanji, katakana is used for words of foreign origin, and there are a few thousand kanji in everyday use, many of which have different meanings depending on the context.
Basically, you aren’t going to get very far if you think of it only as ‘learning the right alphabet’. You’ll need to learn hiragana and katakana eventually, but once you do, all it’ll mean is that you can read sentences out loud and have no bloody idea what they mean (ahem like me).
Just to let you know, you are going to have TERRIBLE trouble trying to understand Gaki no Tsukai if you’re a beginner no matter what, as they a) speak incredibly fast (especially Hamada), b) pepper their conversations with obscure Japanese references (especially Matsumoto) and c) frequently speak Osaka-ben, a different dialect of Japanese to what you’d find in the average text book.
TRUST ME–I’m idly fan-subbing an episode in my own spare time. I’ve got dictionaries handy and I know a little bit of slang and stuff and it’s still an [i:24slfp9e]enormous[/i:24slfp9e] pain in the ass. It takes me like half an hour to figure out one sentence, and the meaning of my translation literally changes every time I go back and revise what I’ve done. It’s going to take you a while.
I’d personally teach yourself hiragana first, then katakana, then work your way through kanji. BUUUT in my opinion, it’ll be more worth your while to concentrate on Japanese sentence structure and grammar. It might not sound like fun, but once you’ve got the hang of how Japanese grammar generally works, it becomes much easier to learn the vocabulary and kanji.
Japanesepod101.com has good free audio lessons. Not sure on text books, but I had Remembering the Kana and Remembering the Kanji recommended to me. I suggest not buying books or lesson CDs without carefully checking the contents first, as most are aimed at people traveling to Japan on holiday and only have lessons on how to order meals and book tickets and stuff like that.
Also, while this may sound a bit weird, reading and watching Japanese books and shows aimed at little kids is useful for learning Japanese, since that’s what they’re written to do.
Good luck!
Yes hamada speaks super fast but im pausing the video when i watch and read its super good learning ^^ thanks alot for your help<3.
i was thinking of getting momotaro but cant find that book anywhere <_< grr well im now practicing katakana and hiragana i think im gonna be good when i have learned alot!
thanks again ^^ paichu ~ love your avatar btw XD one of my favorites that one <3
If you think Hiragana is hard to learn, you should try learning a different language.
Hiragana can be learned in one weekend…
I’ve been studying (university, Japanology) it for 7 semesters now and believe me when I tell you that we had a Hiragana and Katakana test after exactly two weeks of studying and that was more than enough time.
The most important thing is probably writing them out over and over until you’re really familiar with the alphabet. Reading alone is good for learning the letters but can be tough until you have a decent vocabulary. Kanji is going to be really, really hard if you’re struggling with hiragana.
Just keep at it and it should become second nature with enough practice!
thank you all so much
If you really have the urge to learn Japanese, there are some methods which’ll spare you some time.
Firstly, you’ll need this sweet little program [url=http://ankisrs.net/:18w6taqx]Anki[/url:18w6taqx]. Get accustomed with it, you’ll use it the next years, if you really have the wish to study Japanese.
The following suggestions are in heavy use of mnemonics, hence you should get accustomed to it. With this method you’ll need like 3 hours for each alphabet.
First use this one [url=http://www.scribd.com/doc/26677027/Remembering-the-Kana-Part-1-2-Hiragana-Katakana:18w6taqx]Remembering the Kana[/url:18w6taqx].
After you’ve learned it, follow the next step:
Buy this book [url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Remembering-Kanji-Volume-Complete-Characters/dp/0824835921/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333616896&sr=8-1:18w6taqx]RTK 1.[/url:18w6taqx]
Or use this website/in combination [url=http://kanji.koohii.com/:18w6taqx]Kanji Koohii[/url:18w6taqx].
Now you’re probably asking "What the hell is this!?". It’s mnemonics combined with Kanji. Each Kanji has one or more Radicals, which is used to build up a Kanji. There are about 230~ of these little bastards.
Example given : The Kanji for one is just one stroke = [b:18w6taqx]一[/b:18w6taqx]. If you memorize this one stroke, you’ve memorized one radical, which is used in further process to build up more Kanji. I call it the lego-system(not trademarked). Quite easy, isn’t it?
Now let’s say you want to learn this Kanji 鬱, which is "gloom/depression". How the hell are you supposed to memorize this heap of gloomness(yeah, pun)? It’s easy, right? [i:18w6taqx]You shouldn’t learn it right now. Japanese brats do this, but it’s [b:18w6taqx]inefficient[/b:18w6taqx] as hell.[/i:18w6taqx] You’re not going to learn it at all, because you don’t know the radicals which are : [i:18w6taqx]冖凵匕彡木缶[/i:18w6taqx]. That’s where the book comes in handy, because [i:18w6taqx]you’re learning the most easy radicals, build up every Kanji (of the Jouyou Kanji of course), which is possible to build up with the available radicals you have[/i:18w6taqx].
E.g.: They learn the Kanji for Flower, which is 花 in the first grade. Again, how the hell should you build up this Kanji, if you don’t know the 化匕艾 radicals at all. See where I’m going?
With this method you’re not learning the readings, but if you want to read Japanese (as you stated above in the thread) you should learn with this method. It’s easier, and you’re not going to need 9 years before mastering the Joyou Kanji. Finishing this course will at least take you 1 month, assumed you’ll learn every day on an 8 hour basis. If you don’t have much time, and learn a few hours a day, it’ll take at least 3 months.
Now, you’ve finished the 2200 Kanji, what next? Tae Kim’s =>
[url=http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete:18w6taqx]Complete Guide[/url:18w6taqx]
[url=http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar:18w6taqx]Grammar Guide[/url:18w6taqx]
[url=http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/resources:18w6taqx]Resources[/url:18w6taqx]
That’s the next step you should take. On the fly you’re gathering the grammar, and readings of some quite often used Kanji. This course will take about a few weeks, up to a few months, depending on your sole determination and urge to master this language.
So, what next?
Right now, you’ll have some space, after following strict guidelines. Go watch some J-Dramas, Animes or Gaki no Tsukai with Japanese subtitles. Listen to every phrase they say, use Anki as your memorization weapon, learn the Kanji, etc,etc,etc… Here are few sites which go deeply into this matter :
This ajatt guy learned Japanese in 2 years, but was in his studies very obsessive.
http://www.tofugu.com/2011/06/10/studyi ... ma-how-to/ http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=5322and so on…
Up to this point you should be well armed, but there is one more thing, this thought of yours is disturbing me. You’re [b:18w6taqx]not[/b:18w6taqx] going to learn Japanese in a few Months, let alone read the Gaki no Tsukai subtitles. I don’t want to demoralize you in any way, but you should see this on a realistic scale. Learning Japanese isn’t difficult, or hard how everyone presumes. But it’ll take a large amount of your time, your fighting spirita HUZAAA! and change your life respectively. I’m saying this because I’ve had my up and downs, and I’m not your average stupid person. I think every people has a great potential, but my weakness is that I’m loosing motivation. Again, if you really have the urge to master Japanese, learn how not to give up, and steadily be determined. This should do it for now.
If there are any questions, I’ll try to take my time, and answer them accordingly.
ps.: Maybe someone could sticky this, there are quite a bunch of folks in here, who want to learn Japanese
For Kanji learning I’d rather go with "Kanji ABC".
It’s a similar method to Heisig, but seems more refined. Especially for University usage.
Learning the Joyo Kanji in 1 month is ridiculous and insanely unrealistic.
Same goes for 3 months.
You might get to know one (of the often several) meaning of each Joyo Kanji in that time, but that’s rather useless. You’ll misunderstand things constantly.
You should at least learn 1 on-yomi, 1 kun-yomi and the meaning of each. The more kun-yomi + meaning the better.
I said the meaning can be learned, not the specific readings.
But saying something is useless, whilst not even using, is kind of… barbaric. Seriously, you’re insulting my intelligence.
Just why do you think Chinese don’t have as much problems learning the readings as much as Europeans have? Simply, because they needn’t learn all the Kanji. They already knew what they meant to be, so the only thing to do was learning the reading. I really don’t like to explain how the brain is working, and why attaching a memory to an already existent one is easier, than making something out of the blue, just to convince someone who’s declaring, that this is utterly "useless".
Fact is, I’ve suggested Heisig because I’ve had really great experience with the system.
Fact is, you’re not going to learn the readings with RTK 1, but you’re going to learn faster Kanji than any "normalo" could ever do, let alone learn the readings in a timespan of 1-3 month’s. I’m sorry if I’ve written it somewhat complicated, but not sorry if you misunderstood it.
Besides he never mentioned that he’d study Japanese on an University level. In addition, learning 1on-/kun-yomi without context is a not as effective as you think.
There are already enough pro Heisig/anti Hesig threads. Although the people who’re declaring that this doesn’t work, are mostly human beings that can’t do well with mnemonics.
On the other hand, the AJATT guy learned fluently Japanese in 2 years, and Heisig was one of his stepping stones.
Because I’ve wanted to avoid such comments, I’ve not only linked just 1 website and claiming that [b:df1n5knh]THIS[/b:df1n5knh] is the [i:df1n5knh]only[/i:df1n5knh] way. No. I’ve purposely linked many sites, a bigger variety, so that the someone who’s not feeling well with "this" method, could at least avoid it and take another route, as suggested.
I said it’s useless because this "knowledge" can’t really be put to good use.
Unless you don’t know the ON and kun readings you won’t really be able to practice the Kanji in a way that will profit you.
It’s better to start with easy kindergarden texts and also learn the grammar and vocabulary, instead of starting out with an extreme course of the Joyo Kanji.
I’d rather say start out with the most common 300~600 Kanji in the first 6 months and get down to learn basic sentence structure, what kihontai, ren’youkei etc. are.
I wasn’t trying to insult you, but trying for him/her to realize that he/she’ll spend a lot of time on something that’s not going to be of any real use to her unless she really starts learning grammar etc.
It’s not that you’re insulting me directly, rather the things you’ve said. That was my bad.
Sadly or ironically, this kind of method works quite well for me.
I’ll give you an example : You want to hang your clothes onto something, but it’s quite difficult without hanger, right? They’d just be on the floor. Without hanger there’s just a mess.
In Heisigs case => He’s making that hanger for us. He’s is, and I repeat, just doing the hanger for us, not the clothes. But if you want to have some clothes, just hang them on. No problem, that’s the reason you’ve made them for yourself.