[quote:3dpboduz][i:3dpboduz]Originally posted by JunnYeen[/i:3dpboduz]
Hey guys!
So I fully understand how katakana works but I’m just wondering how hiragana works. If I were able to read it, would I be able to understand it in any way?[/quote:3dpboduz]
The only difference between hiragana and katakana is that they look different and have different uses.
They both have no meaning attached to each symbol, but one is used primarily for particles, conjugation of verbs, and a lot more things (Hiragana). Katakana is used primarily for telegrams, foreign words, and as an artistic accent sometimes. Like they’ll type a word normally writting in Hiragana or Kanji in katakana just for the stylistic appeal.
On topic:
Sites that I’ve used:
[url:3dpboduz]http://www.rocketlanguages.com/japanese/premium/japanese.php[/url:3dpboduz]
-Rocket Japanese is a program similar to Rosetta Stone, however does a much better job at teaching material and overall looks much more efficient to me than Rosetta stone. This is the program I used when I started and have been still using, although much less dependently than when I started.
[url:3dpboduz]http://www.readthekanji.com/[/url:3dpboduz]
-Read the Kanji is an SRS program that is a marvelous program to help teach you kanji and kana meanings and/or readings.
[url:3dpboduz]http://www.lang-8.com/[/url:3dpboduz]
-Lang-8 is a site where you have your own journal in the language you are learning, and native speakers of that language correct your entries. Although it’s a community expectation for you to correct other peoples entries as well.
[url:3dpboduz]http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/all-japanese-all-the-time-ajatt-how-to-learn-japanese-on-your-own-having-fun-and-to-fluency[/url:3dpboduz]
-Don’t have any idea on how to teach yourself the language? This site will teach you how and even help you find the self-motivation that you need.
[url:3dpboduz]http://www.jisho.org/[/url:3dpboduz]
-Best Japanese to English and English to Japanese Dictionary ever! It’s what I use to look up words while translating.
Now with all of these sights, you can thoroughly learn speaking and reading. However writing is not as easy a task to do online, if not impossible. For the most part, considering the transition to typing and technology advancing, you probably could get away with not learning how to write… While you might think reading goes hand in hand with writing, it’s not as easy as you think.
In order to learn writing, for kana what I did was spent a good week just writing kana and I sitll do to this day when I get bored in some of my classes… although I still sometimes forget some Katakana xD.
For kanji, what you want to do is focus on attaching a single word that gets the gist of what this Kanj is aimed at describing. To do that what I do is I write down the kanji in my notebook and I write the kanji 100 times and repeat the meaning in my head and it does get the job done.
Now, writing these kanji 100 times will expose you plentifully to the kanji and writing rules, however you must still practice reading them in order for you to not forget them. This happens to me occasionally, but its not the end of the word. The last site I listed (Ajatt) seems to say otherwise, but I’d taket he approach of just learning as it comes to you. Aka the way Japanese babies do.
I usually write with an actual Japanese calligraphy pen just because it has a more authentic feel to it, but a regular pen works too. Although don’t lend them to your friends as they won’t hold it properly! My friend completely ruined the brush tip and I had to get a new one. I order mine from Japan so that was a $5 loss but it still a great pen.
Some other things you might want to do is, buy a paperback kanji dicitonary, jisho.org is great except when you have to look up kanji. Sure they provide the radical search method but it’s a little ambiguous at times. I have the Kondansha’s Kanji Learner’s Dictioanry which is simply amazing!
Lastly, once you get the listening comprehension try to start translating some Japanese shows of some sort, I’d usually wait until after 3-6 months of listening to and hearing Japanese, time depends on how hard you study.
One miyth about translation is that you need to have mastered the language. You don’t, I’ve only been studying for a year and I’m doing pretty OK with the Hotel Batsu.
So yeah, ganbarene!