Are you eager to discover How Can I Learn Japanese Language Easily? learns.edu.vn offers a streamlined approach to mastering Japanese, even if you’re starting from scratch. This guide provides practical strategies and resources to make your learning journey efficient and enjoyable, unlocking the secrets to acquire proficiency in the Japanese language. Dive in and explore effective Japanese learning methods, find simple ways to pick up Japanese, and discover the most straightforward approach to learning Japanese.
1. Zero Knowledge of Japanese: Building Your Foundation
Welcome to the exciting world of learning Japanese! This section is designed for complete beginners. If your knowledge of Japanese is limited to just a few words like “konnichiwa” or “baka,” you’re in the right place. The initial steps you take are crucial as they lay the groundwork for your future progress.
By taking a strategic and methodical approach from the outset, you’ll find that everything that follows becomes much easier. Investing time and effort in these fundamental steps is essential if you want to avoid the challenges that many learners face as they progress to the intermediate level. What may seem like a slow start now will ultimately lead to greater speed and efficiency later on.
1.1. Learn to Read Hiragana
Estimated Time: 1 day to 1 week
Hiragana is the foundational writing system in Japanese, acting as the alphabet. It’s one of three essential scripts you’ll need to master to read Japanese fluently. While katakana and kanji are also important, hiragana is where you begin your reading journey.
Being able to read hiragana is often a requirement for beginner Japanese textbooks and other learning materials. It’s typically the first skill taught in traditional Japanese classrooms. We agree that this is a great place to start.
Many Japanese classes spend a month on hiragana. We believe this is too much time. Instead of repeatedly writing out each character, consider using a guide that employs mnemonics and targeted worksheets. You might be surprised how quickly you can learn to read hiragana using these methods.
Action Step: Learn How to Read Hiragana
It’s important to emphasize that the goal here is to learn to read hiragana, not necessarily to write it by hand. There’s a reason for this distinction. While handwriting Japanese is a valuable skill to acquire eventually, it can significantly slow down your initial progress. In modern communication, typing is far more prevalent, accounting for approximately 99% of written Japanese. Therefore, you’ll focus on learning how to type hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
By combining typing with mnemonics and worksheets, you can learn to read hiragana in just a day or two, rather than a month.
Remember: You’re not confined to the pace of a classroom. You can move as quickly as you’re able. There is no speed limit.
To move on to the next step, you should be able to read all hiragana characters comfortably. Even if you’re not yet fluent, being able to recognize each character and its associated sound without hesitation is sufficient. You’ll gain plenty of practice and increase your reading speed as you progress.
Note: Before diving into hiragana, read “Japanese Pronunciation, Part 1” (below) to get a handle on the sounds.
1.2. Basic Japanese Pronunciation
Estimated Time: N/A
Solid pronunciation begins with hiragana. While it won’t teach you everything about Japanese pronunciation, it’s key to understanding the sounds of Japanese words and developing a native-sounding accent. Mastering hiragana will take you about 80% of the way there.
To cover the remaining 20%, we’ve developed a guide that explains the basics of Japanese pronunciation. Before you start learning hiragana, read up to the “Japanese Sounds and Your Mouth” section.
After you’ve learned to read hiragana, revisit that section and read about “Important Differences.” This section highlights sounds that don’t exist in English, giving you a significant head start. Ensure you can pronounce all hiragana characters correctly before moving forward.
Investing time in pronunciation early on is essential. Don’t avoid it because it seems challenging. As you progress, having a solid foundation in speaking and hearing these sounds will be invaluable for understanding the nuances and exceptions you’ll encounter.
Now that you’ve got a good grasp on pronunciation, go back to learning how to read hiragana. Once you can read and recall all the characters, move on to the next section.
1.3. Learning to Type Hiragana in Japanese
Estimated Time: 1-2 days (or less)
Prerequisite: Able to read hiragana
Now that you can read and pronounce hiragana, it’s time to learn how to type it on your computer or smartphone. Even if your reading is slow, that’s okay!
First, you’ll need to install a Japanese keyboard. Fortunately, you don’t need special hardware. You can use an IME (input method editor), a type of software that allows you to add a Japanese keyboard to almost any computer, phone, or operating system. Follow the instructions in this guide to add one to your devices:
Read: How to Install a Japanese Keyboard
After installing the keyboard, it’s time to learn how to type. Use the following guide, focusing on the hiragana portion since that’s what you know so far:
Read: How to Type in Japanese
If you can read hiragana, typing in hiragana is quite straightforward. Once you’re confident in your typing abilities, including tricky aspects like contractions, small tsu, and dakuten, move on to the next section. It’s time to address kanji, the “elephant in the room” for many Japanese learners.
1.4. Understanding the Concept of Kanji
Estimated Time: N/A
Our Japanese learning method introduces kanji very early. As soon as you can read and type hiragana, you should begin tackling kanji.
Here’s why:
- Many consider kanji the most challenging aspect of learning Japanese. However, postponing or ignoring it won’t help you in the long run. Kanji is integral to almost everything in Japanese, so your learning experience will suffer if you avoid it.
- Beginners often spend a lot of time looking up kanji and vocabulary in textbooks, which distracts from grammar and slows progress. Learning some kanji and vocabulary upfront makes grammar learning faster and easier. Think of it as investing a little time now to save a lot of time later.
- Kanji leads to vocabulary, vocabulary aids communication, and grammar is the glue that holds vocabulary together. Without vocabulary, grammar becomes abstract and difficult to learn.
- We offer a more effective method for learning kanji than rote memorization, making it less daunting than it seems. It might even be enjoyable!
This kanji-vocabulary-first approach will help you use Japanese quickly. It may feel slow at first, but you’ll soon surpass others who use traditional methods. You’ll also navigate the “intermediate wall” more easily, reducing the risk of burnout.
If you agree with this approach, start by understanding what kanji is and how it’s used. Read our guide:
Read: On’yomi vs. Kun’yomi: What’s the Difference?
Once you understand how kanji readings work, you’ll be ready to start learning actual kanji.
1.5. Beginning Kanji & Stockpiling Kanji Knowledge
Estimated Time: 1-3 months
Important Note: Begin learning katakana (the next section) concurrently with this step. “Beginning Kanji & Stockpiling Kanji Knowledge” will take 1-3 months, and you can complete all steps up to “The Beginner of Japanese” while working on this one!
It’s time to start learning kanji. Let’s define what “learning kanji” means:
- “Learning kanji” means learning the kanji’s most important English meaning(s) and Japanese reading(s). Some kanji have many readings, and English meanings are translations that don’t always perfectly match the Japanese meaning. You’ll focus on the most important meanings and readings, used 80-90% of the time. The rest will come through vocabulary and practice.
- As you learn kanji, you’ll also learn vocabulary that uses those kanji. This solidifies kanji concepts and introduces you to additional kanji readings. Plus, this vocabulary will be used to build sentences with grammar later.
- By the end of this guide, aim to know around 2,000 of the most important kanji and 6,000-7,000 vocabulary words that use them. This foundation will enable you to read almost anything or easily decipher the rest on your own.
Aim to learn 20-30 kanji and about 100 vocabulary words using those kanji each week. If that sounds like a lot, don’t worry. The Radicals Mnemonic Method can significantly speed things up. You’ll also learn important foundational knowledge about how kanji works.
Read: Learn kanji with the radicals mnemonic method
This guide teaches you how to narrow down kanji meanings and readings to the most important ones. You’ll learn how to use radicals and mnemonics and create an effective study routine.
You can use these techniques to create your own weekly study plan for free, if you’re willing to put in the work. If you prefer a complete package, we recommend the kanji learning program, WaniKani.
We’ll reference it going forward, but creating your own content and schedule is fine. Just ensure you maintain your pace. Or, slow down if you’re burning out!
Once you begin learning vocabulary in WaniKani (or your own system), read the Basic Japanese Pronunciation Guide from the Pronouncing Vocabulary section to the end. You’ll learn about long and short vowel sounds, double consonants, dropping sounds, and pitch accent. Although pitch accent may be difficult now, knowing it exists and how it works will give you a leg up.
Read: Basic Japanese Pronunciation Guide
Make sure you get started now. Do the work, don’t just plan to do it! Starting is the hardest part.
1.6. Learn to Read Katakana
Estimated Time: 2 days to 2 weeks
Prerequisite: Able to read hiragana
Learning katakana is similar to learning hiragana. We have another mnemonic-based guide, and you’ll likely be able to read katakana within a few days if you’re willing to put in the effort.
Aim to read all katakana by the time you start unlocking vocabulary in WaniKani (or start vocabulary in your own kanji method). While katakana words won’t appear frequently at first, there are enough to make it worthwhile. It’s also a good way to spend extra time while the number of kanji you’re learning is still low.
Do it: Learn to Read Katakana
Note: Katakana can be more challenging than hiragana because it appears less frequently, especially in the beginning. Later, katakana will appear more often, but for now, simply being able to read it is enough. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve, but know that reading katakana might not come as quickly as hiragana. Focus your limited time and energy on hiragana and kanji, as they’re more useful right now.
Once you can read each katakana character, no matter how slowly, move on to typing katakana.
1.7. Learning to Type Katakana
Estimated Time: 1-2 hours
Prerequisites: Able to type hiragana, able to read katakana
Katakana is similar to hiragana, making typing it fairly easy. There are a few differences, but you can apply your hiragana knowledge and progress quickly. Jump to the katakana section of our typing guide and get started.
Read: How to Type Katakana
Note: Keep working on your kanji! If you’re using WaniKani, do your reviews as they become available. Make this a habit. WaniKani is a spaced repetition system with spaces between reviews. Do your reviews on time, and you’ll get through this initial “slow” phase in a week or two. The waiting time is critical for testing your ability to recall information.
1.8. Learning to Type Kanji
Estimated Time: 1-2 hours
Prerequisite: Able to read 20-30 kanji
Before starting this step, ensure you can read a handful of kanji. Twenty or thirty will suffice. If you’re using WaniKani, this is when you start unlocking vocabulary or are around level 2.
Typing in kanji is more complicated than hiragana or katakana, but it follows similar rules. Learn how to type in kanji using the kanji section of our guide, then read to the end for additional tips and tricks (punctuation, symbols, etc.).
Read: How to type kanji
Now you know how to type everything in Japanese (unless you count kaomoji)! With practice, you’ll be able to type Japanese as naturally as your native language.
To continue using this knowledge, you’ll need to know more kanji and vocabulary. Once you get there, you’ll be ready for “The Beginner of Japanese” section!
Before moving on, reach level 10 on WaniKani (or know around 300 kanji and 1,000 vocabulary words using your own method).
This is an important time for pronunciation too. Consciously mimic the vocabulary audio and think about pitch accent. This will prepare you for sentences later.
With this kanji knowledge and good pronunciation, grammar will come quickly. You won’t spend your grammar study time looking up every other word. Instead, you’ll focus solely on grammar, knowing the contents of 80% of every sentence you see for the first time. When you say these sentences aloud, you won’t trip over your tongue because you’ll already be familiar with Japanese sounds and pronunciation. The time you invest in kanji, vocabulary, and pronunciation will pay off.
Put your head down, trust in this, and do the work each day.
Go on, get to it, and come back here when you’re done.
2. The Beginner of Japanese: Taking Off
Being a beginner in anything is wonderful. Everything is new, progress feels tangible, and even if you’re not great at something, you can’t really tell because you don’t know enough yet.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
At this point, you have a strong base of kanji and vocabulary. If you are using WaniKani, you should be at level 10 or above. If you are doing kanji on your own or using another resource, you should know the most common meaning and reading of around 300 kanji and 1,000 vocabulary words. If you are using a resource that only teaches you the meaning of a kanji (and not how to read it), that doesn’t count. You need to do the whole thing, not just the easiest 20%.
Assuming you have this knowledge, we’ll explore options for learning Japanese grammar, including using a textbook or creating your own grammar program. You might end up doing a hybrid of both. No matter what you choose, your foundation of kanji, vocabulary, and pronunciation will make everything much easier. Without it, even the best Japanese textbook can be frustrating.
2.1. Using a Spaced Repetition System For Vocabulary
Estimated Time: 2-4 hours + ongoing
You’ll learn a lot of vocabulary from your kanji studies. As long as you have a good kanji system, you shouldn’t worry too much. However, you’ll also need to learn words that don’t use kanji, especially grammatical words and words from your textbook. Later, you’ll pick up vocabulary from signs, manga, and other real-life sources.
It’s time to learn how and when to introduce vocabulary words from outside your kanji studies into your routine. The most important thing is to have a good system in place.
You need to record and store these words for later study and have a good system to handle them. It’s a waste if you record them once and never look at them again.
At your current level, most new words will be hiragana or katakana-only. As you read more Japanese, the number of new words will increase, so being able to track and add these to your routine becomes even more important. For now, focus on developing a habit of collecting, processing, and studying unfamiliar vocabulary. This should become second nature.
2.1.1. Collecting Vocabulary
You’ll likely find most of the vocabulary you want to learn in your Japanese textbook. As mentioned earlier, these might be words that don’t have kanji, or words you didn’t learn in WaniKani. There are many words out there, and no single resource will teach you all of them.
Once you’ve found words you want to learn, you need to collect them. How you do this doesn’t matter as much as actually doing it. Put them in a spreadsheet, a tool like Evernote or OneNote, or just write them down on paper. Make sure your list is easily accessible and create a trigger for yourself that says, “if I see a vocabulary word I want to learn, then I add it to my list.”
There are many list-apps and pieces of paper, so it’s hard to say what you should use. Evernote is a great tool, and Airtable is a good spreadsheet app for non-math people. But maybe you prefer physical pocket-sized notebooks, to-do lists, your smartphone camera (with a special folder for processing), or something else.
Whatever you use, make sure it’s easy for you. Figure out what makes sense and make it work. If this step doesn’t happen, everything else will fall apart.
2.1.2. Processing
The next step is processing. Create a habit where every day, week, or month (depending on how much new vocabulary you want to introduce) you go through your list and put the words into your SRS of choice. What is an SRS? Glad you asked.
2.1.3. Adding the Words to Your SRS
If you’ve been using WaniKani, you’ve been using a “Spaced Repetition System” (SRS) this whole time! But you’ll want to use something else for vocabulary you find outside of WaniKani. For this, we wrote a guide. In it, you’ll learn how to collect vocabulary and add them to your SRS.
Read: Spaced Repetition and Japanese: The Definitive Guide
Another helpful article is this one on Keyword Mnemonics. For non-kanji vocabulary, this simple mnemonic method will allow you to learn more vocabulary in one sitting and recall it for longer.
Read: Keyword Mnemonic Method for Learning Japanese Vocabulary
As said earlier, you won’t be working with a lot of vocabulary at the start. For now, let your kanji studies provide most of your vocabulary. Then, when you encounter stray vocabulary, send it through the vocabulary process you’ve built.
Make this a habit.
Habit generally means 3-6 weeks of doing something regularly. Start now, because in six weeks you’ll need to utilize this habit a lot more.
2.2. Beginning Japanese Grammar
Estimated Time: It’s a mystery
It’s (finally!) time to start learning grammar. If you’ve followed this guide closely, you’re probably 2-4+ months into your Japanese studies. If it’s more than that, don’t worry. We all go at our own speeds, and the important thing is that you kept moving forward. You should know around 300 kanji and 1,000 Japanese vocabulary words, and your pronunciation should be improving, or at least you’re consciously working on it. Now it’s time to tackle Japanese grammar.
Let’s start with a philosophy. Carry this with you for the rest of your life:
When learning something new, you should already know 80% of it.
This means each new thing you learn should be a 20% (or smaller) incremental step—a +1 from where you are, rather than a +20 or +100.
Most people go into a textbook with zero knowledge and spend a lot of time looking up unfamiliar words. How much of a sentence is vocabulary? Depending on the length, it’s often “more than 80%.”
So, when learning grammar with a textbook, prior vocabulary knowledge brings you to that 80%, leaving you just the grammar to focus on. Instead of constantly flipping to the index to look up words and dealing with context switching when you return to the lesson, you can focus solely on learning the grammar.
That’s the +1 we’re talking about.
Let’s assume your Japanese vocabulary knowledge doesn’t get you to 80% (or more). There are a few possible reasons:
- You don’t know enough vocabulary: If you don’t know many words in a sentence before studying it, you don’t understand 80% of the sentence before you start. In this case, go back to your kanji/vocabulary studies and reconsider the level of the resource you’re using. Alternatively, pull the vocabulary from the resource, study them with your SRS method, and then come back once you’ve learned them.
- You don’t know enough grammar: Imagine you’re looking at a sentence that contains three separate grammar points. If you’re being taught one of the three, but you don’t know the other two, you’re dipping way below that ideal 80%.
- The sentence is very short: If a phrase only has three parts (e.g., “[vocabulary] + [particle] + [vocabulary]”), and you don’t know one of them, you’re going to be at 66%. In cases like this, you can make an exception. Knowing 66% of a three-piece phrase or 75% of a four-piece phrase is acceptable. This will be common in the beginning.
That’s the philosophy we’re working off of going forward, so double-check that you have that base of kanji and vocab before continuing. Your failure rate increases dramatically if this foundation is weak!
2.3. A Beginner’s Japanese Textbook / Program
Estimated Time: 1-3 months
It’s time to apply our philosophy to a beginner textbook. Things that would have normally tripped you up (things teachers and textbooks have trouble explaining due to the curse of knowledge) should now be less difficult. With kanji and vocabulary already in your tool belt, learning grammar should be more interesting. You won’t be spending 90% of your time and energy looking up unfamiliar kanji and vocabulary. Instead, you’ll just be doing it.
With this base knowledge, choosing a specific textbook or program is less important, but there are still many “good” and “bad” textbooks. Most will teach you the same content one way or another, so pick one that fits your learning style.
To help you with this choice, we wrote a guide:
Whatever you choose, get started right away. It’s easy to get trapped in a “preparation loop” where you spend all your time planning and getting ready, only to stop before any actual work gets done.
At this point, focus on working through your textbook from beginning to end. Doing this will create a strong foundation of Japanese inside of you, which you can use to build other knowledge off of.
Once all the basic, foundational grammar is in place, you’ll be able to accelerate and work toward fluency.
It will take around 2-6 months to get through most beginner Japanese textbooks, depending on how much time you have to spend on your studies and what grammar method you choose. You can even go through a couple of different textbooks at the same time, if you want. What one textbook doesn’t teach well, another probably does. That being said, if you don’t feel like you understand a concept or you want to know more, there’s plenty of ways to get your questions answered. I recommend not skipping questions—instead, follow your curiosity! Learning is supposed to be fun, though school may have “taught” you otherwise.
Read the next section as you start your textbook studies. You’ll eventually run into something your textbook doesn’t explain, so be ready for it.
2.4. Answering Your Japanese Language Questions
As you go through your textbook, you’ll run into things you don’t understand, or you’ll find you don’t know 80% anymore. It’s not necessarily a failure of your textbook; many were designed for teachers to use in a classroom and expect someone to answer questions. Or, there just isn’t enough space to cover everything.
Not to worry. When you run into something you don’t understand, you can look it up. No matter what kind of question you’re asking or answer you’re searching for, we wrote up a guide that will tell you how to find anything Japanese language-related:
Note: Continue to use WaniKani (or whatever kanji learning method you chose) as you continue on. Keep going until you finish or reach the end of this guide. It’s important to keep your kanji-vocabulary knowledge ahead of your grammar knowledge. If you don’t, that 80% ratio will tick down until your studies no longer feel sustainable or fun.
2.5. Alternative: Learning Japanese Grammar On Your Own
Estimated Time: 1-3 months
By gathering all that kanji and vocabulary knowledge, you’re making it possible to learn grammar on your own. Learning grammar is comparatively easy. That being said, if you decide not to use a Japanese textbook as your main resource, there are some things you’ll want to consider:
2.5.1. Order of Learning
This is a topic we’ll be writing a big guide on. But it’s quite complicated, so I haven’t gotten around to it yet. We’ll fill in this section with that guide in the near future, but don’t use my slowness as an excuse. Just get started. If you do, ordering will, for the most part, naturally fall into place if you follow the “know 80% of all new things” philosophy.
2.5.2. Fact-Checking / Cross-Referencing
Don’t just trust anything you read on the internet. The same goes for textbooks and teachers, too. When you learn a new piece of Japanese grammar, read explanations from multiple sources. Some will be complicated with hard linguistic language, while others will be overly simplified. And a few will be just right! Making a habit of using multiple explanations and resources for one thing will feel like it’s slowing you down at first, but it’s much faster overall. We’ll list some good reference books at the end of the Beginning Japanese section, so take a look.
2.5.3. Do the Work
If you’re studying Japanese grammar on your own, it’s even more important to do the work. It’s not hard to study and use what you’ve learned. It’s hard to sit down and start. Even more so than with a class or textbook, you’ll need to make sure you actually sit down and make progress. Measurable progress, preferably, though you’ll have to figure out just how to measure it.
With a textbook, you can just say, “I could answer all the questions,” or “I made it through twelve pages this week.” Doing grammar on your own makes it harder to see and feel yourself moving forward. You are, but it’s a bit hidden.
2.5.4. Sometimes, You’ll Just Get Stuck
If this is happening a lot—and no amount of research gets you through it—you might want to consider finding a professional to help. Speaking of professionals…
2.6. Optional: Finding A Japanese Language Tutor
Estimated Time: N/A
This may be the time to consider finding a Japanese language tutor, especially if you feel like you’re not able to answer your questions about Japanese on your own. With a foundation of kanji and vocabulary already in place, you will be able to focus on the things that a tutor can help you with the most: speaking, listening, and answering questions.
Keep in mind that focusing on kanji and vocabulary with a tutor tends to be a poor use of this time. Most teachers don’t know how to teach kanji (it’s just, “go learn these kanji and vocab by next week”), and many tutors promote rote memorization because that’s how they learned as a child.
When using a tutor, focus on things only a tutor will be able to help you with, including their ability to speak, think, and explain nuances that haven’t been written about or studied (yet).
You’re not required to get a tutor or teacher at this point, but if you were really looking forward to this part, now is the appropriate time to do it. Everything from here on out won’t rely on your having access to a teacher, tutor, or native speaker, so you can still progress without needing to complete this step.
2.7. Suggested Books and Resources
Estimated Time: N/A
As you move along, there’s always more to learn. Don’t be afraid to stop moving forward to indulge your curiosity. These “slowdowns” will speed you up as you strengthen past knowledge and make connections between them.
For times like this, reference books are quite good. If you’re only going to buy one, I’d recommend the “Basic” book from the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar series. It is the best Japanese language reference book out there, in my opinion.
Other than that, look through the “Reference Books” section of our Beginner Japanese Textbooks, Reference Books, and Dictionaries
