Learning Japanese on Your Own Time

Japanese is a unique and fascinating language, and thanks to innovative (free!) new learning resources on the web it is becoming easier and easier to learn on a casual basis. If you’re like me and are keen to learn for fun, here’s some simple steps to learning the different facets of Japanese from home.

Spoken First, Written Second

One of the most daunting things about learning Japanese initially is the concept of memorizing the complex writing system as well as the spoken words you are learning. The most practical outcome when starting to learn a new language is to be able to understand and converse in basic terms, so learning by Romaji (Japanese language written with English alphabet) to begin with is a good first step.

I had great success initially learning with Berlitz Essential Japanese, which I picked up from my local book shop. The entire book is focused on basic conversation and as such is taught entirely in Romaji. About.com Japanese is another good starting point for those who want to jump straight in and don’t do books. By initially disregarding the written element you can get a feel for the structure and flow of Japanese which will make it seem more familiar. Once you have already learned some of the language in this way, it will be much easier to grasp the written side of things.

Spaced Repetition Software

Namely, Anki. This great little program is available for pretty much everything; Windows, Mac, Linux and a variety of phones (including your shiny iPhone) and helps you memorize a great deal of information quickly using a spaced repetition system.

As you learn new vocabulary, you add it to your Anki “deck” in a Q&A format (i.e. Q: Traffic A: Koutsuu.) Once the information is in your deck, you quiz yourself – the question is displayed on screen, and you think about what the answer is. You hit Enter to reveal the answer then rate how you did, with 0 being “I had absolutely no idea what it was” and 4 being “I recalled it instantly.” According to your how well you fared, the card is then placed back into your deck, to be presented to you again further down the line at a time most opportune for your brain to commit it to memory.

By coming back to your deck every day and adding new information all the time, you ultimately commit everything you entered to memory, and very quickly. Anki has full support for Japanese characters as well. Cool!