Japanese Learning Guide

*Note* This article is very much in it's infancy. Expect frequent updates and alterations. Your feedback and questions in the comments section are welcome.

Welcome to my Japanese learning guide! I began to construct this after growing interest and inquiry from my YouTube and blog audiences, as well as the internal inclination that documenting my personal experiences (and mistakes!) may be useful to fellow learners. I should preface that I am an amateur translator without any formal education or certification. but have been publishing a growing body of fan translation work since the early 2010s, which has thus far been met with an overall favorable evaluation by other dual language speakers.

After nearly 20 years of consistent study (only 2 weeks spent in Japan), while proud of my proficiency, I still do not consider my understanding to be of native level. I blame that more on my wide array of divergent interests (Other languages, piano, a large appetite for English books, podcasts and music and other media, time wasted fretting over current events and politics, etc.) than the efficacy of my methods. If my grasp of Japanese still seems worthy of emulation, please enjoy my continuously updated thoughts and suggestions below!

Concerning Kanji (Chinese Characters)

As it was considered by many to be the most daunting aspect of the language, when I began my studies in 2007, before learning any kana or basic sentences, I took it upon myself to not only understand the meaning of, but be able to handwrite the entire 1981-2010 standardized list of 1945 Joyo Kanji merely from viewing the On-Yomi / Kun-Yomi readings in Romanji, often supplemented by the English meaning, if the Japanese readings lacked an easily distinguishable Kun-Yomi.

To facilitate this, I used the book 'A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters' by Kenneth G. Henshall. While this book is excellent for it's explanations and theories on the Kanji, which will immensely aid in their learning, my method of relying on long, repetitive lists of Romanji readings written on paper lists was tortuously repetitive and inefficient.

How to Learn Them

In hindsight, I would recommended a new learner, even on day one, utilize a (SRS) Spaced Repetition Software, such as Anki, and employ the following template:

(Question Screen)

1st Line: On-Yomi (Chinese) Reading

2nd Line: Kun-Yomi (Japanese) Reading

3rd Line: Example Usages

4th Line: English Meaning (Optional)

(Answer Screen)

The corresponding Kanji

Do not be intimidated by the abundance of Chinese characters already in the question screen. The key to your learning lies within being prompted to write the kanji by the hiragana On/Kun-Yomi readings and English (If you find them necessary, but you'll eventually be able to switch to completely monolingual learning). The designations on the left may even be omitted entirely as long you understand and employ the purpose of each line. The example usages will become understandable in time as your knowledge and skill accumulates.

How deceptively easy they are to learn!

Despite how complex the kanji appear to a new learner, it cannot be understated how powerfully the phenomenon of 'chunking' (pattern recognition) applies to acquiring a mastery over their reading and writing. Just as chess players, musicians, athletes, fighters and those of many other professions gradually and sub-consciously sort out complicated sensory data into recognizable and predictable patterns, so does the act of learning Chinese characters!

For example, before learning 艦, one will learn 舟 and 監. Before learning 監, one will learn 臣、皿 and the radical form of 人. By the time you're memorizing the 21 stroke 艦, your brain is effectively being tasked merely with combining two previously learned data points (舟 on left, 監 on right)! In varying degrees, this phenomenon applies to nearly all the kanji that you learn.