How to Learn Japanese (6 page)
Read How to Learn Japanese Online
Authors: Simon Reynolde
Breaking into Japanese Literature
is a fantastic book for those who want to improve their reading. It contains
short stories from famous literary authors like Natsume Soseki. MP3 files of the stories are even available for
free download from the internet
here
.
Kanji from the Start
is another book for those who want to start reading. It provides increasingly more difficult
reading passages together with grammar notes and
kanji
explanations. It seems to be aimed at budding translators rather than novices and becomes hard very quickly.
I picked up the Harry Potter books in Japanese for around a thousand yen from my local second hand book store (second hand book stores like Book-Off and Geo are a great source of cheap books - often you can find cheap versions of well-known English novels for a couple of hundred yen). Knowing the story in English is a great help. It took me a year to read the first book, six months to read the second and a month to read the third. I feel confident that you can beat my times if you try!
Bear in mind that by reading Harry Potter you will learn a lot of specialised vocabulary that probably won't be much use to you in everyday life (unless you're a wizard). Harry Potter is not for everyone and I do recommend that you read things you are interested in. If you like sports, read about sports. Reading should be fun and interesting and not a grinding chore. Sadly the reading comprehension passages in Japanese exams are often frightfully dull.
Two final tips for reading. First, try to set yourself a realistic goal for finishing your book. A 600 page novel will take you a month if you read 20 pages a day. Second, don't be afraid to write on your book in pencil. Doing so will make it easy to review words you looked up earlier.
Audio Books
Audio books are great for the language learner. I highly recommend the Japanese audio books that accompany the Harry Potter series. There are several audio books available for download on the net.
.
More reading on the web
There are plenty of websites out there in Japanese to provide you with reading material.
Jim Breen’s
Japanese Dictionary
is an invaluable resource to any student of Japanese. Just copy and paste words from a
website or file into the Translate words from Japanese function and it will provide you with the meanings of all the
kanji
!
rikai.com
, which provides definitions of words as you move your cursor
over them.
is another great dictionary for translators and provides lots of example sentences and phrases to help
you understand.
The Japanese version of
Wikipedia
has daily news articles. Run them through Jim Breen’s translate words
function, copy and paste them and you can start to build up a collection of articles to review. It won't take you long to get used to reading the news in Japanese.
Japanese tests
There are several Japanese language tests you can take as a foreigner. Reasons for taking a test can vary: some want a qualification to put on their CV, others like the added motivation of preparing for a test. Tests are not the be-all and end-all of language learning and should not be viewed as such. I’ve met many people with very good Japanese who have never taken any kind of test.
JLPT
The most well-known Japanese test (at least among foreigners) is the Japanese language proficiency test.
Great introduction to the JLPT
JLPT FAQ
The JLPT is divided into 4 levels of which 4 is the easiest and 1 is the hardest. Level 1 (
ikkyuu
) has been described as the holy grail for learners of Japanese. This is a bit of a stretch in my opinion but the test can be a good motivator and indicator of progress.
ikkyuu
within four years. I have seen a dedicated student fail it by less than one percent after studying for two years and pass it comfortably in three.
Passing level 1 or 2 is quite respectable. Whilst the JLPT is a nice qualification to have on your CV it is certainly no guarantee of a job. Those with other marketable skills on their CVs, e.g. computer programming, may find the JLPT opens new doors for them.
Criticism of the JLPT includes the fact that it's only held once a year, it's expensive (around 7-8 thousand yen), it's all multiple choice (or multiple guess, depending on how hard you studied) and they don't send you the results until March (the test is held in December).
J-test
The J-test is another test gaining popularity in Japan. Think of it as a cheap and cheerful version of the JLPT. It’s definitely good practice for anyone thinking of taking the JLPT level 1 or 2. The sections tend to start off quite easy but become progressively harder throughout.
Unlike the JLPT, you will actually have to write some Japanese (rather than simply select multiple choice answers) as there is a writing section at the end. The test also has a rather tricky sentence building section at the end.
Kanji
test
One of the problems with the JLPT is that most Japanese people know next to nothing about it. I have been to a job interview for a translator position that required applicants to hold either JLPT 1 or 2 (I had the 1) only to be asked if I could read
kanji
!
Most English speakers wouldn’t have a clue about the significance of a TOEIC score and it is the same with Japanese people and the JLPT et al. The Japanese do know about the
kanji kentei
(
kanken
) and most of them will have taken it at some point in their lives. Accordingly, taking and passing the
kanji kentei
will grant you instant kudos with Japanese people.
I hope that this chapter has given you some insight as to how to tackle learning to read and write in Japanese. Attaining literacy in Japanese brings a real feeling of achievement and I believe that anyone with a positive attitude and some spare time can learn to read books in Japanese. Besides, think of all the fun you'll have reading the crazy
kanji
tattoos illiterate westerners are so fond of.
Buy any book from these links and I will send you the mp3 files to accompany the free flashcards on my website. Simply email
[email protected]
with the name of the book you purchased. Check my website for more special offers!
Textbooks
Japanese for Busy People
Romaji
version
This is a very popular textbook but I can't help feeling that its success is down to the catchy title rather than any particular superiority over its rivals. Who among us is not busy? If you can look through it, by all means do so, but you should not be spending too much time with a book like this. Read it and move on, and when the rest of your
gaijin
classmates are plodding through this at a chapter a week, you should be focusing on
kanji
acquisition or expanding your vocabulary.
Japanese for Busy People
Kana
version
Same as the above but with
kana
rather than
romaji
which is a step in the right direction.
Minna no Nihongo
Another commonly used textbook which translates as “Japanese for Everyone”. It's a decent book but you'll want to get through it as fast as possible. One chapter a week is too slow. Most of the volunteer run classes I attended gave out free photocopies of this textbook so you'll probably end up using this at some point anyway if you live in Japan.
Genki I
This is a decent textbook for beginners. It quickly moves from
romaji
to
kana
and covers some basic
kanji
. It is designed for use in a classroom setting under a teacher. There are other books more suited to self study. In addition, the CD containing the listening exercises comes separately with the teacher set. It doesn't offer any special method for learning
kanji
other than writing them out again and again but then, neither do the other commonly used texts.
Genki I Workbook
Practice your writing with this workbook designed to accompany Genki I. I personally think studying kanji via flashcards will probably be more beneficial than working through this book but if you like Genki you might like this.
Genki II
The follow up to Genki I, this book covers more grammar and
kanji
up to about JLPT 3 level. Again, it's more for classroom use.
kanji
and grammar you learned in Genki II.
Kana
Kana Flashcards
It is not strictly necessary to buy or even use flashcards to learn
kana
especially if you live in Japan, however, these will definitely help anyone who is struggling to master the
kana
and probably make the learning process more enjoyable. For those on a budget, make your own cards with a piece of paper and use your imagination to link the
kana
to recognizable shapes (e.g. the character
Ki
looks a key). Make sure you always follow the correct stroke order and doodle the
kana
with your fingers whenever you get a spare moment.
Kanji Dictionaries
The Learner's Kanji Dictionary
Highly recommended!!!
This is a great reference book. It lives up to the description on the back: “The ultimate desk reference for the student of Japanese”. It has all the
kanji
and compound words you will ever need. If you need a
kanji
reference book, buy this one, it's the best.
Kanji
Remembering the Kanji: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese
Characters
Highly recommended!!!
This is a very important book for anyone who wants to learn
kanji
. Even if you don't own a physical copy you should be familiar with the concepts inside. Part of it can be downloaded online and is essential reading. The book covers all 1945 of the general use
kanji
which is quite some feat; most other books don't come close to that number.
The book sometimes comes under criticism because it doesn't deal with
kanji
pronunciation but the author explains quite convincingly that his system works better when reading and writing are separated. Pronunciation is of course covered in the second volume of the series. The book even has its own yahoo newsgroup dedicated to it. Highly recommended.
Remembering the Kanji 2: A Systematic Guide to Reading the Japanese Characters
Highly recommended!!!
Heisig's first book only covered the writing of the
jouyou kanji
; this one covers the pronunciation. The
kanji
are arranged into groups with the same or similar pronunciations which makes learning much easier and faster. Well worth a look for those serious students of
kanji
even those who aren't fans of Heisig's first book. Learning the links between
kanji
components and pronunciations will even help you guess the pronunciations of unknown
kanji.
Kanji Study Cards
HIghly recommended!!!
This is the complete boxed set of flashcards to accompany Heisig's Remembering the Kanji books. So why should you buy them?
While it is possible to make your own sets of
kana
flashcards, trying to make your own
kanji
flashcards is much more difficult and time consuming. Not only is the sheer number of
kanji
(1945) a problem, but the amount of information that needs to be included on the cards (
on-yomi
,
kun-yomi
, English meaning) is also an obstacle. In my opinion, time spent creating your own
kanji
cards could be better spent elsewhere (e.g. learning vocabulary). These are sturdy, well made cards that are a pleasure to use and likely to be better than anything you could make yourself.
As far as I know, no other flashcard set covers all 1945 of the
jouyou kanji.
This means that other sets of flashcards will not give you all the
kanji
you need to read newspapers or pass the JLPT level 1. Nowadays there are many websites that offer free
kanji
flashcard programs. These are worth checking out although the major disadvantage is that you cannot simply pop your computer in your pocket and study on the train (with the exception of a pocket PC). These cards are portable and can easily be sorted into piles as needed.
It is perfectly possible to use these flashcards even if you do not own a copy of Heisig's books and in fact if you have to choose which to buy, book or flashcards, I recommend choosing the flashcards. The downside is that this set is expensive. If you are serious about learning Japanese however, I guarantee it will be a worthwhile investment. I for one would not have passed the JLPT 1 without it.