How to start learning the Japanese Language-Part1

How to start learning the Japanese Language?

Well, find out a good school nearby. See that they give equal emphasis on all the 4 aspects of learning any language, reading, writing, speaking and listening.

If you are planning to study on your own then the best way is to start with learning the script. There are 3 scripts in Japanese Hiragana, Katakana called Kana and Kanji which are pictorial representations. When you write Japanese using English alphabets, it is called as Romaji.

Why so many scripts?

It was due to the development of the Japanese language over the years. To keep it simple we can say that Hiragana is used for local Japanese words and is indispensable for particles and inflections of verbs etc. Katakana on the other hand is used for words of foreign origin, such as names of foreigners for example and for emphasis for example in advertisements, Japanese comics etc.

It is easier to start with Hiragana which has 46 syllables and is simple to learn as it has only 1-4 strokes.

The first line is vowels and the remaining is consonants. Romaji is given in brackets.

あ(a) え(e) い(i) お(o) う(u)

か(ka) け(ke) き(ki) こ(ko) く(ku)

さ(sa) せ(se) し(shi) そ(so) す(su)

た(ta) て(te) ち(chi) と(to) つ(tsu)

な(na) ね(ne) に(ni) の(no) ぬ(nu)

は(ha) へ(he) ひ(hi) ほ(ho) ふ(fu)

ま(ma) め(me) み(mi) も(mo) む(mu)

や(ya) よ(yo) ゆ(yu)

わ(wa) を(wo)