How to teach yourself Japanese

Heading to Japan on business? Studying abroad? Just curious? This How To article will tell you how to master pronunciation, how to identify good resources and some basic phrases you will NEED TO KNOW.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Motivation

1. TAKE A DEEP BREATH:
   Some people think that Japanese is one of the hardest languages to learn. This is simply not true. Japanese always follows its rules, has no masculine/feminine, no conjugations and almost all modern words are cognates (similar in English). The writing system can be overwhelming, but for basic Japanese, you won't need to be able to read much.
2. RESOURCES:
   When most people decide to learn Japanese, they head to the book store or library and look over the (hopefully) dozen or more books dedicated to the subject. Some are novelty (Kanji Pict-O-Graphix) while others are absolute necessities (Lonely Planet Phrase Book). It can be hard to figure out which books you'll actually find useful. Here's what I discovered:
   
   The cheap dictionaries work just fine. (usually under $10) You'll probably want one in Romanji (written in the alphabet rather than in Japanese characters). Unless you plan on really learning how to read, this will be indispensable. Smaller is better.
   
   Most of the phrase books are mediocre at best. I had good luck with Lonely Planet. Don't always trust it. If someone can't understand you, pick out the most important word in the sentence and make sure you pronounce it correctly. For example, "Are there any bicycle shops around here?" becomes "Bicycle?". They'll understand you just fine.
   
   If you have at least a couple of weeks to study, avoid books that are exclusively in Romanji. They'll confuse your pronunciations. Hiragana and Katakana are not difficult to learn.
   
   If you want to learn to read and write Hiragana and Katakana (Japanese phonetic alphabets), save your money and get the cheapest book they have. As long as you have all of the characters, which order the strokes go in and how to pronounce them, you'll be fine.
   
   Decent online translators are hard to find. Avoid Babel fish. I've had the most success with Google, but always be wary, even if you're only translating one word. I usually translate English -> Japanese -> English just to make sure.
   
   If you have a MAC, you can add Japanese as a language in the "international" options under the "personal" menu in "system preferences". (Not sure how this works on a PC) Open Word and select Hiragana (for Japanese words) or Katakana (for english names or cognates) in the top right corner of your screen (you'll probably see an American flag, if you're set to American English). Type syllable by syllable the word you want to write. A box will appear with several choices of Kanji to insert instead of the phonetics. There are usually many different options, so unless you recognize the right one, ignore this box.
3. PRONUNCIATION:
   
   See my article on "How To Pronounce Japanese"
   
   Look for bilingual postcasts (Japanese Pod 101 is great), Japanese movies (Tampopo is a spaghetti western!), cartoons (any anime, anything by Miyazaki)and native Japanese speakers. The more you listen, the better your pronunciation will get. Remember, actually repeating words out loud makes the process much easier.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't be discouraged. Once you get the pronunciation down, basic Japanese is actually quite simple. If you can't read right away, don't sweat it.
• If you don't understand the different levels of speaking, don't worry!! Pick one reasonably polite one and learn that first. When you start to get a handle on that, move on to more complicated levels.
• DON'T BE SHY! The Japanese are very shy people and they will become embarrassed if you start to speak to them in Japanese. They may not immediately speak Japanese back to you.
• BE PERSISTENT and try to respond in Japanese EVEN IF THEY SPEAK ENGLISH BACK TO YOU. This happens to foreigners living in Japan ALL OF THE TIME.
• MAKE SURE you learn about Japanese culture WHILE YOU LEARN THE LANGUAGE. Often direct English to Japanese translations can be very offensive, so be careful!