I've recently begun the process to learn Japanese! While I'm still not very far along, I hope this guide can serve as a record of what I've found, both to help myself remember and to shine a light on the process for anyone who is following along.
Why Learn a Foreign Language in 2024?
It seems a little silly to be pursuing language learning as a hobby when Google Translate has existed for many years, and advances in machine learning make the possibility of a real life "babel fish" not just the stuff of science fiction. And in some ways this is true. After all, you can browse the web with a Google Translate extension and read a webpage in your native language.
But… I think these fears about the obsolescence of human language learning and translators is overblown. Despite the fact that one can translate any text, or even any video, this doesn't necessarily mean than many people will choose to do so. Not many people actually browse the foreign-language-web despite the tools being at their disposal, and people don't read machine-translated novels.
One major reason why is that a language is reflective of its culture, and it is much easier to translate the dry semantic meaning of some message rather than both the context for why that message was created or the cultural implications which is meant to be imparted to a recipient. Not only is this why translating art still remains out of the purview of AI, but why the act of translating (not only between languages, but even conveying ones true feelings in the same language) is an act of creativity in and of itself. Works like FX's recent drama Shogun illustrate this.
And this doesn't address the main reason most people learn a language: to become closer with the people that speak it. From my observations, virtually all people that successfully learn a language to a point of fluency do it with the intention of (1) living, working, or studying in a country where that language is spoken (2) to consume native-language media (3) for a partner which speaks that language (4) because of an interest in learning languages in general. With the exception of (2), all these reasons aren't necessarily aided by advances in machine translation except in the very short term. For (1) and (3) or even (4), it is not merely one's understanding which is important here but how one is understood and percieved. Merely translating one's utterances to the target language does not bridge the gap.
Why Japanese?
So why am I learning? Despite the reputation of Japanese learners, I can assure you it is not (1-3). I have no desire to live in Japan, I don't watch much anime (though this may change), and my partner does not speak Japanese. I would also way (4) largely does not apply either, as while I do find languages interesting on an abstract level, I don't think I have a natural knack for it.
To me, a great language to learn is (1) high context, and thus difficult to machine-translate (2) a place you want to travel to repeatedly (3) where your native language is not spoken widely (4) is associated with a culture you are connected to, either by ancestry, interest, or proximity, and likewise (5) has either native speakers or media you want to immerse yourself with. For me, few languages meet all of these criteria, with the exception of Spanish and Russian. And with Japanese, there is the added factor of urgency: with both demographic and economic challenges, the country might be in a very different condition within the span of a decade. If I want to learn the language, the best time to start is now.
Resources
Bottom-up vs top-down approaches
There are basically two ways to learn a language. The first, and probably what you are familiar with if you've taken language classes in school is bottom-up. Basically, there's a linear progress where you start with "simpler concepts," and slowly expand how much of the language you are able to understand by building up on what you already know.
The other, maybe less common approach, is what I'll call top down. This could mean a lot of things, but in short it's starting with an end goal in mind, and working backwards. For example, if you want to order food in a language, this means memorizing all the vocabulary having to do with food and ordering, and then reading menus until you are able to do so without looking anything up. It might also mean reading or watching videos or reading books, looking up any words you don't understand or even trying to infer meaning from context (this approach is sometimes called comprehensible input). This might seem significantly more difficult, since your brain is somewhat forced to figure out everything on its own. Believe it or not, virtually everyone who has achieved fluency in a language appears to switch to this approach at some point in their learning journey.
So which approach is best for Japanese? I would argue both. First, I would try memorizing hiragana and katakana, the two phonetic syllabaries, as soon as possible in a bottom-up manner, as you are significantly limited in even the English language learning resources that are available to you. It also gives you a better sense of the rhythm of the language (which is composed or moras, not syllables) and some of the phonetics of the language which are a bit harder to understand if you only know English. Japanese is a foreign enough language to English that I suggest a good amount of grammar and vocab study under your belt before you begin immersion, so you have any idea what you are listening to at all. But once you reach about an N5 level of understanding, your learning will accelerate rapidly if you augment the "classroom" Japanese you are practicing with the "real life" Japanese which is actually spoken by natives. You still may understand very little at first, but you'll actually be learning the language as its spoken today, which should be your end goal anyways.
Duolingo (Gamified Apps)
Duolingo is not a bad place to start. The first unit starts with romanji (which uses the Latin alphabet) and slowly introduces you to the syllaries and the most basic grammar. It's actually not bad for this, and you should turn off the romanji setting as soon as you can for the extra practice. The main "rearranging" mechanism is actually pretty good for learning word order, which is somewhat of a foreign concept for new learners. The gamification features are also pretty motivating.
But it's critical to move on once you've developed some comfort. There was a reddit post that went viral of an individual who could not pass the N4 after YEARS of doing Duolingo. The issues are numerous: progress is slow. The activities you do are not reflective of what you might encounter IRL. Reviews are not as optimized as an SRS system. It's also very particular about the way in which it wants you to express something. It also can't capture the true nuance of trying to communicate in Japanese, as it might not always have a straightforward English equivalent. I could go on…
Classes
Many of the same criticisms that apply to Duolingo are also true for classes. Really, Duolingo is modelled after language classes so it has the same "false sense of progress." In some cases, you might be reinforcing bad habits by practicing speaking too early, or listening to the poor pronounciation of your classmates.
But classes have two important legs up on Duolingo. One is feedback from a native speaker. Being able to both get that cultural context and being able to ask questions is one of the most valuable aspects of a live course, as even ChatGPT will hallucinate an answer to some questions I ask it sometimes. The other is motivation. Passing tests, making friends in class… this can make the process of learning a lot less intimidating, even if you are progressing slowly.
WaniKani (Kanji)
The most intimidating aspect of (non Chinese) learners of Japanese is Kanji. Not only are there thousands of characters to memorize before you are able to reach basic literacy, but even being able to know how a Kanji is pronounced in a given context can be difficult due to the common practice of having multiple Kunyomi (native) and Onyomi ("Chinese") readings of a Kanji. Check out this video for an overview.
But, you wouldn't shy away from this challenge. Knowledge of the Kanji not only deepen your understanding of the language and culture by hinting at the etymology of various words, it will also unlock large swathes of vocabulary and allow you to guess at the meaning of words you have never seen before.
One app that tries to make learning the Kanji to be a little more manageable is WaniKani. A paid website, and various unofficial apps enabled by its API, it teaches you the "radicals" that make up the various Kanji, the Kanji these are composed of, then the vocab that contain these Kanji, in a bottom-up manner.
It's not perfect though. It uses a strict level and order system that won't necessarily correspond to the most "efficient" route for your goals, like JLPT levels, frequency, etc. I also think the emphasis on radicals is a little misguided, as they often won't have any "meaning" on their own.
This will set up a great foundation, but it shouldn't be the only Kanji study you do either. To get the most mileage, I'd also suggest doing the following in addition:
- Memorize readings by crossreferencing vocab you've already learned. This is where simultaneously studying grammar really comes into play. If you are an English speaker, there is a large of vocab you already know in the form of loanwords! Take Rickshaw, which comes from the Japanese word , meaning "self-powered vehicle". Congrats, you just learned the meaning and on reading of three different Kanji!
- Make your own pneumonics. WaniKani is based around an influential book called Remember the Kanji, or RTK for short, which attempts to teach you the meanings of characters using pneumonics, or stories involving the various radicals that compose the character. This is excellent if you are a visual learner, as these memorable associations, which can be a little silly at times, can create some memorable images which help lodge their sound and meaning in your brain. But it's important to remember that these associations are completely arbitrary and (usual) don't correspond to the actual etymology or "true" logic, due to arbitrary modifications and evolutions as the characters were standardized. I have found coming up with my own pneumonics can be great aid, and can be a fun little activity of its own. Sometimes, I'll look to see the associated Kanji to see if there is a phonetic pattern (see 3). Do whatever works for you!
- Keep track of phonetic radicals. Of the four types of Kanji, 形声文字, or phono-semantic compounds, account for more than 80% of the standard list. Typically, these consist of two radicals, where the left hints at the meaning, and the right hints at the On (or Sino) reading of the Kanji. If you can learn to recognize the phonetic radicals when they appear, it should help you remember the reading without having to invent a story that might make sense if you simply think about the "meaning" of the radical. Natalie Hamilton, author of the Kanji Code, documents these phonetic associations on this page and in her book.
- Keep track of 'lookalike' Kanji and radicals. The issue with trying to associate the shape of a radical with its meaning, is it leads to the faulty conclusion that similar looking Kanji have a similar meaning, which is not at all the case. See here.
- Keep track of Jukugo patterns. Jukugo means "multiple Kanji", and is a noun which arises from "smushing" multiple Kanji together. Often, the On readings are used for each. Learning how these are formed, might help you to remember what they mean. Unlike in Chinese, where each character is roughly an independent unit, Kanji don't have any meaning on their own. That being said, there is a logic to word construction, as many words are either loaned from Chinese or were constructed with similar rules. Over time, you might become better at guessing both the sound and meaning of an unknown word if you just know the individual Kanji. For example:
- When kanji is by itself or surrounded by Hiragana then read the "Japanese" or KUNYOMI reading.
- Two similar characters, often used for emphasis. Ex. 思考
- Two opposite characters, often used to describe 'flippable' states. Ex. 喜怒
- An adjective, then a noun. Ex. 長男
- A noun, then a verb Ex. 子守
- 自転車 is a verb (自転) modifying a noun (車)
- Keep track of Kanji with similar and opposing meaning. As seen above, such characters may often occur together, or be used in words that are used in the same context. It might be helpful to group such Kanji together in your mind. If two Kanji are similar on the surface, what might be their subtle differences?
- Pay attention to vocabulary examples. When thinking about pneumonics and similar/possing characters, it helps to look at the example sentences either in the app or in other resources. It's important to remember that the simple "English" equivalents might actually be broader or narrower than the native understanding of a word, or might have a more complex relationship. This is especially true of words that on the surface might have a myriad of unrelated meanings which in reality might share a core commonality.
Bunpro (Grammar, Vocab)
Can't recommend this app highly enough.
- Learn grammar and vocabulary in context. The main question type is fill-in, where they present you the beginning and end of a sentence and you have to fill in the missing word or phrase. If you fill in a synonym, it will try and "nudge" you in the right direction.
- The grammar point pages are great at giving you comprehensive rundown of how it's used and some of the nuances by example.
- It's all organized by JLPT level, but you don't have to stick to it. You can add any word or grammar point or review. Great for following along with a class or immersion material.
- It's maintained by a passionate group of developers. At the time of writing (December 2024) it still gets regular big fixes and updates.
Appendix: Helpful Tables
As a bonus, I present a series of table I made to help understand certain "classes" of words. These aren't necessarily great for learning, but they are great for review, as it is a simplification that doesn't fully capture all the nuances. That being said, even if you are a beginner, it might give you some insights on the language by allowing you to place what you know on the larger "map" of Japanese grammar.
Periods of Time
It is common for Japanese to express in one word, what may take English or other languages to express in multiple. Below is a series of words related to time, which while having fairly regular Kanji constructions, have more irregular readings.
| type | before last | last | current | next | after next | duration | every | how many (question) |
| time | いま | いつも | いつ | |||||
| day | おととい | きのう | きょう | あした | あさって | まいにち | ||
| week | 先々週 | せんしゅう | こんしゅう | らいしゅう | 再来週 | しゅうかん | まいしゅう | |
| month | 先々月 | せんげつ | こんげつ | らいげつ | 再来月 | ~月 / ~箇月 / ~ヶ月 | まいつき | |
| year | 一昨年 | きょねん | ことし | らいねん | 再来年 | ねんかん | まいねん |
Days of the Week
Per Wikipedia: In languages in the Greco-Roman tradition, "the days were named after the classical planets of Hellenistic astrology." This closely tracks with Germanic languages, such as English, which instead translated these into gods in the Norse pagan pantheon. It appears that the Chinese also appear to have translated the days of the week into language, in as early as 4th century AD (!), when then spread to Japan in 11th century AD.
| English | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Celestial Object (English) | sun | moon | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn |
| Japanese | 日曜日 | 月曜日 | 火曜日 | 水曜日 | 木曜日 | 金曜日 | 土曜日 |
| Celestial Object (Japanese) | 日 | 月 | 火星 | 水星 | 木星 | 金星 | 土星 |
| Kanji meaning | fire | water | wood / tree | gold / metal | earth / soil | ||
| Spanish | domingo | lunes | martes | miércoles | jueves | viernes | sábado |
Reference:
- https://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/days-of-week.html
Demonstratives
You may be familiar with the three persons: first (me, I, or we), second (you), and third (it or they). Japanese doesn't generally care about plurals (it's implied but you can be more specific if you like), but it does care about clusivity, distinguishing between how close an object is to either the speaker or the listener.
| こ (ko) | そ (so) | a (あ) | ど (do) | ど〜でも | ど〜も | ど〜か | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Concepts | close (to speaker) | away (but close to listener) | distant (from listener and speaker) | question | any | all | some |
| Things (adj) | これ/この〜 | それ/その〜 | あれ/あの〜 | どれ/どの〜 | 何 でも | 全 部 | |
| (meaning) | this (one) | that (one) | that (one, over there) | which (one) | anything | everything | something |
| People/Things (bluntly) | こいつ | そいつ | あいつ | どいつ | 皆 | ||
| People ("pronouns") | こなた (archaic) | そなた (archaic) | あなた (somewhat impolite) | どなた (polite, feminine) | 皆さん | 誰か | |
| Places (〜ら = around) | ここ | そこ | あそこ | どこ | どこでも | どこも | どこか |
| (meaning) | here | there | over there | where | anywhere | everywhere (nowhere when negated) | somewhere |
| Directions (polite/casual contraction) | こちら/こっち | そちら/そっち | あちら/あっち | どちら/どっち | どちらも | どちらか | |
| (meaning) | this way | your way | that way | which way | both ways | one way (of the two) | |
| Manner/Method/Type (before nouns/before verbs+adjectives) | こう/こんな〜 | そう/そんな〜 | ああ/あんな〜 | どう/どんな〜 | どうでも | どうか | |
| (meaning) | like this | like yours (agreement) | like that | like what | somehow | ||
| Amount/Degree | こんなに | そんなに | あんなに | どんなに | |||
| Likeness/Kind/Quality | こういう | そういう | ああいう | どういう | |||
| (meaning) | this kind of / such as this | that kind of / such as that | what kind / such as | ||||
| Likeness | こうして | そうして | ああして | どうして | どうしても | ||
| (meaning) | like this | like that | why / how | no matter what | |||
| Action (verb) | そうする | どうする | どうするか | ||||
| (meaning) | to do thus/so | what to do | what would you do/what to do about it |
By Politeness
Politeness in English is largely implicit, for example by turning commands (do this for me) into suggestions or questions (I would like this / could I have this). European often distinguish between an informal and formal second person (tu vs usted in Spanish). Japanese, Korean, and other languages have more complex formality systems where you must adjust the way you are speaking on a variety of factors.
| Meaning | Plain / Dictionary / Casual | Polite / tenkeigo (丁寧語) | Honorific / sonkeigo (尊敬語) | Humble / Kenjōgo (謙譲語) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (general) | - | - | 御~になる | |
| is (copula) | だ | です | でございます | |
| to do | - | する | なさる | 致す (u-verb) |
| to do something | - | ~する | ご~になる | |
| to go | - | 行く | いらっしゃる／おいでになる | 参る |
| to come | - | 来る | いらっしゃる／おいでになる | 参る |
| to exist (animate) | - | いる | いらっしゃる／おいでになる | おる |
| to see | - | 見る | ご覧になる | 拝見する |
| to ask/hear | - | 聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) | － | 伺う |
| to say | 言う | 言います | おっしゃる | 申す／申し上げる |
| to give/raise/offer | やる | あげる | － | 差し上げる |
| to give | - | くれる | 下さる 【くだ・さる】 | － |
| to recieve | - | もらう | － | いただく |
| to eat | 食う | 食べる | 召し上がる 【め・し・あ・がる】 (ru-verb) | いただく |
| to drink | - | 飲む | 召し上がる 【め・し・あ・がる】 (ru-verb) | いただく |
| to know | - | 知っている | ご存知（です） | 存じる |
| good | - | いい | よろしい | |
| Tomorrow | - | 明日（あした） | 明日（あす） | |
| After tomorrow | - | 明後日（あさって） | 明後日（みょうごにち） | |
| Last night | - | 昨日の夜 | 昨夜 （さくや） | |
| Tomorrow morning | - | 明日の朝 | 明朝 （みょうちょう） | |
| From tomorrow | - | 明日以降 | 後日 （ごじつ） | |
| This year | - | 今年 | 本年 （ほんねん） | |
| The other day | - | この間 | 先日 （せんじつ） | |
| On that day | - | その日 | 当日 （とうじつ） | |
| Last year | - | 去年（きょねん） | 去年（さくねん） | |
| Year before last | - | 一昨年（おととし） | 一昨年（いっさくねん） | |
| Soon, shortly | - | もうすぐ | まもなく | |
| Now | - | いま | ただいま | |
| Earlier | - | 前に | 以前 （いぜん） | |
| Later | - | あとで | 後ほど （あとほど） | |
| Immediately | - | すぐに | さっそく | |
| This time, now | - | 今度 | このたび | |
| Just now | - | さっき | 先ほど （さきほど） | |
| Just a minute | - | ちょっと | 少々 （しょうしょう） | |
| Very, terribly | - | とても | 大変 （たいへん） | |
| Very, greatly | - | すごく | 非常に （ひじょうに） | |
| How many, how much | - | どのくらい | いかほど | |
| A few, a little | - | 少し | 些少（さしょう） | |
| Considerable | - | 多い | 多大 （ただい） | |
| About, approximately | - | ～ぐらい | ～ほど | |
| delicious | うまい | おいしい | ||
| meal | 飯 | ご飯 | ||
| hungry | 腹減った | お腹空いた | ||
| name suffix | - | ～さん | ～様 【～さま】 |
By Genderedness
Japanese has different speach patterns for men and women. This means that men prefer to use more casual vocabulary than women (see above). It also extends to first person pronouns and sentence ending particles (see below). While you can't go wrong sticking with a middle ground, particularly in formal situations, you should pay close attention to this in social situations, particularly if your Japanese teacher is of a different gender than you.
| Person | Masculine (男言葉) | Neutral | Feminine (女言葉) | ||
| First | 俺 | 僕 | 自分 | 私 | あたし |
| Second | てめぇ | お前 | あなた | あんた |
| Masculine | Neutral | Feminine |
| そうだぜ | そうだよ | そうよ |
| そうだな | そうだね | そうね |
| 行くぞ | 行くよ | 行くわよ |
| - | 暑いわ↓ | 暑いわ↑ |
| いいか？ | いい？ | いいかしら？ |
| いいのか？ | いいの？ | いいのね？ |
Name Suffixes
It is rare to general second-person pronoun, like "you," in spoken Japanese. Instead, it is preferred to use someone's name or role then referring to them. Suffixes are used to express their relationship to you, or your relative status in a given situation.
Affixes
- 第199課: Noun → Verb with Suru する
- 第200課: The Suffix 化
- 第202課: Negative Prefixes: 未, 無, 非, 否, & 不
- 第203課: Counters VII: Prefixes/Suffixes with Counters: 何～, 幾～, 数～, ～数, 半～, ～半,～余, & ～余り
- 第370課: Prefixes
- 第371課: Native Suffixes I: Nominal I
- 第372課: Native Suffixes II: Nominal II
- 第373課: Native Suffixes III: Adjectival & Adverbial
- 第374課: Native Suffixes IV: Verbal
- 第375課: The Adjectival Affix「か」: か～・～か・～らか・～やか
- 第376課: The Verbal Affix ～ぐ: ～らぐ・やぐ
- 第377課: Sino-Japanese Suffixes I
- 第378課: Sino-Japanese Suffixes II
- 第379課: Suffixes of Appearance: ～だらけ, ～まみれ, ～ずくめ, ～めく, ～げ, & ～気