About The Japanese Writing System.

Toast · (#1 (**permalink**))

Hello. So first I'll tell you a little about myself - but you can skip to the end if you can't be bothered to read it all.
I'm 15 years old and I'm learning Japanese.
My plans were to learn Hiragana, Katakana, and then after a while learn some Kanji.
I love meeting people online, and I'm really interested in the Japanese culture - therefore I'm really interested in learning their language and speaking to people from Japan. When I'm able to speak Japanese, I will be going on holidays to Japan and also meeting loads of japanese people online.
Moving there is a different story, I'd love to move to Japan but I feel really unwanted to be honest.
I mean, my country (England) is filled with foreners. The English culture has basically been destroyed. There are no more jobs for the English people, and it's very hard to find good schools for (y)our children. I wouldn't want this to happen to Japan - I think it's also happened to America but I'm not sure..

Back to the subject, I don't think I will be writing the Japanese characters that much, so is there actually any point in learning how to draw them (the stroke orders and such)?
Also, I wanted to ask if anyone else learning Japanese hasn't learnt how to write the characters and has learnt them all by there looks?
Did you learn how to write all the characters or do you only know them by look?
Also, with all these Kanjis it must be hard to remember them all, anyone only learnt the look and sound of kanjis?

Thanks. :3

P.S - Did you/are you learn(ing) Katakana or hiragana first?

KyleGoetz · (#2 (**permalink**))

Lately I have only been learning to read them. When I knew about 1000 kanji, some of my friends in university in Japan told me it seemed I could write more kanji than them.

1. Learn hiragana first—it is used most often
2. Learn katakana then
3. Learn kanji

But focus more on reading them than writing them. You'll learn to write some just by doing so, and reading is far more important than writing, IMHO.

But I will learn to write all the joyo kanji at some point after I've learned to read them all.

Toast · (#3 (**permalink**))

Thanks for that.
Well, on my second day of learning Hiragana I only know the first 4 lines (a-to) because I've been learning to write them >_>
Damn! If I'd have just been looking and stuff, I'd probably be way ahead. :[
Thanks alot.

KyleGoetz · (#4 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toast

Thanks for that.
Well, on my second day of learning Hiragana I only know the first 4 lines (a-to) because I've been learning to write them >_>
Damn! If I'd have just been looking and stuff, I'd probably be way ahead. :[
Thanks alot.

Learn to write kana. I think it's very, very important. If you don't know a kanji, you can use kana. If you don't know a kana, you look stupid and have no recourse.

MMM · (#5 (**permalink**))

Learn to write. That makes the characters concrete in your head. So many characters look alike, just learning to read will put you at a bit of a disadvantage.

In other words, learn to write the characters in order to be able to read them.

Toast · (#6 (**permalink**))

Hmm.. Well, I reckon I will learn the stroke orders but not write them over and over. Thanks for the advice guys (y)

KyleGoetz · (#7 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toast

Hmm.. Well, I reckon I will learn the stroke orders but not write them over and over. Thanks for the advice guys (y)

Well, you can't really learn the stroke orders without writing them over and over. Or, rather, there is no more efficient way.

Toast · (#8 (**permalink**))

I guess. It's just, I don't want to waste loads of time writing them when I could be learning more things faster.

KyleGoetz · (#9 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toast

I guess. It's just, I don't want to waste loads of time writing them when I could be learning more things faster.

Why do you want to learn the stroke order but not how to write them? Basically the only thing you're getting out of learning one but not the other is the ability to look up kanji in some dictionaries.

MMM · (#10 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toast

I guess. It's just, I don't want to waste loads of time writing them when I could be learning more things faster.

I am going to guess you are under 30 years old. Unfortunately writing them over and over is what it takes to make it concrete in your head. The longer you spend on it, the better reader you will be. There is no short cut or speed methods to really learning kanji.