I am increasingly running into a problem where those I talk to about the Japanese language, those that are learning Japanese, have no idea ABOUT the Japanese language, or they refuse to know about it. Here is a conversation I have had at least 7 or 8 times.
Other Dude: Man I am having a hard time learning kana I just can’t remember it.
Me: wait I thought you knew hirigana.
Other Dude: Yeah i do, its just kana I don’t know.
Me: Um, but Kana means Hiragana and Katakana. So are you having trouble with Katakana or Hiragana.
Other Dude: Katakana
Me: Oh okay it is just Katakana you are having problems with. Can I help in anyway?
Other Dude: nah just going to have to trudge through kana and force my self to learn it, if only it was as easy as hirigana
My next action is this.
There are some very simple things to learn about Japanese. Here are some of the bullet points of things you should know. By no means is it a full list, but it is at least a starting point.
- There are 3 writing systems
- Kanji
- Hiragana
- Katakana
- Hirigana and Katakana combined are knows as Kana
- There are usually at least 2 readings to kanji
- on-yomi
- kun-yomi
- You need to know word types
- noun
- adjective
- verb
- Need to understand there are cultural norms to words so learn culture
- Particles are important they help organize the sentence so understand WHAT a particle is
One thing that many learners like to talk about is learning. I love to talk to others about their experiences learning Japanese and their pitfalls and how they solved the problems, but it can be really hard if the person I am talking to doesn’t know about language. You are a linguist when you are learning another language whether you like it or not so you need to understand the basics, at least, of the language. I don’t mind if you don’t know, but I think way to many people almost intentionally stay ignorant about it.
What are some things you have run into or experiences you have had where someone you have tried to have a conversation about learning didn’t know what you were talking about. Also what do you think are some basics people should learn?
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i thought it was "hiragana" and not "hirigana"?
It is. Unfortunately, my spelling is increasingly getting worse in English. And apparently "hirigana" made it into my dictionary some how. Now to figure out how to get it out of there. I am thinking about taking a week or so complete break from Japanese to strictly work on my English again. For example, I made about 12 spelling mistakes in typing this little response.