learning japanese script

Tue Aug 14 11:48:07 EDT 2007

Jasper, thanks for all that information, and thank you to everyone else for 
explaining the differences between the forms. YesI noticed Japanese for busy 
people neglects kanji, so i think i will use these to master kana then try 
the Minna no Hihongo books you kindly suggested. I guess it's is best i 
start with the basic kana to get me all ready for kanji, but I am throughly 
enjoying it!

Emma Newbery BA (hons), MA, PGCE
Programme Leader
BTEC National Diploma in Media Productions
Blackpool and the Fylde College

>From: "J.sharp" <j.sharp at hpo.net>
>Reply-To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>Subject: Re: learning japanese script
>Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 0:16:37 +0900
>
>Hi Emma,
>
>Good look on taking the plunge. Yes, the three scripts do all occur in the
>same sentence on many occasions!
>I'll just add that as someone who started learning fairly recently (about 6
>years ago) and counts himself as a far better reader than a speaker, I 
>found
>Japanese For Busy People very limited in their usefulness. The fact that
>they use only romaji and hiragana up a fairly high level, without really
>introducing kanji at all, indicates that they werent designed by a Japanese
>person.
>
>There's a school of though that says you should learn how to speak first 
>and
>learn kanji later. I personally disagree - I think they are too seperate
>skills which can be learn in tandem without any detriment to each other, 
>and
>in fact facillitate the learning of each other. As you'll have noticed,
>Japanese vocab, esepcially at a more abstract level, doesnt bare much
>relationship to any European language, and i found it a lot easier to
>remember how to pronounce a word if you can visualise its kanji.
>
>So I would suggest keeping Japanese For Busy People on the backburner or as
>supplmentary material, and use the brilliant Minna no Nihongo books, which
>is what any Japanese teacher in Japan would use.
>I am not sure if these books are easy to get on line, as I bought mine in
>Japan, but here's a starting place for your search:
>http://www.3anet.co.jp/english/books/books_01.html
>
>The books are great because they introduce the simple kanji, for example,
>'hito' or 'ue', as you come across them. You can get up to a good 100
>serviceable characters in a very short time.
>
>Another great resource for kanji that I used which explains how it works 
>was
>a Tuttle publication called something like How to Learn Kanji. It only
>introduces a few simple ones, but it explains how they work conceptually. I
>remember when I first moved to Japan sitting on the Odakyu line every day
>looking at the signs with this book in my hands and gradually working out
>that places like Machida  meant "town-field" and Yokohama meant "next to 
>the
>beach" etc, and it soon flowed from there.
>
>I've also got a great book, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters,
>which lists about 1800 kanji and explains their derivations - its very
>intimidating at first, but very useful in the long run.
>
>So there's my tips - Minna no nihongo!
>
>Jasper
>
>
>
>--
>Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Cinema
>www.midnighteye.com
>
>===
>
>View my Myspace page: www.myspace.com/jaspersharp
>
>
>
>--------- Original Message --------
>From: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>To: kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu <kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
>Subject: learning japanese script
>Date: 14/08/07 05:03
>
> >
> > Hello all.
> >
> > I have just embarked upon the long path of learning to read and write
> > Japanese. I am using the 'Japanese for busy people' workbooks, and have
>been
> > sailing through learning hiragana, but much to my dismay when i went to
>try
> > out my new skill on www.amazon.jp i find all the sentences to be
>combination
> > of hirigana, kanji and katakana. I realise to all you who know how to 
>read
> > japanese this is very obvious, but it there anyone out there to whom
> > japanese is not their first language who can instill me with some
>confidence
> > that it is possible to learn it all -  and why are there 3 forms within
>one
> > sentence!
> >
> >
> >
> > Emma Newbery BA (hons), MA, PGCE
> > Programme Leader
> > BTEC National Diploma in Media Productions
> > Blackpool and the Fylde College
> >
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