What’s the right thing to do after learning hiragana?

8 comments

1. Katakana is not as used as hiragana, but you need to know it, for sure.

   I’d nail it down as well since for now you’re still getting used to the language’s sounds and characters. Get confortable with both writting systems and then you can get started on kanji and grammar.

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   When I started my journey, I basically ignored katakana at first for the same reasoning you said. it felt kinda useless, but man, every time a word appeared in katakana it took me A WHILE to read, it was embarasing and not productive at all.

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   Don’t be like me, learn it now and get used to those shapes and you’ll have an easier time later on.

2. Katakana is used for loanwords and sometimes for replacing words that usually uses kanji, you shouldn’t skimp out on it

   besides learning it isn’t any harder than learning hiragana while learning kanji is a long, long journey in comparison

3. Better just learn katakana straight away because you will need it for everyday japanese. It’s not difficult, you can learn both kana in a week while already using them in words

4. There are 2000+ “basic” kanji and way more in further uses, so imo learning katakana, which is also still a part of the fundamental reading/writing system, is easier to learn by comparison and will save you the trouble in the future while reading which will definitely come up in your learning journey sooner than later.

   There will be examples in your learning materials like アメリカ人です。or あそこにマクドナルドがあります。or something of the sort which will use katakana. Learning katakana now will ease your way into your readings along the way. Of course Kanji is important, but Katakana is also encountered commonly than you think

5. It’s used for any loanword from another language, which is a fairly large number of words, so yeah I would learn it now. Kanji is going to be a lifelong learning endeavor if you want to master it also so katakana is a more short-term reachable goal and pairs well with learning hiragana.

6. most common path:

   kana -> textbooks -> native material

7. I think I don’t understand some of your questions, or rather the reason behind why you are asking them, but to keep it simple, there are way fewer Kana (Hiragana or Katakana) than Kanji, and you can probably learn them in a short amount of time. You’ll encounter Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji in any Japanese text you will read, so you might as well get the Kana out of the way early and then move on to basic Kanji.

   Of course that’s only the writing system, don’t forget all other aspects of learning a language.

8. I would strongly recommend against learning Chinese character before learning words or grammar. In fact, I think it might be better to get the basics down in terms of grammar before learning 平仮名 but I’m not sure either way.

   I suggest you start with grammar and vocabulary, probably before 片仮名 which will come in time.

   Claiming to “have learned” either is also an abstract statement. One might in theory know them but at the start reading them goes letter for letter at a very slow pace, which gradually improves, and with that I mean gradually. It has been surprisingly slow for me.