How should I structure my Japanese learning if I intend to be self-taught? Another question, when speaking, how do you know certain words are hiragana and not kanji vice versa?

5 comments

1. Hire a tutor or join a language class if you want. If anything it will help with speaking and listening.

   Hiragana show pronunciation. Any given word can be rendered in either (if a kanji exists).

   きく can be written as 効く, 菊, 聞く, 聴く, 訊く or 利く, but the context will give you the exact meaning in spoken language.

   音楽をきく = 聴く or 聞く (listen to music)

   先生にきく = 聞くor 訊く (ask the teacher)

   薬がきく = 効く (medicine is effective)

   目がきく = 利く (eyes work)

   きくの香り = 菊 (the scent of chrysanthemums)

2. get an online course, if they’re too expensive I can help get them for cheap.

3. Don’t try and learn grammar and kanji separately. It takes longer and you’ll be annoyed at yourself for not doing it sooner. Kanji are definitely something you can learn “along the way” like customs and slang, especially if you just learn them as words instead of as individual pieces. It seems daunting at first, but its 100% worth it when you can actually read the grammar you’ve been studying.

   A tutor will definitely help you improve a lot, but I’ve always found the pace of classes to be a bit annoying. That much is up to preference, I guess.

4. When *speaking* nothing is in hiragana or kanji. When you speak English, how do people know whether you’re speaking block letters or cursive?

5. You really should consider a good textbook. It’ll introduce things in a good and cohesive manner.