Buzz
The Japanese characters are beautiful, yet quite complex, which can overwhelm you when trying to read and write Japanese quickly. In reality, you don’t need to learn all 50,000 Kanji characters in Japanese. Most native speakers are familiar with two phonetic alphabets and around 6,000 Kanji characters. While mastering reading and writing Japanese may take years, you can learn the basic components quickly if you know what to prioritize in your studies.
Steps
Reading Japanese Quickly
Start with Japanese books for children. Instead of diving straight into complex texts that require extensive Kanji knowledge, begin with books designed to help you master the two phonetic scripts, hiragana and katakana.
- You can begin with translated versions of stories like "Disney" or "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." This method allows you to easily compare the translation with the original to understand sentence structure.
- Look for works by Mari Takabayashi when learning hiragana. Her children's books are entirely written in hiragana, providing a challenge to your proficiency in the script.
- "Guri and Gura" is also a popular series among Japanese children that you can try when your skills are more advanced. This series will help build your basic vocabulary.
- Try reading manga. Once you're comfortable with children's books, it's time to step up and dive into manga to challenge your reading comprehension at a higher level.
Focus on Basic Grammar and Sentence Structure in Japanese. In the beginning, reading Japanese can be difficult because there are no spaces between characters.
- The basic sentence structure in Japanese is quite different from Vietnamese. For example, the Vietnamese sentence "I drink water" is equivalent to the Japanese sentence "I water drink." You also need to make sure you know the right characters to place after the subject or object in the sentence.
Handle each content piece one by one. You may feel frustrated when trying to get through the first page of a Japanese book, but keep at it. As you read an article, you'll notice many words repeating in subsequent sections. The more you read and encounter the same words, the faster your reading will become, as those words will start to feel familiar.
- Choose topics that interest you. If you enjoy music, look for books related to that subject that match your Japanese reading level. When you're interested in the book's theme, you're more likely to push through the difficult parts of reading and learn something new in the language.
Don’t Waste Time Learning to Speak Japanese. If your goal is to read and write Japanese quickly, enrolling in a language course or attending speaking lessons will only slow you down. You can learn Japanese without focusing on speaking. Since Kanji uses characters to represent meanings, you don’t need to know how to pronounce a word, just its meaning and how to use it correctly in sentences.
- Instead of learning to speak, dedicate all your time to building your Kanji vocabulary, learning grammar, and practicing writing.
Turn on Japanese Subtitles. Try watching a TV show or movie in Vietnamese or English with Japanese subtitles turned on. While you’re improving your reading speed and vocabulary, you can mute the sound and focus on reading the Japanese subtitles. At first, it will be difficult to keep up with the subtitles, but you can rely on the visuals on screen to help you understand the context and relevant vocabulary.
Build Your Vocabulary by Learning Common Kanji (Jōyō Kanji). Most Japanese words are derived from Chinese Kanji. Jōyō Kanji is a list of 2,136 Kanji characters deemed most useful by the Japanese government for understanding Japanese.
- Keep a Kanji blog as you study. It may take months, or even years, to master Kanji. Keeping a blog will help you review the characters you’ve learned.
- Be patient. The process of learning Kanji will take time and requires frequent repetition.
Write Japanese quickly
Memorize the hiragana alphabet. Hiragana is the phonetic script of the Japanese language. This alphabet is the foundation for all sounds in Japanese, meaning you can write everything in hiragana.
- The hiragana alphabet consists of 46 characters. Each character represents a vowel (a, i, u, e, o) or a consonant-vowel combination (k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w).
- Use hiragana for adverbs, general terms, or uncommon words that the reader may not be familiar with.
- Create flashcards with the hiragana characters on one side and their pronunciation on the other. Practice this alphabet by saying each character 1-2 times daily, then check the pronunciation and rewrite the corresponding hiragana character.
Learn the katakana alphabet. Katakana also consists of 46 characters with sounds similar to the hiragana script, but it is used to transcribe foreign words. This script is useful when referring to terms like 'America,' 'Mozart,' or 'Halloween.'
- Since Japanese doesn't have long vowels, all long vowels in katakana are represented by a dash '⏤' after the character. For example, 'ケーキ' is the transcription of 'cake.' The dash represents a long 'a' sound.
- You can learn both the hiragana and katakana scripts in a few weeks if you practice for several hours each day.
Learn to write the characters by hand. Similar to the difference between typing an 'a' on a computer and writing it by hand, many Japanese characters on computers differ from the handwritten versions.
- Memorize. A great way to learn is to dedicate time each day to memorizing and writing out the characters.
- Test yourself. To check if you've memorized hiragana and katakana, try writing down a group of sounds you remember. If you can't write any of the sounds, you need to review the alphabet. Create a chart of Japanese sounds, and complete it with the corresponding hiragana and katakana characters. Practice daily until you can complete all 46 characters in each script.
Use kanji, but only when necessary. Kanji can significantly shorten the length of your sentences, but it is used sparingly, even by native speakers. You need to ensure that your reader will understand the kanji you use. If you know how to read a word but don't know the corresponding kanji, you can write the word in hiragana instead.
Practice the correct stroke order. While stroke order may seem unimportant, it will greatly improve your writing speed, whether you're writing hiragana, katakana, or kanji.
- Write characters from top to bottom, left to right.
- Draw horizontal strokes before vertical ones.
- Create the central part of the character first, then proceed to the outer strokes.
- Finish with dots or short strokes.
- Learn the correct angles for each stroke.
Write a simple sentence. The content of the sentence doesn't need to be extravagant; it can be as simple as 'I am a girl' or 'I am a boy.'
- Write in hiragana, except for borrowed words. You can write horizontally (i.e., left to right, like in Vietnamese) or use the traditional Japanese writing style, which is vertical (top to bottom, right to left).
- Write nouns, adjectives, and verbs in kanji. Most Japanese words are borrowed kanji from Chinese. When you start using kanji, make sure you are using the correct and accurate characters.
Avoid using romaji (Latin script transcription of Japanese). While it might be easier for you to write sounds using Latin characters, Japanese people do not use romaji, and this method will confuse readers. Japanese has many homophones with different meanings, so romaji is not an effective way to read and write the language.
Use cursive writing to increase writing speed. Once you’ve mastered stroke order, you can begin writing in cursive. Practice writing sentences and try to lift your pen or pencil as little as possible. Since you’ve mastered correct stroke order, you can reduce pressure between strokes and write smoothly.
- Similar to other languages, some characters in Japanese can be simplified for quicker writing. You don’t want your handwriting to be illegible, but the content of your writing will help readers understand even if a character is written sloppily.
Use basic Japanese
Greet others. こんにちは means "Hello" in Japanese. The pronunciation is Kon-ni-chi-wa.
- お早うございます means "Good morning." The pronunciation is Ohayou gozaimasu.
- こんばんは means "Good evening." The pronunciation is Komban wa.
- お休みなさい means "Good night." The pronunciation is Oyasumi nasai.
- さようなら means "Goodbye." The pronunciation is Sayonara.
Express gratitude. ありがとうございます means "Thank you very much" in Japanese. The pronunciation is Arigatou gozaimasu.
- If someone thanks you, reply with "You're welcome." どういたしまして means "You're welcome." The pronunciation is: Dou itashimashite.
Ask how someone is doing. お元気ですか means "How are you?" The pronunciation is Ogenki desu ka?
- If someone asks how you're doing, you can reply with "I'm fine." 元気です means "I'm fine." The pronunciation is Genki desu.
Introduce yourself. 私の名前は means "My name is..." The pronunciation is Watashi no namae wa....
Learn directions. It's important to know how to get to where you're going.
- ますぐ (masugu) means "Go straight."
- 右 (migi) means "Right."
- 左 (hidari) means "Left."
Advice
- Language learning software can be a helpful tool for you.
- Try to study in an environment free from distractions.
- Focus on 'small amounts' and 'regular practice' to achieve your desired results.
- Check your local bookstore or library for study materials.
- Find 'your time.' Some people learn best in the morning, while others do so before bed at night.
- Look for a Japanese-Vietnamese dictionary with Latin script; it could be useful. However, avoid relying too heavily on the Latin alphabet to read Japanese!
- Seek out someone fluent in Japanese, preferably a native speaker! They are likely to be very willing to help.
- Be patient. Japanese is one of the most challenging languages to learn in the world.
What You'll Need
- A notebook
- A dictionary
