In what order did/do you learn this beautiful language?

• 
  leenalee February 11, 2015 at 6:00pm

  http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete
  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4071737C12790477
  My choice as a beginner for now )
• 
  bubblybaby February 11, 2015 at 7:39pm

  Thanks, Leenalee! :)
• 
  DS25 February 11, 2015 at 8:44pm

  Once you get to the point of starting to learn kanji, just follow this site:
  http://www.kanjidamage.com/
  
  It's astonishingly good, and the "offensive" parts actually makes you learn stuff faster ;) Just follow the introduction and start from the first kanji and a notebook ^^ You'll learn actually useful stuff - and not only newspaper jibberish - and you will be explained which is the real meaning of a word inside a context, and not some vague definition.
• 
  DS25 February 11, 2015 at 8:44pm

  Once you get to the point of starting to learn kanji, just follow this site:
  http://www.kanjidamage.com/
  
  It's astonishingly good, and the "offensive" parts actually makes you learn stuff faster ;) Just follow the introduction and start from the first kanji and a notebook ^^ You'll learn actually useful stuff - and not only newspaper jibberish - and you will be explained which is the real meaning of a word inside a context, and not some vague definition.
• 
  bubblybaby February 11, 2015 at 11:37pm

  Thanks so much, DS25 :D
• 
  Wumbology February 12, 2015 at 12:42am

  I would recommend learning the correct pronunciations. I found this video on YouTube by MissHanake on the pronunciations and it really helped. Her other videos help a lot too. Also, it took me about two weeks to learn hiragana but I think you can learn katakana fast since you already know hiragana. Katakana was easier for me to learn since I already got the other alphabet down. Even though hiragana took me about two weeks to learn, katakana took me an hour so I think you will learn it fast too. あんばってよ！
• 
  Wumbology February 12, 2015 at 12:43am

  がんばってよ！*
• 
  mog86uk February 12, 2015 at 1:27am

  @Wumbology MissHanake's videos are so awesome! Here's her video explaining how to pronounce the kana sounds well:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSlDo_XE4FM
  
  Here's some other VERY helpful videos for pronunciation...
  
  The five vowel sounds are the same in each letter, so this is one of the most important things to learn:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPJIwff3w0I
  
  Pronunciation warm-up excercises:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPtFZ-8Jov4
• 
  mog86uk February 12, 2015 at 1:42am

  My order of learning was fairly similar: first learnt hiragana, then slowly learnt katakana (can read both as easy as English alphabet now). Then learnt some vocabulary and basic conversation. Then learnt some kanji. Then started learning proper grammar and also started using JCJP (completed level 6, and keep using Practice daily). Then learnt how to recognise the most commonly used 2000 kanji and their meanings.
  
  Now I'm learning all the main pronunciations (readings) for those 2000 kanji. Then next I'll do a much more thorough job of learning grammar, start reading more Japanese books, and start practicing writing the kanji by hand. Also hoping to go travelling in Japan in a few months.
  
  It's a long journey learning Japanese, so good luck to you with whatever order you decide to do things. ^^
• 
  astrolabio_R February 12, 2015 at 10:49am

  Thanks so much, mog86uk xD
  
• 
  FaeDreamer February 12, 2015 at 5:08pm

  Hi from a fellow mom!
• 
  FaeDreamer February 12, 2015 at 5:13pm

  It cut off part of my message...trying again. Here's a couple resources I use: Erin's Challenge https://www.erin.ne.jp is a great site with beginner (and advanced) videos, activities, culture info and lots of other stuff. I also listen to JapanesePod101 which you can get on iTunes or Stitcher Radio.
• 
  DeadWitness February 15, 2015 at 2:36am

  My worse mistake probably was ignoring the grammar.
  
  As soon as I could easily write the kanas, I went straight for the kanji (using the Kanji look and learn textbook) while also having japanese class in the university. That way I was able to learn what students would usually learn in 2 years in just 1. Next year I went to Japan with a scholarship since I aced the tests. And I had a bad time the first half year. That's when I realized grammar was far more important for a beginner than kanji.
  
  Basically, try to learn as many sentence structures, prepositions, verb forms and the characteristics of different word types before going for the kanji.
  
  It's okay if you don't know how to write many nouns/verbs/adjectives as long as you can speak a few and you know what you are saying. Once you have all the basis, you will need an intensive kanji training.
  
  But that's just my opinion and I suck at this. xD
• 
  bubblybaby February 19, 2015 at 4:20am

  Thanks DeadWitness :) grammar to me felt like one of the most important things, too. I got the kana's down and know some basic vocab (from learning, but also because I've been watching anime for the last 10 years lol...), so I'm going to dive into the grammar (while on the side getting some kanji down). I think they are both important ^^.