When it comes to learning Japanese or any language for that matter, the number of methods and opinions on the subject can be baffling to a beginning student looking for somewhere to get started. Taking a class works really well for some students but not so well for others. If you decide to go down the classroom route it is highly beneficial to supplement what you learn in the class with private study. The form that this private study takes is entirely up to you though let me give you a few hints and tips that might prove useful to you.

First of all learning Japanese needs to be enjoyable to you, either in of itself or because it allows you to engage in a hobby that requires Japanese language skill to get the most out of, like watching Japanese movies or anime, reading books or listening to music. Basically you need something to drive you. Otherwise you won’t have the motivation needed to really get somewhere with your studying.

Its really helpful to watching as much Japanese TV and films as you can, even just having them on in the background while you do other things can help to get you used to the sounds of the language. This passive listening will of course need to be paired with active study as well, but even then try to make the materials you study fun. Try and find the script for a film you really like take it line by line, make flashcards for each sentence, either by writing them out by hand or by using a SRS program. I find it more useful to learn sentences than words on their own, words out of context slip out of my memory very quickly, but this might not be the case for you. That is no hard and fast rule to language learning, you take the bits from system A mix them with some of system C and Z to come up with what works best for you.

But the absolute most important thing is to have fun, if you are having fun as you learn, before you know it your skill in Japanese will leap forward.

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