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Japanese learning : Romaji vs Hiragana | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Po-ru Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5481 days ago 173 posts - 235 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Spanish, Norwegian, Mandarin, French | Message 1 of 32 07 December 2009 at 11:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have been studying Japanese for about a year now and I have, for about 4 months been
recording my daily results. I found that I intake MUCH more information when the learning material is put forward to me in all Romaji compared to Hiragana/kanji. Here's what I mean: While reviewing a beginners book written in hiragana/kanji/katakana, I went through about 10 textbook pages in 30 minutes. While reading NEW material from an advanced book in Romaji, I went through about 25 pages in 30 minutes and understood the dialog much better. I really do understand the importance of learning to read Japanese and get familiar with the scripts, but that's why I have my "aisukure-mu nuwa" book. I don't need textbooks to give me scripts in hiragana, which does nothing but slow me down from learning. Just wondering how others feel about this. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lemus Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6382 days ago 232 posts - 266 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Japanese, Russian, German | Message 2 of 32 08 December 2009 at 1:10am | IP Logged | ||
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SWTICH TO KANA
Seriously, romanji is so much easier at first, but its ease is seductive. You are not going to be reading actual Japanese in romanji, so learning a word in it and then later learning to recognize it in kana is inefficient. The learning curve for kana (or better yet, kanji) is steep at first, but it will pay off in the long run. I know, I tried going the romanji route and I still have problems reading Japanese, largely because of this. Don't make my mistake. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6769 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 3 of 32 08 December 2009 at 2:23am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with Lemus. You have to do what works for you, of course, but there will come a point where you can't
advance any further in Japanese without being completely comfortable with kana and kanji. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ericspinelli Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5784 days ago 249 posts - 493 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Italian | Message 4 of 32 08 December 2009 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | ||
Slow you down from learning what exactly? Japanese as it is, or Japanese as you imagine it? I look around me and I don't see much romaji at all. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| maaku Senior Member United States Joined 5575 days ago 359 posts - 562 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 32 08 December 2009 at 5:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Use the kana. In a few months you'll be up to speed and reading almost as fast as you do romaji. Don't waste your time learning words in a writing system that nobody uses.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pfwillard Pro Member United States Joined 5700 days ago 169 posts - 205 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 32 08 December 2009 at 9:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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Romaji looks almost non-linguistic to me these days, but I think listening comprehension is king and speaking is queen--so if what you're doing advances those two skills, then carry on.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gusutafu Senior Member Sweden Joined 5522 days ago 655 posts - 1039 votes Speaks: Swedish* | Message 7 of 32 08 December 2009 at 10:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you don't plan on learning to read in Japanese, then by all means keep on using romaji. You may want to practise reading kana and even kanji too, but if for some reason it slows you down, why let it be an obstacle to your learning how to speak?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Po-ru Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5481 days ago 173 posts - 235 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Spanish, Norwegian, Mandarin, French | Message 8 of 32 08 December 2009 at 10:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am not saying one should neglect learning the Japanese script, but clearly by putting
material in only hiragana/kanji, it slows down the learning process of new material. here is what I mean: I study 1 hour using 2 methods. METHOD 1 is a textbook with dialogue in Japanese script and I am using this to REVIEW MATERIAL which I already know. METHOD 2 is Living Language Ultimate series, going over new concepts and vocab and is written entirely in Romaji. In 30 mins of studying each, I get through more information using the book in Romaji compared to the review book in Japanese scripts. I do my Japanese reading/writing study from a different book. I just think it sucks that so much dialogue is only in Japanese scripts because it will take me 10 minutes to read a 3 minute conversation in kanji/hiragana and in romaji it would take me 5 minutes. You see where the time adds up here? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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