Japanese: Why Romaji is Only Holding You Back
Lots of students of Japanese have a problem with relying upon using Romaji, particularly when they’re getting started. This is mainly because when you first start learning Japanese, you want to jump right in and learn to speak the language. Just learning Kana can take some time, and after you really cannot even comprehend much (you can read, yes, but fully grasp…no).
Okay, so exactly what is the big deal? You are still learning Japanese, correct?:
You Are Already Used to the Roman Alphabet
You currently have associations relating to the Roman alphabet and how to pronounce phrases written with it. Japanese characters, alternatively are brand-new to you and you do not need to be worried about this. The mere point that you are not familiar with pronouncing Japanese characters in a specific way is simply very advantageous. You can effectively begin from nothing and take pleasure in a much more natural and easier strategy to become fluent with your pronunciation.
Japanese People Do not Use Romaji
Sure, you school textbooks may well use Romaji (and if they persist on using it for longer than instructing you on Hiragana and Katakana, I’d seriously think about getting some new textbooks), but You will not likely find much Romaji being used in Japan. Not even in cosmopolitan cities like Tokyo or Osaka. You will likely only see names of department stores written in Romaji and maybe a handful of English words. Japanese people simply do not use Romaji.
Ditch the Training Wheels
If even a tiny part of you hopes to really master Japanese and then try to get proficient, you will at some point need to let go of the Romaji and study some Japanese symbols. It is a lot easier to do this straight away than to put it off a few month or years.
Okay, so Romaji just isn’t the easiest way to go. What can you do if you’re just getting started? It truly will depend on what type of Japanese student you are. From my standpoint, there’s two sorts of Japanese students:
The Dedicated Student
Maybe you are learning Japanese in college. Maybe you are thinking about heading to Japan for a long time and need to be prepared for your trip. Maybe you’re a business person that has a whole lot of Japanese clients. Or maybe you’re just sick of all your Japanese buddies gossiping about you while you’re in the same room.
If this describes you, the best step you can take is to take a seat and learn Hiragana and Katakana. You can memorize these two sets of characters in only a week or two with a set of flash-cards and some resolve.. As soon as you get good at the Kana, you will have a good basis to build on and you may start learning vocabulary, sentence structure, and all the other stuff on the right foot.
The Hobbyist
Maybe you’re heading to Japan for a few weeks of holiday. Maybe you might be a fan of Manga and you want to impress your buddies and watch a series without subtitles. Maybe you just enjoy studying languages and would like to try your hand at Japanese.
If this seems more like you, then I’d advocate that you start out by just understanding some standard conversational Japanese. This is often simpler than studying how to read and write, particularly if you are immersed in a quality study course. Once you have some easy conversational Japanese down, it could be that you will plan to proceed further and actually study the language carefully. From here, you are in a good place to take the first direction above and learn how to read and write Japanese characters.
Romaji genuinely is not in your best interest. I really hope you can really see that now. No matter what you realistically want to get out of studying Japanese, you’re really only doing yourself a favor by losing the Romaji. Make an effort instead to either be able to write Japanese characters or pick up some basic conversational Japanese terms.
If you’re ready to take the leap and get serious about your Japanese language learning, check out Learn Hiragana, Learn Katakana, and Learn Japanese.