I Want to Learn Japanese and Read Manga

Have you ever seen a cool manga book and say “Hey, I want to read that! Nope, it’s in Japanese.”

I know at least a few people who would like to learn Japanese, in a large part, due to reading manga. But, most people don’t try. Obviously, this is not an easy language for English speakers. Beginner students to Japanese may have a great deal of difficulty try to read manga–you need somewhat of a foundation of Japanese grammar, a course or two. But if you are dedicated, says my girl Inari who is learning Japanese now, you can quickly begin to break down written Japanese.

The Language
The largest character set in Japanese are actually characters derived or borrowed from Chinese characters. Known as “Kanji” these characters are mostly used to write down nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. Don’t get the wrong idea, Japanese is not “like” Chinese language. Kanji characters themselves were not enough to fully write out Japanese, so “Kana” was created to fill in the holes. There are two versions of the Kana: Hiragana and Katakana. Hiragana is used to write out word that are specific to Japan and there was no Kanji for. The Katakana set of characters is used mostly for writing out foreign words using Japanese syllabary.

In either version of Kana, there is a character for every syllable in Japanese, as opposed to English where individual letters are joined to make the syllables. In typical written Japanese texts, all 3 character sets are used together. But, it is possible to write Japanese without Kanji and just Kana. As you see, just by learning the Kana is a huge step to breaking down Japanese.

Still with me? There are many books, tapes and methods for learning on your own (Inari liked this one until she went to college and started taking formal classes). As with any language, the key is to practice consistently. It’s better to do even 15 or 20 minutes 6 days a week than an hour a couple times a week. And if you are learning on your own, find your self a forum like this the Japanese Page to help with translation and other questions.