How can I learn the Japanese writing systems?

Question

Learning the Japanese writing system as a native English speaker can be intimidating. Where should a person begin?

Answer 1

Fantastic question! There is no one-size-fits-all answer but some points to consider:

1. Most Japanese curricula and the Japanese education system itself starts by having students remember hiragana. If you are committed to learning Japanese long-term, hiragana is probably the best place to start because of this--it would allow you to follow most curricula online.
2. As you may know, katakana is used to (among other things) transliterate foreign loan words borrowed from other languages (most frequently, English). As a result, if you can remember katakana and get a sense of typical patterns of how English words are transliterated, you don't need to know anything about Japanese grammar to pick out bits and pieces of text you might find on a resturaunt menu, signs, etc. Because of this, if you are visiting Japan soon and don't have time to devote to learning both hiragana and katakana, I would recommend starting with katakana. This is because a large amount of hiragana forms the basis of Japanese grammar (particles, tenses, conjugations) so being able to know how to read these aloud will not get you far if you don't know the grammatical rules behind the language. I myself actually started with katakana.
3. As others have pointed out, there are over 2,000 Jouyou kanji (those you can expect to encounter in Japanese text) that typically require siginificant study to remember. Also, several katakana and hiragana characters are derived from simiplifications of kanji or kanji radicals that can help you remember how these kanji can be read. Another important note on kanji--it can be aquired at an exponential speed as you remember readings/meanings associated with radicals.
4. To summarize, if you are committed to long-term study, I'd start with hiragana. If this is a last-minute crash course before heading to Japan on vacation, focus on katakana. Once you master either of these, it will make learning the other much easier as many of the characters resemble their hiragana/katakana counterparts. If you are finding remembering these intimidating, I'd recommend using mnemonic tricks to remembering characters, such as this one (https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/h2lsj/great_mnemonic_chart_for_learning_hiragana/) and flashcards (https://quizlet.com/82323494/katakana-flash-cards/) as well as patience with yourself--learning another language is hard and your effort will pay off!

Feel free to message me for any more tips or if you have any other questions.

Answer 2

First and foremost, I do not recommend Duolingo for any trustworthy studying of Japanese grammar, speaking practice, or listening practice.

However, Duolingo does indeed have the most straightforward, interactive, and efficient way of teaching the reading/writing system. As of this writing, there is a separate tab on the Duolingo app dedicated just to learning the basic phonetic scripts of Japanese: hiragana and katakana.

Once you feel you have a solid grasp of those scripts, you can continue pursuing your Japanese learning elsewhere -- and your understanding of hiragana and katakana will be a strong foundation to work off of!

Answer 3

There is no direct answer, but many will agree that a good first step is to learn Hiragana and Katakana.

To put it simply, both systems utilize characters that describe the sounds in the Japanese language. Hiragana is used for a more native purpose, where Katakana is more often used for borrowed words.

Once these are learned, it becomes much easier to explore Japanese media and delve into Kanji, which uses Chinese characters that have been adapted for use in Japanese.