Day 1-5 - Lessons 1-5 Kana 101

I started studying with Kana 101s Lessons. I completed Lesson 1-2 the first day I studied.

Day 1

Lesson 1 - It mainly just talks about the hiragana to 'a'. This was one of the first characters I've learned to write the first time I tried to study Japanese. I found this lesson easy, but good for completely knew starters. At the end of this lesson I made myself write a as あ ten times.

Lesson 2 - Goes over the rest of the first row in the Hiragana chart. I　い, 　U　う,　 E　え, 　O　お. This is helpful when writing the Hiragana, since it has tips about when and how you write. It helps more than just a plan chat. Again at the end of this I wrote the characters then times for practice with strokes. This lesson also came with words you can study, and are used in later lessons in their quiz! So be prepared!

This is where my first day ended.

Day 2

Lesson 3 -  This is over Katakana for A　ア,　 I　イ,　 U　ウ, 　E　エ,　 O　オ. This also has some helpful tips on how to make the  katakana. Once again I made myself write the characters ten times for stroke practice.

Lesson 4 - I copied over the quiz, to my notebook I've been taking notes in and answered everything there, as more stroke practice for those I knew. The rest of the Lesson was ka　か　カ, ki　き　キ, ku　く　ク, ka　か　カ, ko　こ　コ in both Hiragana and Katakana, again its good to read and see what stroke order tips this lesson has. Its also good to copy down the hiragana and katakana for stroke practice ten times each!

I'd stop here or after lesson 3 and review. I did lesson 5 as well, but im thinking of taking tomorrow off from lessons and reviewing. To much in one day can set you back.

Lesson 5- This goes over the S-Row sa　さ　サ,　shi　し　シ,　su　す　ス,　se　せ　セ,　so　そ　ソ. Again go over the reading for the useful tips. Then practice the hiragana and katakana ten times.

At the very end of this lesson I took every hiragana and katakana learned and wrote them 15 times each. This way I could practice the stroke order and see what my week points were.

I'd say its a great idea to buy the Kana flash cards from White Rabbit and use those there. I know if you wanted you could print your own out, but I already owned these flash cards and found them useful here. I figured I tried to learn to much and needed some extra help.

Tomorrow I'll learn lesson 6 and then write every hiragana and katakana again 10-15-20 (ten times being I know it well - 15 time I kinda know it - 20 times I hardly know it) times depending on how well I know it. Then I'll quiz myself with the hiragana and katakana flash cards for a while pulling out the ones I'm getting good at.

The Rows I've been having the most trouble with are the rows newer to me. I.E. Ka-Ko Katakana and Sa-So Katakana and Hiragana.

Hiragana and Katakana Binder

I went out today and picked up some economy weight clear sheet protectors from Wal-mart. I bought three packages, since they were 25 sheets per package. They were $2.49 per package. I also bought a graph paper 5 star notebook with was around $3.49. I haven't pick out a binder for this yet, but I have started to print out Hiragana and Katakana practice and place them in the protective sheets.

The start of my Hiragana/Katakana binder goes as follows:

Page 1:

 Genki Japans' current June Calendar

Sign up and get the current calendar emailed to you.

DIVIDER: Hiragana + Katakana charts and Stroke Orders

Page 2:

Hiragana Chart from Textfugu.

Page 3:

Hiragana Stoke Order Chart from はじめまして's Blog.

Page 4:

Katakana Chart from Textfugu.

Page 5:

Katana Stroke Order Chart from はじめまして's Blog.

 Page 6:

 Because you just cant have enough Hiragana and Katakana chart from MLC.

DIVIDER: Kana 101s Hiragana and Katakana Lessons

Pages 7-12:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 1

Pages 8-11:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katana Lesson 2

Pages 12-14:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 3

Pages 15-18:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 4

Pages 19-21:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 5

Pages 22-24:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 6

Pages 25-28:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 7

Pages 29-31:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 8

Pages 32-35:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 9

Pages 36-39:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 10

Pages 40-43:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 11

Pages -:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 12

Pages -:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 13

Pages -:

Kana 101's Hiragana and Katakana Lesson 14

DIVIDER: MLC Hiragana and Katakana Worksheets

Pages -:

MLC Hiragana and Katakana Worksheets

DIVIDER: MLC Hiragana and Katakana Worksheet Answers

Pages -:

MLC Hiragana and Katakana Answers

Materials Used:

75+ Sheet Protectors*

1 set of 8 Dividers

150+ sheets of paper*

1 binder

**Guessed at this numbers for now**

 I also have the Let's Learn Hiragana and Let's Learn Katakana workbooks. I'd say its cheaper to buy some graph paper or a graph paper notebook and practice writing the characters down trying to fit in 2x2 square. The only part I found really cool is the word search at the end. Though I could make my own or google search for some already made Hiragana or Katakana word search.

Also I'll be updating this blog for Lessons: 12,13, and 14. They should be coming within the next couple of days. They do come out once a day and are sent to your email.

NOTE: I was going to put some photos in on how I did mine, but I guess this will have to do for now. I don't want to keep this blog from being posted just from pictures not downloading to my computer.

Starting to Learn Japanese

photo URL
                 

Learning Japanese: Introduction

Monday 6/2/2013

                   I've wanted, for a long time, to learn Japanese. I kept looking for an easy way to learn, and I wanted to know what others opinions are on the learning it were. There are not that many good websites for Japanese learning... I take that back, there are a few, but what I was looking for was review on textbooks and a helpful guides. They're either good for a little bit or cost money. My plan is to try out textbooks and give my honest opinion on where it gets hard for me, when it's super easy, and just my personal journey through learning Japanese. I've only really learned Hiragana so far, but am working on learning Katakana. I do know both should be learned around the same time and don't put off katakana, it will set you back later on.

So far my way of studies for Hiragana are:

1. Hiragana Flash Cards From Barnes and Noble

2. Free Hiragana online Drag n Drop Game

3. Free Hiragana and Katakana practice. This website has a lot of useful worksheets I'll be reviewing later.

4. Try and find a Hiragana and Katakana printout stroke order practice sheet. The one I have you no longer can get, but I'll be copying it for my personal use. (I'll update this later)

5. Hiragana and Katakana song

At this point I've decided to buy a graph paper notebook. It would help me keep my characters about the same size and help with the stroke order when writing. Since I want to be able to speak, read, and write Japanese.

My shopping list so far inculdes:

2 binders (I'm going to go for a theme. I have a Harajuku binder already and it holds BYU online Japanese 1 Part 1 in. I'll be looking for more of these)

Page protecters (Qty will  be updated later, and updated link if not what I was looking for Current date: 6/3/2013)

1 Divider sets (only one because it comes with four sets)

Textbooks I'll be starting with:

1. Japanese for Busy People I (Kana Version)

1. Japanese for Busy People I workbook (Kana Version)

2. Yookoso 1

2. Yookoso Workbook 1

3. Yookoso 2

3. Yookoso Workbook 2

The text books are in order from classes at my college. I.e. Japanese for Busy People I is the first year of Japanese. Yookoso 1 and workbook 1 are the second year of College. Yookoso 2 and workbook are the third year.

Since I'd like to make this a cheaper guide to help those that purely want to learn and not spend a lot of money I'll tell you tricks I take and if they end up being worth it.

I'll be going to Walmart for the shopping list this Wednesday (6/5/2013). I already got a copy of Yookoso I, but like I said I don't want to spend a lot on a textbook at this time, so I bought an older ed from HPB. I got my used copy for 5 Dollars after shipping, and 99 cents before. The Yookoso from HPB I bought was published in 1999 and in very good condition. I haven't found the workbook for it yet, but its not the textbook I'll be starting with so I'm not as worried.

Before buying any textbooks I'd check your local used book store and see if its worth it to buy it from there. I know that my personal used book store where I live wouldn't sell Yookoso I for 99 cents, but as long as its around 5 dollars then it would be the same as getting off HPB.  When I go shopping 6/5/2013 I'll be looking for Japanese for busy people I from my used book store, as well as Yookoso 2, and see if they have the workbooks for all three textbooks. I'll be looking and compairing prices to make sure I get the best deal for my dollar.

Now I know some people may ask why page protectors? Well I'll tell you why I want them. I want to take a binder and put things I've printed out, like  the worksheets from my third study options. That way I don't write directly on them and can reuse the print outs if I stop learning Japanese for a time, or need to practice a little more. Since some websites have few print out I'll be using the dividers to separate them and keep them nice and neat in one binder and not have thousands.

Once I start studying I'll keep you updated on what I'm doing to study and keep the links coming to help you learn Japanese. I do hope this guide helps you.