Hi, I am Shingo SATO, a native speaker with more than 10 years of experience teaching Japanese.
One of the most difficult aspects of learning Japanese is the characters.
Learning Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji can be difficult. Hiragana and Katakana each have 46 characters. There are even more Kanji.
In this post, I will share how to learn Japanese without learning Japanese characters.
In conclusion, I recommend learning from the online course of the book Marugoto.
Please read on for more details.
There Are a Lot of Romaji Materials for the Starter Level
If you want to learn Japanese without learning Japanese characters, one of the best ways is to use Romaji, a system of romanized spelling used to transliterate Japanese.
To do this, I recommend using Romaji teaching materials. You don’t have to look up the Romaji yourself and write them down in a book one by one.
What kind of Romaji materials are available?
For example, there are the following four.
- Marugoto: Japanese Language and Culture Starter A1 Coursebook for Communicative Language Activities
- Easy Japanese
- Minna no Nihongo Shokyu I Romanized Version
- Japanese for Busy People I Romanized Version
The title Marugoto and Easy Japanese does not include “Romanized Version,” but the Japanese characters and Romanized version are written together.
Marugoto is recommended as a Good Material
Of the four I have just introduced are the ones I have used as a teacher except Easy Japanese.
Of these, I recommend Marugoto the most.
The reasons are as follows.
- It focuses on what you can do with Japanese.
- It is based on second language acquisition theory, so you can learn efficiently
- There is a free online course (with Romaji, of course)
Each of these will be explained in detail.
It focuses on what you can do with Japanese
Every lesson in Marugoto always has several specific “Can-do” goals. For example, “Talk with a friend about where to go for lunch.”
“Can-do” goals are written at the beginning of each lesson, and of course the learner can see it. Then, learners learn the vocabulary and grammar necessary to accomplish the Can-do.
On the other hand, Minna no Nihongo and Japanese for Busy People emphasize grammar. For example, Minna no Nihongo also has a “Learning Goal,” which is often to use specific grammar items as a prerequisite, for example, to be able to give detailed descriptions and explanations of people and things by using modifiers.
When you use language, you should not think, “I am going to use this grammar to communicate.” Rather, we use language thinking, for example, “I’d like to discuss what we want for lunch today with my friend.” In other words, there is a specific goal to communicate, not using specific grammar items.
In this sense, too much emphasis on grammar is unnatural. There was a time when I thought grammar was the most important thing, and I regret that.
Furthermore, in Minna no Nihongo, the goals are only written in the teacher’s book. This makes it very difficult for students to know the goals if teachers do not communicate them to students.
Anyway, it can be said that Marugoto focuses more on practical Japanese language skills.
It is based on second language acquisition theory, so you can learn efficiently
Second, Marugoto is designed based on scientific evidence. For example, a Marugoto class usually follows the following flow.
- introduction of vocabulary
- listening comprehension
- conversation
In the introduction of vocabulary and listening comprehension, students listen to a lot of audio. In listening comprehension, the scene is clearly presented before listening, and the students listen several times with different questions. Students are expected to have a general understanding of the conversation from the vocabulary introduction and description of the scene. Listening to a lot of audio at a level that is roughly comprehensible is also considered effective in second language acquisition theory.
Minna no Nihongo also comes with audio, but as far as we can tell from the teacher’s guide, it is not intended to be used in a classroom setting where students would have to listen to a lot of audio.
There is a free online course (with Romaji, of course)
The content of Marugoto can be learned for free. This is because there are free online courses. This is a big advantage that Minna no Nihongo and Japanese for Busy People do not offer.
Marugoto‘s online courses also include Romaji for the introductory level activity courses (courses that mainly teach oral communication).
Marugoto‘s online courses are available on the “Minato” platform.
The registration process for “Minato” is a bit tricky, but the following video will help.
After the introductory level, you should study the character
Romaji is not included in the second or later books of Marugoto, Minna no Nihongo and Japanese for the Busy People. If you are aiming for a higher level, learning the characters is a must. Please read 3 Tips to Learn Hiragana and Katakana Fast for more information on how to learn Hiragana and Katakana.
In the following posts, I review apps for learning Hiragana and Katakana.
For a recommended app to learn Kanji, please read the following post.
Conclusion
In this article, I shared how to learn Japanese without learning Japanese characters.
In conclusion, I recommend learning from the online course of the book Marugoto.
I hope this post will be helpful to you in learning Japanese.
For more information on Easy Japanese, please read the following post.
Leave a Reply