Where to start? At the beginning of course! Heh. Learn Hiragana and Katakana. I’m doing a series of posts on these at the moment. Maybe try starting here or find your own method that works. Get yourself a text book. I think this is necessary especially for beginners, just to get a basic foundation down, an introduction to how the language works. I like Japanese For Everyone – it’s cheap, and it takes you very far. It does have disadvantages, but I’m yet to find a perfect textbook anyway. Another one people like is Genki. I like JfE better, but Genki is good too. There is more focus on writing in Genki than JfE which could be good (I cover my writing skills with another resource)

Remember, you have to walk before you can run. I think, so far, the beginning is the hardest part. Japanese isn’t hard, it’s just different to English. It is very logical, and once you learn a few patterns and start connecting what you are learning together, it suddenly makes sense and learning new words, grammar points etc – even though they are more complex, they are somehow easier.

I have a long way to go in my Japanese journey, but I feel like I’m really getting somewhere now. Get your basics down, (but don’t stop watching TV dramas, you’ll be surprised how much you can understand and how much it reinforces your learning. Watch Hana Kimi again in three months and you’ll be surprised how many more words etc you understand!).

I think the most important parts are:

1. Believe you can do this. Because you can.
2. Work at it every day. I mean every day. An Olympic swimmer spends hours every day in the pool. You can spare fifteen minutes every day to learn a bit of Japanese or even just to review.
3. Have fun with it. If you are stuck in a rut, just watch some dramas or listen to music. Challenge yourself, try a different technique, pick up a manga and see how much you can get from it. Make sure you are having fun so that numbers one and two continue to happen!

Hope that has been some help to you. Stick around and let us all know how your progress goes! Once a month I also post about what I’ve been up to – if I’ve been sticking to my own advice or slacking off! Here’s my March report if you are interested.