Learning Japanese – How I started

Welcome to KanaKanji.com

My name is Declan and I’m learning Japanese.

Why?

It seemed like a good idea at the time…

A few years ago, when I finished college I decided that I wanted to study something, continue my edumacation, so a friend and I started going to Japanese classes. We were both into technology, computer games and enjoyed the occasional anime. I had heard the writing system was complicated and difficult to learn but that was all part of the challenge.

I’m so far from fluent I can’t even see it from here.

In learning a language I think one of the most important things is immersion. The more of the language you hear and see, the more it becomes familiar and easier to remember. There aren’t a huge amount of Japanese people here in Dublin, Ireland so I’m hoping to try to read as much as I can and use written Japanese as the medium to soak up as much Nihongo as possible.

I’m studying at an evening class as Trinity College but I know I have to do a lot of work myself in order to really improve.

At the end of Summer 2009 I’ll be going to Japan for a holiday and that’s going to be my big test. Having a deadline and a definite goal is going to keep me motivated into next year. ( I hope )

This blog is going to document the books, movies, materials and tools I use to learn and hopefully you’ll actually be able to see some progress.

Let me know if you are doing anything similar.

頑張ります！

And if you see any mistakes ( even if it’s the only Japanese word on the page ) be sure to tell me where I went wrong.