6 Practical Steps to Kickstart Your Japanese Learning Journey

The right start makes all the difference.

Photo by Shot by Cerqueira on Unsplash

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With all the free and paid content out there, it’s hard even to know where to start learning Japanese.

So, you’ve decided to learn Japanese — whether because of your favorite anime, an upcoming trip to Japan, or an interest in the language and culture. But before diving headfirst into kanji, textbooks, or your favorite anime, you might wonder: Where do I start?

I started learning Japanese back in 2008 when YouTube was still in its infancy, and the iPhone app store had only been released a month before — though I wouldn’t have a smartphone for a few more years.

Now, anyone wanting to learn Japanese is overwhelmed by the number of quality resources and learning methods. Do you want to watch anime all day? Do you want to learn with apps? Do you prefer textbooks? There’s a method out there for you. But it’s hard for a beginner to sort through all the information and know what will work for them.

Japanese can feel intimidating at first glance. There are four writing systems: hiragana（ひらがな), katakana (カタカナ), kanji（漢字), and romaji（ローマ字), grammar that looks nothing like English, and ways of showing…