LEEEETTTTSSS GOOOOO!!! Game time babyyyyy, lets get this show on the road. Lets pass the JLPT N5! Think back to your earliest memories of learning, way way waaaayyyyyy back. Back in the good old days, when it wasn’t considered ‘rude’ or ‘disgusting’ to shit your pants in public. Does a certain song stick out in your memory? It’s as easy as 1-2-3, you know it: the ABC’s! I know. Not the most exciting topic, but we all got to start some where right?
This video gave me a clear understanding of the Japanese Writing system with good visuals. I would recommend giving it a watch. (please excuse his pronunciation of Kanji)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7a8OjvViwE
Right off the bat, we are hit with some big differences between English and Japanese.
- Japanese has three writing scripts to English’s one.
- Japanese writing has no spaces
- Japanese characters include 45 hiragana and 45 katakana (which represent the same sounds), in addition too over 2,000 Kanji which represent full words.
This has felt overwhelming to me in the past, but I learned by creating a routine and chipping away each day I can make real progress. You have to force yourself to stop over thinking the mountain top, and start focusing on the task at hand or you will become gridlocked and give up.