Learn Romaji
Romaji is a term used to describe Japanese characters, either Kana (Hiragana or Katakana) or Kanji, that have been written in the Roman alphabet. You will probably learn Romaji when you are first getting started, since you have no other reference point, but it is strongly recommended that you quickly learn one of the other writing systems like Hiragana as soon as possible.
Here are a few Romaji examples taking some Kana words and spelling them out in Romaji.
| Kana | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ラジオ | Rajio | Radio |
| ねこ | Neko | Cat |
| テレビ | Terebi | Television |
| いぬ | Inu | Dog |
The reason you don’t want to use Romaji for very long is because it is ultimately a crutch that will only get in the way of you learning to speak Japanese the most effective way you can.
Relying on Romaji can hurt your pronunciation. Keep in mind that the romanization of the Japanese characters is only an approximation of the Japanese sounds associated with each character. For example, “ふ” is roughly translated as “fu,” but the “F” sound is very soft. It is actually more like a sound that is halfway between “fu” and “hu,” not a heavy sound like in the word “food.” There is no way to accurately write this sound with the Roman alphabet, so we just approximate “ふ” as “fu.” Without knowing things like this, you can easily mispronounce many words.
The second reason why you don’t want to learn Japanese through Romaji, is that if you get accustomed to reading Romaji and never become familiar with the Japanese characters, you will be in pretty big trouble if you ever visit Japan. You see, there is very little Romaji in Japan. Even in Tokyo, you will probably only see a few basic signs or the names of large department stores written in Romaji.
Going to Japan equipped only with an understanding of Romaji, is effectively like being illiterate. There is very little you will be able to read, and you may find yourself lost and confused.
So instead, learn Romaji only to learn Hiragana when you are first getting your feet wet. Buy or make a set of Hiragana flashcards for yourself and go through them every day. Depending on how much time you can devote to it, you should be able to easily learn Hiragana in anywhere from one week to one month.
At this point, you can continue learning the rest of the Japanese language more effectively by using Japanese characters. Remember, today’s crutch becomes tomorrow’s burden. So, don’t learn Romaji, but try to learn Hiragana as fast as you can so you can learn Japanese the best way.