Learning Japanese: The value of Romaji
So, the quest to learn Japanese continues. I've been able to keep with it after the holidays, though admittedly I'm only 3 days back into work.
I'm not progressing very fast at present, but mostly because the companion app I'm writing hasn't yet caught up to where I am with my learning yet. The app teaching me isn't very thorough as far as testing is concerned and most phrases are taught with all of romaji, English and Japanese on screen at the same time. Having everything as a crutch when you're trying to absorb everything just feels like it isn't working.
Anyway, I'm catching up rapidly. My test app can now:
- Prompt me for ANY individual Hiragana or Katakana character and either make me select the appropriate Hiragana/Katakana from a randomly picked list for the supplied Romaji, or make me enter the correct Romaji for the shown kana.
- Show me an English word or phrase and expect me to enter the correct Romaji for it, or show me Hiragana and force me to choose from a random selection of English phrases/words
- Generate random numbers and expect me to enter the correct Romaji, or show Hiragana and prompt me to select the correct number
- And it can mix and match any type of the above and allow me to select what is or isn't included.
At this point, catching up to my training so I quiz myself on everything or any part of what I've learned is just a matter of inputting stuff into the program.
And this all brings me back to Romaji. The app I'm using and the most highly regarded site I could find both say not to bother learning Romaji. The justification is that you'll never use it in practice. Yet, I think this is a terrible statement. I also think it is quite misleading. For instance, words and phrases are often provided in hiragana... but in Japan many of those words you'll never see written in Hiragana. One could make a similar argument about teaching the words in Hiragana as well.
As I write this app, I use Romaji as an intermediary. I have an engine that can convert Romaji to either Hiragana or Katakana and that is actually what drives the kana in the UI. As a native English speaker, I can type in Romaji far faster than in Hiragana or Katakana, even if I had a keyboard which supplied those options to me easily.
Don't get me wrong, I get the arguments against it. I wouldn't recommend learning it explicitly, per se. And definitely not before Hiragana and Katakana. Stressing the correct pronunciation of the syllables and their combinations in crucial. But, at the end of the day... you WILL learn Romaji. Even if you never actually try to do so. Just as my application uses it as a sort of intermediary between Japanese and English, my mind was already doing this. I never practiced or spent time learning Romaji. It is just what happens.
There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, you need to start learning the new language within the context of one you already know. So, EVERY resource presents the syllables as one point or another in Romaji. But, even there was some magical trick to keep from ever showing you the language in that form... your brain would do it for you. You're a native English speaker, you will break the words down into English sounds and characters at some level. And honestly... it is better that it be Romaji than whatever you would choose to do on your own. At least with Romaji, as you pick up the rules, you know how to interpret them. And, having that intermediary makes the learning process that much faster.
When reading Romaji, I NEVER fall into the trap of reading it how it might be pronounced by a Westerner.
There are downsides. In the long run, I'll probably learn to read Hiragana more slowly than if I could cut that intermediary out. For me at least, and I suspect almost everyone else, it simply isn't possible. And if I can't, shouldn't I at least use a consistent intermediary that I can map quickly to kana as needed? And, whether it be Hiragana or Romaji, I'll still have spent time using the "wrong" writing form once I hit kanji for most things.
Anyway, not super sure what my point really is here. I'm defending something that doesn't really need to be defended because it isn't something you can really stop from happening. It was just an interesting thought I had while working through things. Basically, if you're learning as well, don't get stressed if you find you're using Romaji a lot despite warnings not to waste your time on it. Don't invest too heavily in it either. But I'm sure you'll notice as well, the very same people who tell you not to use Romaji, turn around and use it profusely, at least in the beginning. And the time you've gotten past where they need to use it as a crutch, you should have already mastered it.
I'm not progressing very fast at present, but mostly because the companion app I'm writing hasn't yet caught up to where I am with my learning yet. The app teaching me isn't very thorough as far as testing is concerned and most phrases are taught with all of romaji, English and Japanese on screen at the same time. Having everything as a crutch when you're trying to absorb everything just feels like it isn't working.
Anyway, I'm catching up rapidly. My test app can now:
- Prompt me for ANY individual Hiragana or Katakana character and either make me select the appropriate Hiragana/Katakana from a randomly picked list for the supplied Romaji, or make me enter the correct Romaji for the shown kana.
- Show me an English word or phrase and expect me to enter the correct Romaji for it, or show me Hiragana and force me to choose from a random selection of English phrases/words
- Generate random numbers and expect me to enter the correct Romaji, or show Hiragana and prompt me to select the correct number
- And it can mix and match any type of the above and allow me to select what is or isn't included.
At this point, catching up to my training so I quiz myself on everything or any part of what I've learned is just a matter of inputting stuff into the program.
And this all brings me back to Romaji. The app I'm using and the most highly regarded site I could find both say not to bother learning Romaji. The justification is that you'll never use it in practice. Yet, I think this is a terrible statement. I also think it is quite misleading. For instance, words and phrases are often provided in hiragana... but in Japan many of those words you'll never see written in Hiragana. One could make a similar argument about teaching the words in Hiragana as well.
As I write this app, I use Romaji as an intermediary. I have an engine that can convert Romaji to either Hiragana or Katakana and that is actually what drives the kana in the UI. As a native English speaker, I can type in Romaji far faster than in Hiragana or Katakana, even if I had a keyboard which supplied those options to me easily.
Don't get me wrong, I get the arguments against it. I wouldn't recommend learning it explicitly, per se. And definitely not before Hiragana and Katakana. Stressing the correct pronunciation of the syllables and their combinations in crucial. But, at the end of the day... you WILL learn Romaji. Even if you never actually try to do so. Just as my application uses it as a sort of intermediary between Japanese and English, my mind was already doing this. I never practiced or spent time learning Romaji. It is just what happens.
There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, you need to start learning the new language within the context of one you already know. So, EVERY resource presents the syllables as one point or another in Romaji. But, even there was some magical trick to keep from ever showing you the language in that form... your brain would do it for you. You're a native English speaker, you will break the words down into English sounds and characters at some level. And honestly... it is better that it be Romaji than whatever you would choose to do on your own. At least with Romaji, as you pick up the rules, you know how to interpret them. And, having that intermediary makes the learning process that much faster.
When reading Romaji, I NEVER fall into the trap of reading it how it might be pronounced by a Westerner.
There are downsides. In the long run, I'll probably learn to read Hiragana more slowly than if I could cut that intermediary out. For me at least, and I suspect almost everyone else, it simply isn't possible. And if I can't, shouldn't I at least use a consistent intermediary that I can map quickly to kana as needed? And, whether it be Hiragana or Romaji, I'll still have spent time using the "wrong" writing form once I hit kanji for most things.
Anyway, not super sure what my point really is here. I'm defending something that doesn't really need to be defended because it isn't something you can really stop from happening. It was just an interesting thought I had while working through things. Basically, if you're learning as well, don't get stressed if you find you're using Romaji a lot despite warnings not to waste your time on it. Don't invest too heavily in it either. But I'm sure you'll notice as well, the very same people who tell you not to use Romaji, turn around and use it profusely, at least in the beginning. And the time you've gotten past where they need to use it as a crutch, you should have already mastered it.
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