Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
Let me just say first that I hope we can keep the conversation at a respectable level of discourse. I think it is fascinating topic, but I realize we are talking about people's personal works here, so let's make sure not to make it, or take it, personally.
I started learning hiragana on day 1 or 2 of my Japanese study. I can't remember how many weeks it took to get it down, but once it was down we dropped the romaji like a hot potato.
I think that is a good philosophy to go by if you are learning for any sort of long-term goal.
Romaji is not good for learning pronunciation, and since not all sounds in Japanese exist in English, using the alphabet to write them impedes learning. Reading how to speak is like reading how to play a musical instrument. Words on a page cannot completely convey the correct and proper ways to communicate.
For example:
U is pronounced like "oo" like in "put".
You are from Canada, right? Because this is not correct for American English speakers. う is more "oo" in moose (for me) but different English dialects will have different pronunciations. Therefore is is better to learn the proper pronunciation of う and all the others from proper sources.
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I am from Canada. Its impossible to teach pronounciation from reading a paper DEFINATELY. We are making a instructional video to replace that section to avoid the problems with pronouncing. I belive thought once someone knows the proper pronounciation of something, they can read it properly. Romaji or Kana, same thing, its both a little image, once you know how to pronoucnce it then you know how to. You can't learn to pronounce by looking at a word thought, which is why we are making a video for that section. I belive once that is up, then there wont be much confusion.