hiragana, katakana or kanji?

[kawaiitori]

I am just starting to learn japanese and know a bit of hiragana and I was wondering if I should carry on with that or go to katakana or kanji instead?

which is most commonly used?

please help if you can ^_^

[Henbaka]

First learn both hiragana and katakana, as you can learn them pretty fast and they're not that hard. Then sink your teeth into Kanji...

Learning kanji without knowing hiragana is both weird and kinda unrealistic.

[Hackimoto]

I started by learning the Katakana because I knew it was the first thing they learn is school. Then I moved on to the Hirigana which is just slighty harder I think. So If you already know them then Katakana should be easy. It may feel redundant but it's worth it to know even though it's not used as commonly. In fact I sometimes almost forget a few of them because I see them a lot less often. Kanji is a continuous struggle, and as I've said to others before the best thing to do is learn the radicals which are the most basic word forms which are combine together to make bigger words. sort of like english words such as 'circumnavigation'. It's a big word made up of little words.
Here are some sites which may help you. I wish you good fortune in your studies.

C:\Users\Public\Documents\learning\Kanji Radicals.mht
C:\Users\Public\Documents\learning\Kanji by Grade.mht

[allie2590]

Originally Posted by Hackimoto

C:\Users\Public\Documents\learning\Kanji Radicals.mht
C:\Users\Public\Documents\learning\Kanji by Grade.mht

Those are addresses for files on your computer. They don't work on the internet.

[godwine]

A lot of literature will have hiragana above the Kanji to show its pronounciation, so you do need to master Hiragana. Katakana are used to "translate" a lot of borrowed English words, names and places, so you will have to know that too, otherwise you won't know where you are going or location and such

[SSJup81]

Personally, I feel that katakana is more difficult to get than hiragana, but as it was mentioned, you should definitely learn these first before trying kanji.

Oh,and a good way of getting both, is to constantly write them out, something I need to do myself. It's sad that I still have trouble with remembering katakana characters.

[Kiyuge]

I think you should stick with learning Hirigana first then move on to Katakana after that and save Kanji for last.

[jml5083]

I learned Hiragana first, then Katakana. Either way, get one or the other down before you do the other. I think of it as Capital and Lower Case although I know that's not how they function. But it's two ways to write the same syllable.

Once you have both of those down, then focus on Kanji. But I personally never put much effort into that... probably because of the sheer number of them and because I was told not even most Japanese remember ALL the kanji -- hence hiragana written over kanji, I suppose.

[james1254]

Originally Posted by jml5083

I learned Hiragana first, then Katakana. Either way, get one or the other down before you do the other. I think of it as Capital and Lower Case although I know that's not how they function. But it's two ways to write the same syllable.

Once you have both of those down, then focus on Kanji. But I personally never put much effort into that... probably because of the sheer number of them and because I was told not even most Japanese remember ALL the kanji -- hence hiragana written over kanji, I suppose.

no one knows ALL the kanji (unless god exists) but most japanese people can at least recognise the 1945 joyo kanji at least

[sutocorporation]

Yeah, I think it is right