Advice needed... thank you

[flunacy]

Buon pomeriggio! Konnichiwa!
I hope everyone is doing fine!

I need your advice, I'll be glad of your suggestions

I've started studying Japanese
(unfortunately I can do it only on my own as where I live there are no schools, universities or whatsoever where I could go to a Japanese language course), I've finished with the Hiragana alphabet and now I'm practicing everyday with worksheets, I write short sentences and learn new vocabulary day by day.
I've started studying grammar on textbooks I bought etc.

My question is... I haven't started Katakana yet: should I start now
and meanwhile keep on practicing Hiragana or should I start later with it?
Would I get confused?

How did you approach to both alphabets when you started studying?

Thank you for your replies, I know it may sound a stupid question,
but your advice will help me and.... sorry if my English isn't so clear

I wish you all a good day!
flunacy

[Kasomi]

Personnally, I started with both, but it was a mistake, so I concentrated on hiragana, and then, when I started learning kanji, I used katakana for the on-yomi readings, and it helped me learn the katakana in the while. It's up to how fast you learn things; if you are a slow learner, then it should be better to start katakana before kanji. Plus, katakana is used for foreign words also, so you could get some other vocabulary added to your list.

Hope it helps.

[delacroix01]

I think it depends on each person's purpose of learning. As for me, I started with katakana, not hiragana, and I never regret it. Some people might think my reason is funny, but I actually started learning Japanese from katakana in order to read names of weapons in JRPGs Anyway, in the long term, any Japanese learner should memorized all kana since they are both widely used in writing.

[JohnBraden]

Originally Posted by delacroix01

Some people might think my reason is funny, but I actually started learning Japanese from katakana in order to read names of weapons in JRPGs

A while back, I started to identify kanji characters when I was learning the names of Race Queens. I guess it doesn't matter what your initial reason to learn is, if the end result is knowledge.

[Columbine]

I would try and learn them sooner rather than later. Lots of basic information, like your name and nationality, lots of things to do with daily items and food/drink, almost any plant or animal name, will all be written in katakana.

I learnt them by playing a pairs matching game with hiragana and katakana on loose flash-cards.