By Arjernae Miller

When I first saw Japanese letters, I felt like a newborn baby with a crowd full of adult faces surrounding me blubbering nonsense. I knew absolutely nothing about the characters, I had nothing to compare it to, I was stuck seeing unknown symbols float off of the paper.

Unlike some of the other students in my class, I have never attempted to learn Japanese language nor have I taken Chinese. My reasoning behind mentioning Chinese is because in my class I tend to notice that some of my peers have better progress with the Japanese writing portion of the class due to the Chinese courses they have previously taken during their years in school.

I’d spend time in class writing the lettering over and over just to have a nearly terrible grade on the quiz. I literally laughed at my score the first time I saw it, because I never had a score so low before, due to the overachiever that is built into me. In fact, I didn’t think it was possible to have so many emotions in one sitting.

The next big test I had I scored a 100%.

I spent the previous night rewriting the lettering over and over nonstop. Then the next morning on my way to class I was literally on the train studying on my way to class.

The best way to learn katakana, in my opinion, is to take Senpai Chi’s advice and write it EVERYWHERE. Your teacher’s whiteboard will be your new best friend. Along with every piece of paper you find, even scrap paper, I surely became a big recycler of paper while learning Katakana. I struggled with memory a lot, so to refute this I used the method of studying every other day or every three days, a method I learned in my Psychology class which I found to be successful. Katakana filled the pages of my notebook, front and back.

Now to fully master Katakana I try writing words in my notebook. I write small words such as cake, bin, as well as my name. After that, I hope to move on to phrases and sentences. I find that the best way to learn something is to immerse it in your everyday life, that way it will become a norm in your everyday life. Like speaking English and singing a song.