Hello! I have autism, and it makes it really difficult to grasp and remember letters and stuff.
I tried mnemonics, writing it down, saying it, etc, but nothing has worked. I also tried watching anime with English subtitles (but not for long as it didn’t interest me)
I can’t seem to get it, but I really want to learn because there is this dude at my school who barely speaks English and only knows Japanese and I want to talk to him because I have no friends (also, I am going to college in Japan so there’s that too)
Anyway, could people share the ways they learned Japanese in general and I could maybe try and mash them together and find what works for me? I don’t know, I just need help. One of the staff told be to go here so that’s where I’m at.
Hm. If you're trying to remember letters and stuff, have you tried something like a video game for that? That's how I learned the syllabarys. Many people do things like mnemonics and stuff, but if that doesn't work than trying something like that might help. I know of some. Otherwise with that stuff idk how you learn, but I don't think anyone can really learn stuff until they start using it. Just reading random stuff in Japanese could help. Idk
For katakana and hiragana, I learned with two games called Learn Japanese To Survive: Hiragana Battle and Learn Japanese To Survive: Katakana War. You do have to pay for them and they do have lessons where you write stuff down a little bit but then you have to practice by fighting the kana monster things (they're rpg). Also there is a free game called kawaiiNihongo that has kana lessons in the beginning but they're probably not much different than what Renshuu has. But there is a sister game to that called kawaiiDungeon, which has battles more like the rpg I mentioned but they're timed, in case that helps.
For katakana and hiragana, I learned with two games called Learn Japanese To Survive: Hiragana Battle and Learn Japanese To Survive: Katakana War. You do have to pay for them and they do have lessons where you write stuff down a little bit but then you have to practice by fighting the kana monster things (they're rpg). Also there is a free game called kawaiiNihongo that has kana lessons in the beginning but they're probably not much different than what Renshuu has. But there is a sister game to that called kawaiiDungeon, which has battles more like the rpg I mentioned but they're timed, in case that helps.
thank you. Hopefully some other ppl comment their suggestions too 🙂
Something that I do to practice remembering/writing hirigana is that I'll write character's names down from media that I really enjoy. I'm not exactly sure if it makes sense from the way I worded it but this was me writing the hirigana for the given names' of enstars characters. Though i did this last night more out of boredom than a drive to learn
I don’t know much about neurodivergent learning, but I do know that many self-identified autistics have developed deep expertise in topics most neural typical people would get bored with and give up on. So I would encourage you to experiment with different things until you find something that clicks for you. Is there anything about the Japanese language or culture that particularly interests you? If so, dive into it and make it your own area of expertise. You can feel free to ignore the normal order in which Japanese is taught and just pursue your interests, using that as a base to engage with the rest of the language.
You might’ve already tried this, but does it help to try and remember it by comparing it to something? For example, maybe “つ” looks like a sideways “U” in English, so you could remember it like that. I hope this helps!
If you're memorizing the Japanese kana and basic kanji, you may benefit from writing them out with Renshuu's drawing box option and toggling the "type answer when possible" option for quizzes. I remember exclusively looking up words with the kana I couldn't remember and studying them for retention, too. I can give you some example words if this sounds like a useful approach.
This is kind of a niche way to learn things, but I dedicate some time to looking up random words in Japanese every day. I find that manually typing words into a search query and looking at the pictures helps me connect the words to the actual subjects. I also wrote my browser tab names exclusively in Japanese for additional language exposure. (This can be intimidating at first, so I'd suggest starting with one or two Japanese bookmarks and a few Japanese search queries a day.)
Every neurodivergent is to each own, obviously, but from one nd to another, learn bits of info like radicals for kanji, combined particles or conjugated words as us nds usually like connecting info together if I do say so myself, so maybe having some small bits of info to connect together to form larger words ehich Japanese already depends a lot on can be hopefully helpful. I also tend to avoid mnemonics myself too, but that depends on the person I guess... Also try going for some passive ways of learning, like listening to calm vocal music and stuff (I would've recommended watching shows with subs but you seemed to already have done that...) Have fun in this adventure and make sure to bond well with your future bud c:
Edit: Also, learning the history, oeigin and ethymology of kanji seems to really help with understanding it. Making up some new kanjis after getting good at it may also help too, maybe (Kinda like making a nee character, "biang" style)
