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I want to start learning to read Japanese (I already know romaji) and I was wondering which writing system would be better to start with. Or should I start all at the same time?

Friso
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  • I'm not exactly sure why everyone voted to close this as a resources question, since you're not asking about books/programs/websites/whatever. Do note, however, that ['how/what should I study?'](http://meta.japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/796/what-questions-are-not-allowed-on-japanese-language-se/798#798) questions are also offtopic here. – jkerian Nov 26 '14 at 02:58
  • As mentioned in my link, you might find the site [chatroom](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/511/japanese-language-and-usage) useful for these sorts of questions. – jkerian Nov 26 '14 at 03:02
  • You must have a reputation of 20 to use the chatroom. – sumitani Nov 26 '14 at 11:54

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Usually start by hiragana, then katakana. With this you can learn kanji (reading on'yomi form 音読み{おんよみ}, kun'yomi form 訓読み{くんよみ}).

When you get a kanji dictionary you can notice different ways to read the same kanji:

  • on'yomi form 音読み{おんよみ} usually with reading in katakana
  • kun'yomi form 訓読み{くんよみ} usually with reading in hiragana

Here have an example of '行' kanji at wiktionary: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%A1%8C

Kun'yomi is 'i-ku' (used as verb)

On'yomi (in website is Kan'on) is 'kou' (found in airplane word: 飛行機{ひこうき} hi-kou-ki)

sumitani
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  • What are onyomi and kunyomi? – Friso Nov 24 '14 at 14:38
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    See this question: [How are the different pronunciations of kanji used, such as onyomi and kunyomi?](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/17696/how-are-the-different-pronunciations-of-kanji-used-such-as-onyomi-and-kunyomi) – blutorange Nov 24 '14 at 16:28