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The Japanese Writing System - Unit 2 - A Structural Approach.

Anthony Alfonso.

1971. Sophia University / Australia National University, Tokyo / Canberra. (6th printing,1989)

351 pp, pbk, 25.8 cm, [s1] (kanji) ¥2369 (continued from Unit 1)

FIRST SPEAKING, THEN READING

One of the reasons why a Japanese child learns to read his language so well is that he already knows the words before he learns how they are written, and he already understands the basic patterns of Japanese before he is taught how to read them. The psychology of the foreign adult student is different from that of a Japanese child in many respects, but still learning the kanji of words which one already knows presented in sentences which one already understands is an efficient and economic way to master Japanese reading because one learns only one thing at a time. Generally speaking, when the whole system of Japanese is taught through readers (grammar, lexicon, writing) the student is faced with three problems simultaneously: he must decipher the script first to get into the meaning of individual words and through them of the whole utterance. We believe that it is faster and psychologically better to divide the problems and face them separately, and to place reading at the end of the learning process rather than at the beginning.

But upon further reflection, it is not necessary or even possible to teach the student every word or sentence first before they are given in the native script. The reasons for this are varied: (a) Once the student has mastered the readings and the meanings of a number of kanji there is no reason why he cannot be taught new combinations of already known kanji even if he has never heard or seen those words before; actually, properly taught characters can offer excellent opportunities to the student to expand his vocabulary range. (b) Due to the nature of kanji, and to the fact that, as will be seen later, one common phonetic element often gives the same reading to a whole group, one can often safely teach some characters whose readings are not yet known to the student. (c) In the early stages it is possible to use a type of language in the reading which is the same as the colloquial language the student is learning in his grammar/conversation classes, but as his reading progresses he is gradually faced with an increasing number of words and forms which are not to be drilled orally because they are typical of the written language only; but generally this occurs at more advanced stages when the principle of first speaking then reading is less important.

When we state that speaking or knowing the words first must precede reading we do not want to imply that the student must be fluent in the spoken language before he is taught how to read. All we want to say is that before the written language departs too much from the colloquial it bears better results to teach the words and the sentences first and the reading later. But how much later should reading follow speaking or understanding depends on personalities and on circumstances, keeping always in mind that postponing reading for too late may disappoint the serious student or give him the impression that reading is somehow less important. To the average student who takes Japanese in a foreign university with the purpose of entering the field of Japanese studies, reading is probably more important for him at that stage than speaking and it should be started as early as possible only some steps behind other types of classes. ... [Sample Page]