The starting point

MANGIN Bryan. Polyglot, great lover of books, comics and manga, web developer in my spare time and webmaster of Super Nihongo Sunshine, the site that speaks about Japan and its beautiful language: Japanese. Free and accessible to everyone, whether you are French, Quebecers, English, American, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian, and so on; if you’ve always dreamed of learning Japanese, you’ve come to the right place.

And as a self-taught person, I often search the web for everything I need when I’m interested in something, when I want to learn something. I’m go online when I want to learn a language, and I’m buying books at the bookstore around the corner. Like many people who are very curious but who do not necessarily have the means to afford traditional language courses with a teacher who is present to provide personalized assistance, I manage with what I find on the web or in books. This is how I learned many things all by myself in front of my computer screen and my endless notes in my notebooks. And then one day, I decided to start learning the Japanese language, and that's where the story of Super Nihongo Sunshine begins.

For the English-speaking audience, finding the resources to learn a language is generally not very complicated. Most of the resources available in this area are in english, so yes, english speakers are rather favored on that side. Even if you have little means, by searching well on the Internet, you always end up finding resources to get you on the right track. Whether you are interested in learning French, Spanish, Portuguese or whatever, English speakers usually don’t have a problem. However, when it comes to the Japanese language, it’s a different story.

It turns out that the Japanese language has always attracted me a lot, do not ask me why, I will simply answer you that it is probably because I like manga, a little less anime, and that I always dreamed of going to Japan. Alas, I ran into a terrible problem: I could not find absolutely any resource on the Internet sufficiently complete and financially accessible to learn Japanese. Even the few books I found in bookstores were not enough and lacked explanations. Faced with this observation, I worked alone, writing my own courses. And the idea to create Super Nihongo Sunshine came during this period.

Super Nihongo Sunshine is a site that I created to share with you everything I wrote for my own learning, failing to find a website worthy of the name to learn the language. But also, for all those who cannot afford private lessons or who cannot find all the books they need or who do not hang on to long and tedious courses. Of course, I readapted and improved everything in such a way as to address you, the learners. I have endeavored to design courses that are as comprehensive as possible, approaching every aspect of the Japanese language with extreme care so that you understand why this language works this way or that way and how it works.

These are Japanese lessons designed by an enthusiast for enthusiasts, and especially for those who are ready to invest the time necessary in learning this beautiful language.

Super Nihongo Sunshine can also be useful for anyone wishing to take the JLPT exam. In addition, if you are only interested in a course about a particular particle or adverb or others, you can go to the course page and use the anchor links to find what you want more quickly.

Let me be clear, I am NOT here to offer you an easy solution... because there is none. Learning a language takes time and constant effort, often over several years. For each lesson that we cover, I will regularly invite you to go back to revise the previous lessons, simply because it is not enough to read and re-read a lesson to retain it. Sometimes, even after you’ve gotten far in the program, nothing is better than going back to the early chapters to review the basics.

So how are the lessons going to be? Where do we start? I warn you right away. We’re not going to start building sentences anytime soon. I will not give you all-made expressions to memorize. It’s useless if you don’t understand the construction of sentences in Japanese. There are, of course, ready-made expressions in Japanese as in all the languages of the world, and I have designed files on this subject. They are accessible on the course page, and rest assured, they are full of detailed explanations but you are not there yet. If you are there, it is to learn the Japanese language from A to Z. We will first study writing (katakana, hiragana), then you will see your first kanji and with, your first words, the punctuation, the numeral system… then we will deal with particles, adverbs, adjectives and much more. So, when you start learning a language, you start by writing letters and syllables. Then, you learn your first words. And only after that, you start to create your first sentences. There is no shortcut!

Also, do not try to advance as quickly as possible. Learning a language is not a speed race, you have to move at your own pace. I am fully aware that most of you most certainly have responsibilities and you do not necessarily have much free time. However, whatever your situation, you must train absolutely every day if you want to make real progress. If you can only train for half an hour a day, train for half an hour a day. If you can train for an hour a day, train for an hour a day. If you can train for more than an hour a day, do it. Of course, there is also no need to line up several hours in a row. Take breaks at least every hour or half an hour. Effective learning also means letting your head rest... but not too much either !

With that, I hope that this very first chapter has been crystal clear and that you are ready to embark on the adventure. If you still have questions, I invite you to first consult the FAQ page, you may find the answers you are looking for. If not, you can always visit me on my Twitter account, I will always be happy to help you.

See you in the next chapter.