Hiragana and Katakana (Beginner)

Get away from Romaji as soon as possible! Romaji can give you instant help, but it'll be a long term problem. Hiragana is the pronunciation symbol just like pinyin in Mandarin Chinese. Learning Hiragana is not just for reading and writing, but it's also for listening and speaking. It'll take 2-3 weeks to master Hiragana, and after you finish Hiragana, move onto Katakana which is used for foreign words (sounds are the same as Hiragana).