We Have It too: A Strategy Which Helps to Grasp the Japanese Writing System for Students from Outside of the Chinese Character Cultural Zone

• Published in: Acta Linguistica Asiatica
• Main Author: BEKEŠ, Andrej
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete / Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts 2013
• Subjects: writing system; Chinese characters (kanji); pleremic; cenemic; analogy transfer; pisave; kitajske pismenke (kanji); pleremsko; cenemsko; prenos po analogiji; sami
• Online Access: https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/ala/article/view/637; https://doi.org/10.4312/ala.3.1.75-84

For beginner learners with non-Chinese character background complexities of Japanese writing system often represent an insurmountable obstacle. Yet closer look at different types of writing systems reveals that differences between them are more of a degree than of a kind. Present paper, based on this perception, argues for the employment of strategies based on a transfer of analogies between alphabet based writing systems such as English, to Japanese writing system. This would help beginner learners overcome cognitive and affective blockade, when beginning to learn Japanese writing. Kompleksnost japonskega sistema pisave pogosto predstavlja nepremagljivo oviro za tiste učeče se na začetni stopnji, ki ne izhajajo iz kulturnega kroga kitajske pisave. Natančnejši pogled na različne sisteme pisave pokaže, da razlike med sistemi niso toliko v sami zasnovi, ampak bolj v deležu, ki ga vsak tip pisave v danem sistemu zavzema. Izhajajoč iz takega pogleda na pisavo, pričujoči članek predlaga, za to, da bi učeči se premagal kognitivno in čustveno blokado ob prehodu na novi sistem pisave, uporabo učnih strategij, ki temeljijo na prenosu analogij iz sistema pisave lastnega učečemu se na ciljni, to je, japonski sistem pisave.