GGN recommends learning Katakana/Hiragana?

Go Go Nihon says they recommend all students before coming to Japan to study Katakana and Hiragana, my question is to people that are/went to a Language School how much Japanese did they know before hand?

For me personally it's harder to learn a language off a few websites because I won't be able to ask questions and do all that interacting learning that would really help when learning a new language, however I want to do what it takes for me to go to Japan and not have problems.

Thank you!

Hiragana and katakana are the phonetic letters of the Japanese language, so it is like saying learn the alphabets before you come to an English language school in Canada, to reverse the situation. And learning it also helps to give you a basic grasp on the syllable system of the language.

Learning the letters does not get you into grammar, which may require a lot of questions and answers, so maybe you can get a book and start at least familiarizing yourself with the letters, that would definitely help later in your studies.

My non-Japanese spouse already started with hiragana/katakana (and bit of kanji - just to recognize, not to write) before he came over to Japan to study the language. Enjoy learning!

Get the book Japanese for Busy People Kana Workbook.

https://www.amazon.ca/Japanese-Busy-People-Kana-Workbook/dp/1568364016...

That's all you'll need for Hiragana and Katakana.

As AK wrote, they're just the phonetic alphabets. Hiragana and Katakana are pronounced the same, it's just that Katakana is used for words borrowed from foreign languages....like pen ƒyƒ“

Start on the kana now, they'll serve you in good stead.

my question is to people that are/went to a Language School how much Japanese did they know before hand?

All kinds of people go to language schools, and language schools offer all kinds of courses to suit them. If you enroll in a Japanese course for beginners, you will obviously not be expected to know any Japanese.

By itself, knowing only hiragana and katakana is pretty much as good as knowing nothing, because everything is normally written in kanji.

All kinds of people go to language schools, and language schools offer all kinds of courses to suit them. If you enroll in a Japanese course for beginners, you will obviously not be expected to know any Japanese.

By itself, knowing only hiragana and katakana is pretty much as good as knowing nothing, because everything is normally written in kanji.

Not everything is in kanji. Knowing hiragana and katakana is useful in many situations, especially going grocery shopping or to a restaurant. Signs at train stations have the hiragana underneath the kanji, so knowing hiragana is helpful to a certain extent, although obviously one would need to learn kanji over time.

I don't know what kind of grocery stores or restaurants you frequent, but I have never seen one which used kana only. And as for train stations, they all have English signage as well, so knowing kana is of no benefit there either when you know English.

Jenn Jett is right. You need to learn kana if you want to learn Japanese because it is (contrary to statements of some) used everywhere. Of course it's not like full sentences consist only of kana. Nobody said that. But to declare that kanji is the only script you need is silly. Sentences made using only kanji don't exist in Japanese. So yes, start with kana and learn kanji over time. Kana is the easiest bit about Japanese.

I don't know what kind of grocery stores or restaurants you frequent, but I have never seen one which used kana only. And as for train stations, they all have English signage as well, so knowing kana is of no benefit there either when you know English.

The only place where English signage is guaranteed is in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. Plenty of rural and semi-rural areas I've visited have had no English signage at all, but on the buses and trains they did have the hiragana alongside the kanji. Of course grocery stores use kana, no one said it was kana ONLY, but half of the product names are written in kana either on the product itself, or on the label underneath it. Next time you go to the supermarket or conbini, walk down the aisles and count the number of products that are written in kanji only. Restaurants also use A LOT of hiragana and katakana on their menus. Most restaurants I visit (Indian and Western restaurants) use almost exclusively katakana. Even some Japanese restaurants use hiragana, not kanji, for words like udon and ramen. I think it's crazy to say there is no benefit to learning kana when half of the written things people encounter in daily life are written in kana. To be able to read, people should learn the kana scripts first and then go onto kanji. There's a reason why children's books are written in kana and not kanji, and that's because young children learn kana first, so to tell a foreigner coming here not to learn 2 of the 3 written scripts used in daily life and learned from a young age is just bizarre.

Lots of restaurants will display the type of food they specialize in in hiragana, e.g. soba or fugu (or katakana for ramen etc.).

I don't know what kind of grocery stores or restaurants you frequent, but I have never seen one which used kana only.

That's a false dichotomy. Grocery stores and restaurants don't typically write in kana-only (unless they are aimed at small children), neither is everything only written in Kanji. It's usually a combination of both, so knowing kana will help a little bit in many situations. It won't make you fluent, but it won't hurt either especially considering they are so easy to learn.

And as for train stations, they all have English signage as well, so knowing kana is of no benefit there either when you know English.

JR Stations have signage in kanji, kana, and romaji (English letters) so English-only speakers can get by on the JR network. Private railways and buses don't always have the romaji signage, so knowing kana can be a lifesaver when traveling on these lines.

For me personally it's harder to learn a language off a few websites because I won't be able to ask questions and do all that interacting learning that would really help when learning a new language

Sure, but that's not what you learn kana for. You learn kana to be able to read it. Why not give yourself a headstart before starting language school? It will also prove useful on the streets from day 1.