di: DI approaches to teaching Japanese reading + business opportunity

[Christopher Duss]

Dear List,

I know some of you have spent some time living or teaching in Japan. I am
currently teaching my 4 year old to read Japanese and have been unable to
find anything like Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. Since
Hiragana (website links below), the alphabet used in all children's books
here, is actually much easier to read than English, it would be more like
50 lessons or less. You could use an additional 50 lessons to teach
Katakana, the other alphabet used for foreign-derived words, and beginning
Kanji, the set of Chinese characters that completes the 3 sets of
characters used in Japanese reading/writing.

For those who are unfamiliar, the first two alphabets are syllabaries,
which means each letter corresponds to a syllable of speech. All of the
Japanese language can be represented as Hiragana letters. There is only one
way to read each letter, so reading Japanese is simply a matter of learning
the alphabet. The alphabet is more complex than English, containing 46
basic letters, with variations and additions that bring it to around 110
letters to represent the language. Katakana adds another 110. So you have a
lot more letters, but only one way to say them, no blending, irregulars
etc.

Kids learn the alphabets here similarly to how kids initially pick up the
alphabet in English - in order, with chants and songs, charts and through
practice writing. The book I am using to teach my son goes through each
letter in order, has him write it and see a picture that starts with it. I
would love to have something that introduces letters systematically, then
has them being used in combination to form words, then combines words to
make a story - essentially, a Teach Your Child To Read Japanese in 100 Easy
Lessons.

To those who have lived out here, am I missing something with the materials
on offer here? To everyone, is a rigorous system less necessary because we
only need to teach the alphabet to have kids reading? It looks to me like
an opportunity to shake up the traditional way of learning here with a bit
of DI magic. I am curious to know others' thoughts.

Relevant links:
Hiragana http://www.japanese-lesson.com/characters/hiragana/
Katakana http://www.japanese-lesson.com/characters/katakana/
Syllabaries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabary/

Thanks,
Chris
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