trouble reading japanese

@Key Of course it's easy mode. I'm still learning haha.

@iamtheredsev Unless I got sent bad lessons, one of the weird quirks of Japanese is that the particle wa is written with the hiragana for ha. I'm still barely starting but that's something I noticed in the first lesson. Anyone well versed feel free to correct or confirm

If I'm understanding your question correctly, you have to actually learn vocabulary and grammar. That's like someone saying they learned the English alphabet and can read sentences, but they can't understand the words. You can read all the hiragana you want but, if you don't know any words, it won't make sense. For example, Spanish is a language that uses romanized letters. I can read Spanish, but I damn sure can't tell you what it means because I don't know many Spanish words XD. Try rossetta stone or apps like memrise/anki.

First step learn the sounds and kana. Both Hiragana and Katakana. Then you must understand basic sentence structure. Its an SOV language not SVO (Subject-Object-Verb) then when you get that there is basic verb conjugations like ru is present affirmative, datta past, janai is negative janakatta past negative. Then its vocab, kanji learning and repetition. Good luck. 頑張って! (がんばって)

When I was taking lessons they made us learn hiragana and katakana and then they would use vocabulary flash cards and we'd have to read them. Then we would have to put them into sentences. If I didn't get it that was just tough I had to learn that at home because no English was allowed LOL. Honestly you want to get at least hiragana and katakana down. The grammar can be difficult at times because there are so many different ways to say things. I'd suggest some good flash cards like whiterabbit ones. They have kanji cards I'm sure they must do them for vocab words. Like with any language you can't just learn the alphabet and expect to understand everything.

Just to comment on what one person said about putting words in almost any order in Japanese: This really isn't true. Some orders may work, but would sound very odd. The general rule of thumb is subject first, verb last. Keep in mind, there are different verb forms depending on the level of politeness. Also, to truly read basic Japanese, you'll need to learn a good handful of kanji. And what another person posted earlier: わたしわアメリカじんです This is almost correct. Even though the particle "wa" is spoken as such, it's actually written with the hirgana "ha" (は). 私はアメリカ人です。(watashi wa amerika jin desu) Or if you want to speak from a male perspective without being impolite, 僕はアメリカ人です。(boku wa amerika jin desu)

Be careful about using 僕. It is a male use of "I", but it's also impolite. If you are talking to your boss or someone you don't know very well, 私 is a-o-kay. However, if you are looking to be very impolite, rude, or sound very masculine and/or confident. Use 俺 (ore / Oh - REH). Difficult to type out Japanese pronunciation, but I hope you get the point. Also, another way to get good in Japanese is well, by using it.

僕 can be okay in a class setting, but like stealthguy said, it's definitely not as polite as 私。 Luckily, 私 can work for anyone. And of course, another good thing to do is listen as much as possible, also without subs (unless they're Japanese subs). The more you hear, the easier pronunciation will become and the more familiar you'll feel with the language.