Help with getting started...

[lame_duck]

Reposting this in the correct section. Sorry about the messup. >.<

I've looked over the fourms and havn't found the answers to these questions. How do I go about learning to read Japanese? Do I study Hiragana and Kanji toghter or???

About learning how to speak it, does reading and speaking go hand in hand? I mean, the way I read a sentance is the way I would say it? I've been told that Hiragana *ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, sa, shi, su, se, so, etc* is the basic sounds made in the Japanese language and Kanji is symbles for words made by Hiragana.

Sorry for such noobie questions, but I don't have much experince in Japanese AT ALL. Subbed anime is about as close as I have gotten to someone speaking it excipt for a couple of forgen friends that I really didn't wanna bother with my questions. *I hate living in the middle of nowhere sometimes.*