I did practice some writing and pronounciation in Hiragana, but starting with listening to someone speak and imitate it is better when learning a language.
First you listen, then you imitate, then you start writing and reading. Heck, that's what I've done with Babymetal's Megitsune! I have no idea what they are singing but I'm still able to sing along at this point simply by imitating Suzuka. Or Su-Metal, as she prefers to be called..

What makes me hesitant about all this is the amount of time it takes to learn a new language...