Any1 here got good tips about learning japanese? Really want to learn it, but can't figure out how too. I heard "rumours" that you can learn some basic by only learning a specific group (remember the language are seperated into 2-3 different groups) of japanense. I also tried to use "Rosetta Stone" with the japanese pack but I didn't learn anything (only tried it 1/2 hour so maybe longer period?)
1. Learn the pronunciation of the japanese character 2. Learn the noun, verb, and how they pertain to gender and numbers 3. Learn the Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji (Maybe) If you're chinese and you got a basic understanding, learn kanji. If you're starting from the beginning to learn Kanji, forget it, it'll take you a lot of practice and time to master. For more information, please visit http://japanese.about.com/library/mmore.htm Hope it helps
having a good textbook is a great way to start(I recommend the Genki series); but i think it really depends on the commitment you give to learning the language. if you don't work hard at it, then you won't really see the fruits of your efforts.
I will suggest you to try out the language schools. Even though it might be expensive, it will make you learn.
i agree with chocobill. no matter how little you think it helps, just take it in and learn it. And also, no matter how much you learn, if you don't practice using it in everyday then the language will never stick. if you have no one you can practice your japanese with or you're just too embarassed to speak it, just say it in your mind. I know people are always thinking about something so whatever you're thinking, try saying to it to yourself in japanese. Ex: Your walking along and think to yourself "Ah, what a nice breeze." so instead of that you think "Ah, nante ii kaze da ne..." [Ok, that was a lame example but it gets the job done >.<] my second tip which is basically the same as the first but harder is translating. If you watch anime or japanese dramas, start paying attention to what they say! If you're already learning japanese, while your watching a fansubbed video, try to ignore the subs as much as possible. just close your eyes and listen to the audio. as much as possible try to figure out what it means, if you know some of the words in the sentence but can't figure out some, then bust out the dicitonary! or you could the opposite and just pause at the beginning or every line. Read the subtitle and try to figure out how they would say it in japanese. just keep practicing like this as you learn. For me, this is all I did for 7 months and commited myself to thinking/speaking as much japanese as possible and after 7 months, i'm a translator for a fansub team already. So that definitely helps me improve my japanese too. If you think it's too hard then give up! Why? because i didn't even use a textbook to learn haha. I just did what I said in those two tips and the only textbook I ever had was Japanese-English dicitionary. I figured out the verb conjugations and grammar by myself by paying attention while watching fansubs. So if you have a textbook or your taking an actual japanese class, you can learn good conversational japanese even faster than I can. And also, I suggest learning Kanji first as it is the hardest to learn. Just study one character a day or every few days depending on your learning ability. Even though Kanji is the hardest to learn, you'll see it everywhere when watching or trying to read japanese sites and stuff so it's necessary that you learn it.
Best way to learn any language is to immerse yourself in it. Barring from living in the actualy country, try reading/watching anime/manga. Once you have a basic grasp of the language, i reccomend you read the manga Yotsubato&!
Try learning the basic ABC - hiragana and Katakana first.... No easy way around those, pure memory training.
m uncle is learning jap atm... an i think he's actually learning by watching them 'Learn Japanese' videos... its actually quite useful...could give it a go....
For the speaking aspect - what others have said, just immerse yourself daily with Japanese language ~ like I have Pimsleurs Japanese language podcast on my MP3 player which i listen to sometimes when im out. its also good to watch anime and J-dorama too to familiarise with the language more, you will pick things up when you watch anime and J-dorama. sometimes i carry a pocket size Japanese phrasebook when i go travelling by train or by bus to places and i read it, it helps little by little. ^^
I got My Japanese Coach for the Nintendo DS and its pretty good for a beginner ~ playing games actually helps develop your Japanese
Yes Japanese Coach is not bad at all. I also go on japanesepod101.com and listent to their free audio lessons , there's a lot of corny jokes by the hosts but it beats boring textbook dialogues and you can ask them questions on the forum.
here's a link that i found really helpful if you're trying to self-learn japanese: http://www.japanese-online.com/
I've used that site before , it's not bad but I think the aduio's not that good since it's mainly one guy doing all the talking so you can't hear different pronounciation and not everything is free there.
Rosetta Stone is another good way to learn it, they say it in Japanese and you choose the right picture, and as the level up higher they start speaking in sentences and you figure out of which one is correct, not a bad software
^ really...??...yeshh the ds is good but the lang. thingy...i dun think its that good to be honest never be as good as going to learn a lang in a class i think
