It would help if you buy (or
illegally download) those books (Genki series for introductory/elementary Japanese)... nevertheless let me put it this way... when learning anything from a language to quantum mechanics to financial thievery it's more efficient to get the basics from a more experienced person (be it a teacher, friend, etc.), then study by yourself, until you reach some level of mastery (e.g. JLPT/N1 exam), when a specialist can guide you through it again... On the other hand if you want to use in real life a language skip all the official exams and textbooks and hang around with locals, watch films and read books... it works a lot better then the money-leeching systems each country (including Japan) have set up to certify our waste of time
In between the most encouraging note ever
EDIT: I wish that Americans, French and Germans (probably more) could show a similar appreciation to the time and effort that it takes to learn their languages, like Japanese, Koreans and Chinese
