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View Poll Results: if you understand japanese but you don't live in japan - how did you learn? | |||
Learned from parents/relatives | 3 | 9.38% | |
formal university or college program in japanese | 5 | 15.63% | |
took some courses | 3 | 9.38% | |
self-study (books, tapes, cds) | 20 | 62.50% | |
hired a tutor | 1 | 3.13% | |
Voters: 32. You may not vote on this poll |
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Thread Tools |
2009-10-13, 00:02 | Link #1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
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How did you learn japanese?
Hi there,
I am interesting in getting some insight from those of you who speak japanese, but who don't live in japan: how did you learn the language? from parents/relatives, formal study (university or college program in japanese language), less-formal study (ex. a college or high school course or two or three), informal study (books, language CDs), or private tutoring (paying a teacher or native speaker to instruct you)? |
2009-10-13, 00:18 | Link #2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
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I have just started to speak Japanese from a high school course. My sensei was born and raised in Japan so English is her second language. Learning so far is a bit hard because my class and i are focusing on writing Hiragana, Katakana, and then Kanji first instead of speaking. Otherwise classes are very cool.
Did you make this thread because you speak Japanese?
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2009-10-13, 00:31 | Link #4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
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All I can say is learn the kanas before enrolling in college level JPN course.
That's exactly what I did and JPN 101 didn't turn out to be as stressful as my accounting classes I have a gripes about (some) kanjis though. I kinda wish the kanji was further simplified like what the mainland china is using right now... |
2009-10-13, 00:36 | Link #5 | |
Lost.
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Bay Area, California
Age: 32
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Quote:
I'm wondering if anyone learned how to speak fluently from watching anime alone. |
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2009-10-13, 08:28 | Link #7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
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I only speak a handful of words. I started this poll because it seems, there are many websites addressing japanese pop culture (anime & manga reviews, video game reviews, drama reviews, general pop culture discussions, fansubbers, etc.). It's obvious that these are set up by people whose first language is english. But, it makes me wonder, how did they learn japanese?
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2009-10-13, 11:26 | Link #8 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
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I took some courses, self-study, AND hired a tutor at various points. So the poll doesn't let me answer that way...
But I haven't *learned* Japanese (past tense)... you spend your entire life *learning* language, even your native one. If you aren't, then there's something seriously broken upstairs. Language is a life-long study
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2009-10-13, 13:26 | Link #10 |
Chicken or Beef?
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Seattle
Age: 41
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Mostly from my mom yelling at me while growing up
Never learned written language though, my parents were immigrants and wanted us to be as intergrated into american society as possible so that we won't have hardships. So i spent a large portion of my childhood doing reading comprehension cards and such... bleh.
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2009-10-13, 13:49 | Link #11 |
Senior Member
Artist
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Normandy SR-2
Age: 29
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I lived in Tokyo for a year and went to a normal public school there. The only surefire way to learn languages, as my parents say, is to live in the country and immerse yourself in its culture. It was a great experience and I can talk like how other Japanese teenagers talk normally. I was in the exact same classes everyone else was in and made a ton of friends.
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2009-10-13, 14:20 | Link #12 | |
Chicken or Beef?
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Seattle
Age: 41
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Quote:
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2009-10-13, 14:38 | Link #13 |
Senior Member
Artist
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Normandy SR-2
Age: 29
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Yeah, I agree with that. But there's one thing about being an adult - you have more self-discipline so you study harder during the time you're there. I honestly goofed off for most of my time in Japan, so my Japanese could've been better. My younger brother picked up the language really fast, though, because, well, he's young.
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2009-10-13, 14:52 | Link #14 | |
(。☉౪ ⊙。)
Author
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: In Maya world, where all is 3D and everything crashes
Age: 36
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Quote:
I learned the majority of English from watching cartoons as a kid, I can have basic conversations in Japanese but don't ask em to spell anything out or write/read anything, anime doesn't teach you that. I still learn a lot of new words but just not from anime, watching the news every day is a good learning start as well random shows on TV. It feels like learning English again all over but ti took at least 4 years before I could say anything decent I watch TV with a good dictionary XD |
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2009-10-13, 15:23 | Link #15 | |
Chicken or Beef?
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Seattle
Age: 41
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Quote:
With that said... I remember when I was really young, I didn't know how to say Aluminum foil.. I still don't... and I needed some for a class project. My mom doesn't know english very well so the best I was able to say was "Metal Paper" in japanese and she was freaking lost as hell... needless to say it was frustrating lol
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2009-10-13, 16:03 | Link #18 | |
Chicken or Beef?
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Seattle
Age: 41
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Quote:
You can get away with it dealing with friends and family. But you wanna be more formal when dealing with work. It's like english or any other language for that matter, you don't use street talk and ebonics at work, its for private conversational usage.
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2009-10-13, 16:17 | Link #19 | |
Speaker
Join Date: Sep 2009
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Quote:
In any case, dialogue from TV can be good if you keep it in context. If friends are talking, that's how you would talk with friends. The way a student speaks to a teacher or a worker speaks to his superior is generally how you would talk when being more polite. Just keep in mind that the less realistic the show is, the less reliable an indicator it is of how people actually talk. |
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Tags |
japanese language, learning |
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