Learning Japanese

[Xeno]

I think you can do it, I'm teaching myself japanese at the moment, I bought a great dictionary, multiple books with different perspectives on grammar which also teach the language(to help understand it better), as well as a book to teach me how to write the language correctly. Pronunciation I'm not bad at, but I do use tapes on occasion. As said before, it is easier to have learned some of other languages first, I myself have taken 2 years of italian, just started german(which I'm acing), and I've also been learning swedish. I find learning languages easy, seems to be just a knack I have. But then again, I enjoy studying languages in my spare time(I am extremely dedicated, and you need that to learn japanese). So if your truely dedicated, and have a cause, I myself am self teaching myself until college, since its 2 years away till then, and I'm going for my doctorate in japanese in order to become a professor, so that I can either teach japanese here, or go to japan and possibly teach english there. I think you can do it with dedication, but don't half ass it.

[Mr. Bushido]

Originally Posted by AST

Those who want to learn japanese, checkout this link:

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~thoureau/japanese.html

uh yea... some of that is kinda BS. Especially the Holocaust thing. I believe the Romans were gone by the time Europe made contact with the Japanese.... so yea there wouldnt be a latin word for "japanese"

japanese isnt that hard, it may be because im korean and japanese language comes from korea, but still its a different language. And its not tat hard.

Originally Posted by Dark Zero

japanese people take nearly their entire school career to barely master, if they even master, their language. think some "learn japanese" cd is going to help?

This is funny... you honestly think u mastered English!?! You have to be kidding me right?? Tell me every grammar rule in the english language, ull get stuck after uve gone thru 20% of them. People thnk our asian languages are so damn hard, but u guys dont know that by stats english is one of the hardest language to master. a lot of ppl speak it sure... but everyone is taught, and NO ONE mastered the language. Thats right, ure english professor?? I can gurantee he hasnt mastered the language.

LEARN JAPANESE BOOKS/CDS/TAPES ARE NOT MEANT FOR U TO MASTER THE LANGUAGE! ITs so you can speak, write, and read in japan to get thru a normal day life in japan. By the way animes will not ask u "WRITE AN ESSAY ENTIRELY IN KANJI!" no no no, dont worry about MASTERING it, cuz u never will, ull never master english either.

As for me, couple of textbooks, cds, a dictionary, and anime will help me learn japanese. like i said before, japanese language has roots in korean language (yea damn japanese takes everything from korean! even their samurais!) Also if you think watching anime wont help, then ure also ignorant. I learned English from Rugrats and Rocko's Modern Life. Both shows have bad english in a way, but in the end, im a high school student taking college literature class. My mom also knows ppl who learned a foriegn language from subtitles... yea so watch like hell and get a book and ure on ur way. Ive taught myself english, and japanese cant be too much harder.

[zalas]

Originally Posted by Zoro

uh yea... some of that is kinda BS. Especially the Holocaust thing. I believe the Romans were gone by the time Europe made contact with the Japanese.... so yea there wouldnt be a latin word for "japanese"

And if you didn't realize the article was a satirical joke, then you need a better sense of humor

japanese isnt that hard, it may be because im korean and japanese language comes from korea, but still its a different language. And its not tat hard.

Sure, you know an Asian language. How many people do you think actually know an Asian language that well?

As for me, couple of textbooks, cds, a dictionary, and anime will help me learn japanese. like i said before, japanese language has roots in korean language (yea damn japanese takes everything from korean! even their samurais!) Also if you think watching anime wont help, then ure also ignorant. I learned English from Rugrats and Rocko's Modern Life. Both shows have bad english in a way, but in the end, im a high school student taking college literature class. My mom also knows ppl who learned a foriegn language from subtitles... yea so watch like hell and get a book and ure on ur way. Ive taught myself english, and japanese cant be too much harder.

I never thought watching anime won't help you learn Japanese, but if you're relying mostly on anime to learn Japanese, it's going to be a long road... By the way, just because someone knows someone who learned a language from subtitles, doesn't mean everyone can do it. I mean, can you learn Abh from all the subtitles in the Seikai no * series?

Besides, I think it's harder to learn proper speaking and pronunciation from a book. If the book is easy to read, then it can't describe the pronunciations well enough. If it describes the pronunciation well enough, then it would be hard to read. Just a note, people in anime don't necessarily speak "normally."

[Mr. Bushido]

Originally Posted by zalas

And if you didn't realize the article was a satirical joke, then you need a better sense of humor


Sure, you know an Asian language. How many people do you think actually know an Asian language that well?


I never thought watching anime won't help you learn Japanese, but if you're relying mostly on anime to learn Japanese, it's going to be a long road... By the way, just because someone knows someone who learned a language from subtitles, doesn't mean everyone can do it. I mean, can you learn Abh from all the subtitles in the Seikai no * series?

Besides, I think it's harder to learn proper speaking and pronunciation from a book. If the book is easy to read, then it can't describe the pronunciations well enough. If it describes the pronunciation well enough, then it would be hard to read. Just a note, people in anime don't necessarily speak "normally."

i understand it was a satire, but tat holocaust thing was a bit overexageration.

pronounciation? i dont know for me i never found tat hard in any language except french. (then again im not too good with anything french except napoleon history)
well thats y i recommended a CD tat comes with ur book. most good books will come with a cd u can listen to.

i learned english without subtitles. So in my opinion i dont think itll be too hard with it.

besides if ure not gonna take something just cuz u think "its hard, i cant do it" wats the point of living you know? i never thought id be able to live in the US when i first came here, now i wouldnt leave.

most anime characters do speak normally. otherwise it may be hard for japanese ppl to understand them right? and even if it isnt "normally" isnt it ovbious even lil kids in japan understand them? I mean i understand british accent, eubonics, aussie accent, any accent actually, and lil kids talking, ppl with speech problems, someone who doesnt speak english too well I understand them well. Dont you?

[Recca]

I have 3 tables with all the Katakana, hiragana and one for both.
Really helpfull and they explain alot of things.
Start by trying to translate the names of items in an japanese game, then use www.amikai.com to translate them into english.
Not only will you learn new words, you will also be able to memorize the letters. When you have a good grip on those. Try translating more complicated stuff.
It really helps alot if you do this non stop.
Works for me.

[7thMethuselah]

I'm actually following japanese classes right now and I have to say it IS DAMN HARD.
The japanese use on average three times as much words as the english to say the same, the words mostly sound like gibberish and the sentence structure is completely messed up. And don't get me started on the kanji and kana's...

To be honest : if you really wanna learn japanese you should realise it will take you YEARS to be decent at it, also it's a language that requires DAILY study (just because it is so completely different). I personally admire (no worship) anyone who can learn that language oin his own, from my personal experience i have to say that the "jap for starters" books they sell are handy to use while taking some serious class but they cannot replace that class...

However I'd say if you really wanna learn it, give it a try, don't give up too soon: it's one of the hardest languages to master (or so our teacher keeps telling me) but I find it very rewarding.

Enough ranting, time to watch tsukihime

[Mr. Bushido]

Originally Posted by 7thMethuselah

I'm actually following japanese classes right now and I have to say it IS DAMN HARD.
The japanese use on average three times as much words as the english to say the same, the words mostly sound like gibberish and the sentence structure is completely messed up. And don't get me started on the kanji and kana's...

To be honest : if you really wanna learn japanese you should realise it will take you YEARS to be decent at it, also it's a language that requires DAILY study (just because it is so completely different). I personally admire (no worship) anyone who can learn that language oin his own, from my personal experience i have to say that the "jap for starters" books they sell are handy to use while taking some serious class but they cannot replace that class...

However I'd say if you really wanna learn it, give it a try, don't give up too soon: it's one of the hardest languages to master (or so our teacher keeps telling me) but I find it very rewarding.

Enough ranting, time to watch tsukihime

learn krn much easier (or i think so) than take japanese makes it 85% easier.
btw saying "jap" is illegal. Even tho its a shorter way to say online, its illegal to say it.

[luckme10]

Originally Posted by Zoro

learn krn much easier (or i think so) than take japanese makes it 85% easier.
btw saying "jap" is illegal. Even tho its a shorter way to say online, its illegal to say it.

um I don't know about "Illegal" but it has the same effect as words like gook(terminology used in the vietnam war to address the vietnamese), nigger, gay, homo, queer, fairy queen, faggot, etc. I personally think cracker is hilarious, however, it is definitely offensive. I generally don't go down to hard on people because the thing is for those of us who was raised in certain areas find it more socially acceptable then others. In our parts gays are probably the most bashed. Some people say "That's gay" subconsciously." I'd just address caution if you are accustomed to such slang when speaking with other people.

Anyways i'm considering learning japanese myself. I would have taken it in high school but they didn't offer it. And i vaguely recall anything that I may have learned in japanese school during the elementry years. HoweverI can't help but think about putting myself in the shoes of others. If I do commit to learning the language will I ever be ablet to kill that horrific American accent(probably not)? For me the desire lies mainly in my roots I guess(i'm a forth generation Japanese American) All of my living relatives all speak english(although one of my grandparents english is rather broken...). So naturally this is the only language I have been accustomed to. I think whatever inspires/motivates you to learn a language is great. No matter if you are facinated by the culture or want to be 5 months ahead of westerners in video games

[NightWish]

I was recently directed to this site by a friend:

http://www.MyLanguageExchange.com/

I don't know how good it is yet -- could be bad -- but it might be worth checking out ... it looks interesting at the very least

[Lord Raiden]

Well, I'm taken a big step here, but I've set my mind to learning Japanese. It's been something I've thought about for a while and I've decided to do it. I've always loved the language and I love eastern culture, especially Japanese culture, so I want to learn the language as well.

Can anyone give me any good books, guides, tips, etc on how best to start learning Japanese, aside from getting a tutor? I'm going to get a tutor definately, but I also want to at least start learning some of this on my own, but how to write it, pronounce it, spell it, meanings, aka the whole nine yards. Any advise is greatly wecome.

[zalas]

Originally Posted by Lord Raiden

Well, I'm taken a big step here, but I've set my mind to learning Japanese. It's been something I've thought about for a while and I've decided to do it. I've always loved the language and I love eastern culture, especially Japanese culture, so I want to learn the language as well.

Can anyone give me any good books, guides, tips, etc on how best to start learning Japanese, aside from getting a tutor? I'm going to get a tutor definately, but I also want to at least start learning some of this on my own, but how to write it, pronounce it, spell it, meanings, aka the whole nine yards. Any advise is greatly wecome.

If you have not already memorized all the kana, do so now. (well, except for the we wi archaic kana ^^. It'll get you familiarized with the writing system in general. And it's pretty straight forward to memorize them too.

[Lord Raiden]

Sweet. I'll do that. Now all I gotta do is find a good resource that lists all of them. ^_^

[Kawaii_Sennin]

May I introduce you to this nifty essay I stumbled upon. http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~thoureau/japanese.html

[Shii]

You can't learn Japanese without a textbook, or watching raw anime.

But you can get a good grip on grammar if you read "Making Sense of Japanese" by Jay Rubin.

[boneyjellyfish]

I hope this website can help you, Lord Raiden. It's where I learned how to read and write katakana and hiragana:

Click Here

[FinFangFoom]

Check this site out, http://lrnj.com/ , it's a free RPG that teaches you Japanese. I played it for a while and it's pretty cool.

[Lord Raiden]

Wow, another great batch of suggestions! Thanks!

Kawaii_Sennin: Cute essay. I guess the things he described in there could be applied to almost anything new in some way.

[ff7799]

Well I am currently in the proccess of learning japanese and I would like to know how long it took you to actually learn the language. When I say exactly how long I mean, I would like to know how long it took you to have a acceptable grasp of the language.

[p3psi]

im still learning.

but, normally it takes 4 semesters (or 2 years) to become semi-fluent.

you wont become truely fluent until you go to japan and are surrounded by it 24 hours a day. there are so many little things that you can only pick up when you're actually living there, and not learning the langauge from a text book.

do you think you could learn to speak english like an american if you just learned it from a textbook or audio tapes?

I heard from study aboard students that within 3 months, something "clicks" in thier head. And almost like magic, thier ability to speak and understand increased 10 fold.

well, i should say the only way to become fluent is to go to japan.
you must take 2 more years of japanese classes.
The focus of the first 2 years is basically to learn all the grammer, syntax, schematic, etc.
while the next 2 years, they will teach you less grammer and focus more on actually using it. You will have to make speechs, hold conversations everyday in class, write compostions etc.

[zalas]

Originally Posted by The Small One

Hm, interessting... I'm here for about two month and until now I have the feeling that my knowledge of the language got worse instead of better... somehow everyone wants to speak english, or at least try it. Well, I hope that their will also "click something in my head" in the next months.

I think it also depends on what you look like. If you look like an obvious gaijin, they might get excited and want to practice their English, rather than the other way around ^^;