Learning Japanese

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I took Japanese for a year in college, but I haven't retained a lot of the sentence structure. I still know a lot of words and I can read hiragana and katakana pretty well, so it shouldn't be too hard to get back into it. I'm hoping to come out more fluent this time than last. Does anyone have any recommendations for learning it by yourself? Are there any books, computer programs, etc. that people recommend?
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Jaze1618 said:
I would look into Rosetta Stone.
Johnstantine said:
I have the Japanese edition of Rosetta Stone, and it has done a good job for me so far.

That's the program I was looking into, actually. I'm glad it's working for you, Johnstantine.
 
I started with a bit here and there, but got lazy with it. No focus. I feel like if I had company, I'd be able to do it. So, if anyone's looking for company, I'll be as good as Casca was in keeping her peeps 'warm' :carcus:
 

Gobolatula

praise be to grail!
IncantatioN said:
I started with a bit here and there, but got lazy with it. No focus. I feel like if I had company, I'd be able to do it. So, if anyone's looking for company, I'll be as good as Casca was in keeping her peeps 'warm' :carcus:
So you'll lay with me naked while we study Japanese? Hm. A bit unorthodox, but I'm game, bro.
 
Heh let's decide on what product to use ... like the Rosetta Stone for example, and then go from there. We can choose to do x amount of chapters and home work, etc. whatever it comes with within a certain period of time, and come back to check with each other, go through some difficulties/ points noticed and the like. What do you think?
 

Aphasia

ALL MYSTERIES MUST BE SOLVED
Chiming in a bit late on the subject, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this thread as I've just recently taken up learning Japanese. I'm entirely an amateur, but I'm dedicated to learning.

I've ordered some great books off Amazon, several which have fantastic reviews and would be a big help.

I think it would be cool if we had a section of the community who helped each-other learn and review Japanese. Incantation, is this kind of what you're suggesting? I would be down for anything.

Here are the first two books I ordered.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4770028997/ref=oss_product

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0658014900/ref=oss_product

Take a look and see what you guys think.
 
Yep, that's the basic idea that I thought of at the time.

How are these books that you've ordered? How good is Rosetta Stone?

I know very little Japanese, sort of limited to what we understand off sub-titles (in anime, etc.). So, I'd ideally want to start from the basics. If anyone else is interested, maybe we can all team up and form a little class :femto:
 

Gobolatula

praise be to grail!
I took a semester of Japanese back in college. I can still read hiragana (but not write it). I also remember some of the more basic kanji.

I remember a good deal of words, but forget parts of the sentence structure.

For those who have tried out Rosetta Stone, how is it? I work around software and take glances at it every now and then and think about buying it.
 

Johnstantine

Skibbidy Boo Bop
I really enjoy it. You definitely need a japanese/english dictionary around to help out with a majority of the words, as none of the dialogue is in english. Throughout each exercise, you have the choice between kanji, hiragana, katakana and romanji. The romanji helps, but if you REALLY want the full effect then you'll keep to the traditional three.

I think it's a great program. But, like I've mentioned before, I'm a lazy person when it comes to this stuff. If you take out an hour or two a day, you'll learn it pretty fast. Of course, once you get to the third level, then it's basically just kanji the whole time. I can't wait to get there!

Also, if you buy it and find that you don't like it, you have a six-month money-back guarantee.
 

Aphasia

ALL MYSTERIES MUST BE SOLVED
I think from a practicality standpoint, learning from books and each-other would make the most sense. Because I don't have 500 (400?) dollars to spend on language software, though I wish I did! Also, I'm turned off by a few things I've read about Rosetta Stone. Read the first review on this page for more : http://www.amazon.com/Rosetta-Stone-Japanese-Level-Companion/dp/B001AFFYSW

Though I haven't used the software, so it may be okay. Perhaps with a little more effort we could achieve just as much with books. Though, I'd still love to hear what you think is the best approach.

So far I'm really enjoying this book and I'm learning a lot about the structure of the language.

Here's the "most helpful" review off amazon pertaining to this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0658014900/ref=oss_product

Read this book first before wasting your money on other books. I just finished my first read through of this book. It was amazing. I learned more about how the Japanese language is structured in a few days than I have from other books in months.
Many students of Japanese just need basic information at the beginning in order to be productive in their studies.
Gene Nishi gets straight to the point, starting with the basic sentence structure, adding more information as the book progresses. And since everything complex is made up of simple things, you can start to see how a complicated Japanese sentence can be analyzed and understood. After reading through this book, I could get the "gist" of basic to intermediate Japanese sentences even though my vocabulary is yet not up to snuff. I could just tell that "someone gave something to someone else at such and such time", for example. While that may sound trivial, my abilities will only increase as I engage in Japanese conversation and read the Japanese papers, because the blanks will be filled in from the context, just like any other language acquisition process. The point is, I now know where the blanks are,thanks to this book!

With some additional points I didn't copy for brevity's sake.
 

Johnstantine

Skibbidy Boo Bop
RS is definitely an expensive program. I think I paid around $550 for mine.

But, when it comes down to it, nothing will be perfect. While I have plenty of books on Japanese, nothing is more helpful than having the auditory help through RS.
 

Aphasia

ALL MYSTERIES MUST BE SOLVED
This is true. Especially since so much depends on accent and pronunciation.

But this might be a cool alternative. My sister is learning Italian and she told me about this site.

http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/

You basically pay either 6 bucks for a month subscription to their database. From there you can message and hook up with people who are interested in learning english, but know Japanese. It's a win win. You both get to learn and teach at the same time. Kind of like pen-pals. I signed up for a year which was 24 bucks.

But the database is ginormous and I've already met some cool people to Skype/Email. Food for thought. : )
 

Aphasia

ALL MYSTERIES MUST BE SOLVED
Let me know how it goes! : ) The site has a lot of great learning references besides just penpals, too, don't forget those.
 
P

Pez

Guest
I have taken the first year of Japanese at my university this past year. I am self studying right now, but I am not doing so well. I need to really work on the grammar and kanji.

Learning Japanese is a very fun activity, however. I really enjoy learning the language. I worry that I am never going to progress to speaking/listening comprehension, however =/
 

Aphasia

ALL MYSTERIES MUST BE SOLVED
Good job Pez! You're farther along that I am. I keep having to kick myself in the but to get motivated. There's not much of a reason for me to learn Japanese other than I enjoy the culture and possible job prospects. But right now it's hard to make myself study when I'm so good at English. ; )

Maybe I should look into a class. What did you think of your first year?
 

SaiyajinNoOuji

I'm still better than you
Howdy folks. Your old pal SaiyajinNoOuji here. I took about two semesters of Japanese in college (101, and 103?) back in the day. That really helped with the basics and from there its all about going out there and using the language. Sure you might sound like a 3 year old Japanese kid with down syndrome but practical use will help you a lot. It will get you comfortable speaking the language

Why not use this thread to have some conversation in japanese? Feel free to use Romanji, Hiragana, Katakana, or Kanji if you are up to it. I suppose i can start things off.

Ohayo gozaimasu minna-san. Ima shigoto ni imasu. Anatatachi wa genki ka na? Kyo no tenki wa sugoku suzushii.

Now your turn!
 
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