Learning japanese

I know loads of online resources and a badass grammar + gana/kana book I bought ages ago. I can scan some of the pages if you're interested.

Haven't studied in ages, but I still remember most basic grammar.
 
I use the Pimsleur language discs (well, mp3s.) Very good. Throws you straight in and makes you do lots of repetition. So far it still teaches you to talk like a girl though, and is a little US centric:

Announcer: Say, "I am an American"

Me: "... No."
 
I can wholly recommend the Genki textbooks if you're planning on studying seriously. They build you right up from the basics, and provide really full grammar explanations (I spoke about them here: http://mitsuketa.adamcube.co.uk/2008/07 ... wo-manabu/) but do move extremely fast when it comes to learning the script. As such, I'd suggest that you learn hiragana first.

As for tips, the biggest one I can think of is not to become dependent upon romaji; that is, romanised approximations of the Japanese script. When you write examples, notes or exercises, jump straight into using hiragana (and even some kanji and katakana), even if it means keeping a reference table by your side whilst you do so. Learning the native script will improve your pronunciation, as you can see clearly the placings of all syllables in words, stop you from making silly written mistakes and from falling into bad habits.

And to think, some people actually believe that "konichiwa" is a Japanese word.... :p
 
Ah, you see the Pimsleur system doesn't teach you the written language at all. It's supposed to be easier to learn that way, and I tend to agree. Why complicate stuff by learing what it looks like written down?

I'll only move on to written Japanese when I've a good grasp of the spoken language. Granted, it means I'll have to wait a while before I can read original language manga :wink:, but at least it will be more useful if I actually go to Japan.
 
Mmm, thanks for your input guys. I'd accept your offer kurogane, a couple pages could give me a good idea of what's good, what's not good to see. I'm also more keen to use the Ayase route as well. learning to speak first seems the obvious thing to do. Learning to write / read always seemed to me to be the hardest part.

Learning japanese is kind of a childhood trauma for me, as I tried 4 times to join nihongakous, but TBH, writing always put me off as I could not se much progress. Learning to speak though, I could see my progress as I would need less and less to check the subtitles.
 
chaos said:
Mmm, thanks for your input guys. I'd accept your offer kurogane, a couple pages could give me a good idea of what's good, what's not good to see. I'm also more keen to use the Ayase route as well. learning to speak first seems the obvious thing to do. Learning to write / read always seemed to me to be the hardest part.

Learning japanese is kind of a childhood trauma for me, as I tried 4 times to join nihongakous, but TBH, writing always put me off as I could not se much progress. Learning to speak though, I could see my progress as I would need less and less to check the subtitles.
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Writing is much harder, with any language which isn't in Roman script (for us Westies).

I must've had a few dozen phrases and particles under my belt before I even started learning to write the most humdrum of kanji. 8)
 
yeh! im interested! thanks for the links... im away to japan in 2 months and im starting to get abit scared because i cant speak or read a word of it :s
 
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