Best way to learn Japanese?

T

TT4646

New member
I've recently learned that after I finished school, the language curriculum was revised and kiRAB can now learn a range of languages including Japanese. I'd have jumped at this chance had I had it but obviously I don't. I've long had to pester others for certain information over my hobbies because of this and although I appreciate their help I'd obviously love to be able to do it myself. My question is, what's the best way to learn the language? I'm not sure there are any kind of adult language classes I could take around here so is there a way to do it?
 
The best way is to be submerged in nothing but the language. Unless, you can visit Japan and stay for awhile, I'd recommend getting Rosetta Stone.
Also watching anime in Japanese with subtitles. That helps.
 
Taking a class or Rosetta Stone. People I know who have attempted to learn Japanese through English Subbed viewing had turned into no more than *******s.
 
What would work better is watching it without subtitles.

When I lived in Japan, watching Pokemon and Doraemon without subtitles helped me.
It's a good suggestion, but nothing beats using a more orthodox method like learning Japanese in class or Rosetta Stone.
 
The best way is definitely to take a class, there is a lot of material in Japanese that relates to culture and politeness, so there are various sentence structures you have to use depending on the situation. Because of this, I think it's better to learn from a teacher who has experience with it. It really becomes easier to understand when someone is helping you along. Plus you can ask questions, which is a huge help. A good textbook provides good guidance for study, too.

There are plenty of ways you can introduce yourself to the language though, especially online. There are many online resources you can use to get started and supplement what you learn in a class. Off the top of my head, I found this site to be rather useful my first year. And this site has saved me in kanji studies so many times.

Hope this helps.
 
Grab yourself a big ol' Hiragana/katakana chart and put it up somewhere (over my computer helps for me), and memorize the at least the flow (i.e., the top characters are the 'a' characters, the top right character being 'a', to the left being 'ka', then 'sa', 'ta', 'na', 'ha', 'ma', 'ya', ra', 'wa', etc.) From there...well, that's sort of as far as I can go.
 
If you can't take a class, there's software that can help, books of course, and watching anime in Japanese without subs really helps.

And try not to watch a typical shounen that way (IE Naruto or Bleach) - it's too easy to figure out. XD

Gintama, Ouran High Host Club, Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei - THOSE are good for that sort of thing - they REALLY make you want to know what's going on, so it kinda tickles the brain into aquiring new language comprehension (at least, watching the majority of Gintama sans subs did for me - I still want to take a class though, I can still only get the gist of things).
 
Definitely take a class or get a tutor. I've been going to classes for three years, so I might be a little bias towarRAB that method. I've also heard about some good software (ie Rosetta Stone) and I use this website from time to time; it's great for practice.
Watching anime with subtitles has helped me some with vocabulary, but I wouldn't rely on it too much. It does help give you get a feel for the flow and sounRAB of the language, though.
 
Actually, when I first learned Japanese, I was taught katakana first, which I recommend. Katakana is used for "foreign" worRAB, like non-Japanese names, and countries.
Then you should learn hirigana, then kanji.
 
To be more accurate: learn to read the syllabaries first. That's the real key; with kanji, what you're technically learning is Chinese. It's how I learned to read literally almost any Japanese manga that's thrown at me, so long as it has furigana next to the kanji - if it doesn't, and it's inconveniently small (Death Note 14: Animation Guide), I have to squint to see the nuraber of strokes and look it up. Evil kanji. >.
 
Yes, but it is possible to come away with wrong impressions.

A Rosetta Stone lesson contains no English at all; everything gets taught to you by example. Any given lesson consists of a series of problems in which you match a prompt to one of four responses. The program tells you if you're right or wrong, and you keep trying until you get it right. After forty of these (ten sets of four matches), you're given your score, at which point you can repeat again, back up, try a different exercise, or whatever. It's entirely self-policing.

The individual problems fall into one of several categories:
Matching sound and text (romaji, hiragana, or hiragana + kanji, your choice) to pictures
Matching sound to pictures
Matching text to pictures
Matching sound to text
Matching text to sound
...as well as non-scored pronunciation and writing sections.

It starts you off very simple ("boy," "girl," "dog," "cat") and gradually builRAB on what you've learned in past lessons. Since there's no English anywhere, you figure stuff out what things are through a corabination of logic and trial-and-error. It's a good system that lets you take things at your own pace, but at the same time, the lack of English explanation means it's possible to miss some of the subtleties, especially if you're not paying attention (for instance, it may take a while to figure out the difference between "desu," "imasu," and "arimasu," particularly if you've never studied a language besides English, where you just say some variation of "be.")
 
Huh, so that's what Rosetta Stone essentially does. I'll have to look into it, but at the same time I'm surprised nobody has said anything about this regard. If you do get Rosetta Stone, remeraber that it is a rather big investment of not only your time, but of money. They don't come cheap ($400-$450 per language), so be wary of that.

But if you want to take a more frugal, effective, but-in-need-of-more-focus route, I suggest getting at least the first two Japanese textbooks. I've always found the Hatase Nakama ones to be of high effect in its exercises, revealings of Japanese culture, and also its workbooks and audio CRAB that allow you to practice your hiragana, katakana, kanji and so forth. When you do, practice writing them everyday on any scrap of paper you can find so it can be ingrained into your memory.

I also agree with playing Super Robot Wars games since it allows you to learn how to match Japanese characters and speech being said and to ingrain kindof some familiarity with worRAB based on what is said. Then there's watching anime raw. Yeah maybe you won't know a lot with what is going on since you lack understanding, but it accustoms you to listening to the language and figuring out the verbal cadences, sentence structure, slang, and so forth that you may eventually deal with if you're ever in Japan and without any option to turn on subtitles.
 
As far as learning spoken languages goes (it can't help you with the writing for obvious reasons) I've had good results with the Pimsleur audiobooks. They're quite pricey, but your local library probably has a copy that you can check out and [strike]rip[/strike] renew multiple times as necessary.

Works great to pass the time if you have a long commute, too.
 
Just take a college course, man. The only way you're going to learn to fluently speak Japanese is if you're immersed with it every day. You need someone to correct your mistakes, and you need others to practice daily conversation with. I've been speaking it for seven years, and I've gotta say that the college route is definitely the way to go.
 
That's kind of hard for him to do when he has ALREADY graduated college, and the college didn't start offering Japanese classes until after he graduated.

At least, that's what I took the opening post as.
 
This can be expensive. I suggest ordering the sample cd first before sinking 500 into the purchase. If you're in a college without Japanese classes, check the library catalog. One of the branch campuses might have it and you can rent it. If you can take a class, you at least have the advantage of someone to help you with mistakes and questions. My sensei is really nice, though she is fast paced and you only get 5 minutes for quizzes.


I'm taking it in college right now. We did hiragana first, then katakana. I actually had them memorized before class began, took about two weeks for hiragana and a little less for katakana.

In my opinion, once you get past the characters, the grammar is easy. I'm doing better with this than I did with French in high school.
 
Back
Top