Off Topic => General Off Topic => Topic started by: SP1N on May 26, 2014, 04:18:38 am
Title: Learning Japanese!
Post by: SP1N on May 26, 2014, 04:18:38 am
Well, I'm planning on learning Japanese over the next few years. I was curious as to how many of you English speakers have successfully learned to speak/write Japanese, and also if there's any of you fluent enough in the community to help me out along the way!
How did you start? What do you suggest? Who's willing to give me tips?
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Miley on May 26, 2014, 04:43:57 am
Why Japanese?
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Wolfsblood on May 26, 2014, 04:48:44 am
Weaboo
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Christo on May 26, 2014, 04:56:54 am
Prpavi, I summon thee!
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Chosen1 on May 26, 2014, 05:15:51 am
I don't speak Japanese, but I have a cousin who does. He loved the Japanese culture so much he moved to Japan, lol. He majored in Japanese and teaches English in Tokyo. He told me it's one of the hardest languages for English speakers, and it takes years to be able to speak fluently. Worse, Japan is 98.5% ethnic Japanese, and they are not very socially accepting of foreigners. They aren't rude or anything, but they are just a very seclusive people. Even if you live there and speak fluent Japanese, you will always be seen as a weird exotic white guy from another continent.
However, Japanese is probably the easiest to learn out of all the Oriental languages. There is a learning curve, once you figure out the grammatical rules and syntax you will be able to learn it easily.
My cousin said the hardest part was probably learning the Japanese alphabets.
That is not a typo, the Japanese language actually has three alphabets.
Good luck. :D
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Ramza on May 26, 2014, 05:50:53 am
Yeah man, I'm just starting to learn too. Ever since I discovered Kinoko and they played a show here with 3 other japanese bands, I've been fascinated with their culture and amazing musical talents.
I downloaded an app for my Windows phone called Tango Master - Japanese. Just started in Hiragana, I think that's where most people start. It's the "Japanese syllabary used mostly to write native Japanese words. It's got 48 basic characters, with dakuten and handakuten (pronunciation modifiers).
Personally my learning right now is from online sites:
• http://thejapanesepage.com/hiragana (awesome site, gives you pronunciation, stroke order, and examples) • http://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese • http://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/wiki/faq • This book is frequently recommended, and I think for introductory high-school and university courses as well (http://www.amazon.com/GENKI-Integrated-Elementary-Japanese-Edition/dp/4789014401)
I'm probably gonna take an introductory college course for Japanese in the next semester. Let's go to Japan together sometime and listen to all the Japanese bands.
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Ramza on May 26, 2014, 05:51:40 am
Double posted again :C
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Prpavi on May 26, 2014, 08:08:12 am
well basically what people wrote here. Three alphabets especially Kanji (which japanese learn around 2000 during their basic education) require quite the effort. If you are a native english speaker also it might be quite difficult to tackle the accent, but hey if you have the time and money to get the proper teacher go for it. Just remember it's a complex language that requires practice and use, so if you are not planing to go to live in Japan atleast 6-12 months you will have difficulty conquering the language, that is the only thing that really stopped me from learning it, the lessons are quite expensive and paying for something I will most certanly forget over time due to lack of use seems like wasted time and money. A friend of mine started learning mandarin and got a scolarship from Chinese goverment and went to Shanghai for 9 months, if you could do something similar it would greatly benefit learning your language.
Have fun and I wish you good luck Sp1n-sama!
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Vibe on May 26, 2014, 08:39:04 am
sakura-chan b-baka pantsu
japanese learned, you're welcome
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Christo on May 26, 2014, 08:55:45 am
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Sir_Hans on May 26, 2014, 08:56:26 am
I'm also learning Japanese haha... Funny enough I work for a japanese tour company in Hawaii... virtually all my co-workers and all customers speak japanese as their native langauge. So I'm in a great environment for it... also both my roomates speak japanese as a first language and very poor english, so I'm completely immersed.
I've tried learning in the past through academic classes but for me that was a really hard route because at the time I had no one around outside of class to keep practicing with.
Now that I'm learning just through immersion and practice, I am focusing only on being able to speak it, rather than learning to read/write/speak all at the same time and I find that it is less overwhelming and works for me. The alphabets always frustrated me. Hiragana and Katana are the same thing with just different looking characters (if i remember correctly). And although I never got far enough to attempt learning Kanji, I heard it's a bitch.
Although it's kind of agonizing to listen to, and its slow and time consuming, I would still highly recommend "Pimsleur" (http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/learn-japanese/ (http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/learn-japanese/)) You can get it off pirate bay like I did, or you can buy it, but it's quite expensive to purchase. They are audio lessons so you can put it on an ipod or mp3 and listen anywhere, I like it because it also focus on just speaking and omits reading/writing, I also find it's pretty effective. It teaches you words, then it uses the words in sentences, and then it kind of "talks to you" and asks you to understand and reply to the sentences/words you've learned. and each lesson builds off of everything you've learned in prior lessons so it kind of hammers in what you've learned so that you don't forget. Even if you aren't practicing using what you've learned outside of the lessons. It's a great way to build a foundation for speaking, but by all means, it will not teach you everything you need to know to speak even semi-fluently. That said, I still highly recommend it over any other methods including college classes. (although classes can be very helpful to meet others to speak/practice with who also might know fluent speakers themselves who you can meet.)
Patience and dedication are key. Be realistic about your goals as far as your own progress goes or you can easily become disappointed/discouraged. Ganbatte Sp1n-san!!! :mrgreen:
PS: It's practically impossible to find a decent translator online or as a phone app... they always come up with the most ridiculous translations... doesn't matter if your translating from japanese to english or from english to japanese, it will come up with laughable translations constantly that make no sense at all.
I don't speak Japanese, but I have a cousin who does. He loved the Japanese culture so much he moved to Japan, lol. He majored in Japanese and teaches English in Tokyo. He told me it's one of the hardest languages for English speakers, and it takes years to be able to speak fluently. Worse, Japan is 98.5% ethnic Japanese, and they are not very socially accepting of foreigners. They aren't rude or anything, but they are just a very seclusive people. Even if you live there and speak fluent Japanese, you will always be seen as a weird exotic white guy from another continent.
However, Japanese is probably the easiest to learn out of all the Oriental languages. There is a learning curve, once you figure out the grammatical rules and syntax you will be able to learn it easily.
My cousin said the hardest part was probably learning the Japanese alphabets.
That is not a typo, the Japanese language actually has three alphabets.
Good luck. :D
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Miley on May 26, 2014, 08:58:42 am
Are you white Spin? Asian people love white people and will stare at you and study you and take pictures of you
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Ramza on May 26, 2014, 09:20:50 am
Also, this could be fun: http://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/26gt9p/interest_check_beginning_japanese_course_on/
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: Gravoth_iii on May 26, 2014, 09:31:14 am
Did anyone say learn japanese? Namasensei will teach you!
Title: Re: Learning Japanese!
Post by: SP1N on May 26, 2014, 10:16:13 am
Thank you everyone! I'm taking a few introductory measures based on your recommendations. There's a course on Memrise that focuses on phrase memorization, giving romanized letters to help with pronunciation. Once I feel comfortable with that, I'll begin a little character recognition through Rosetta Stone and continue on from there. Although I do listen to a good bit of Japanese music and watch a lot of Japanese film, I feel my biggest struggle will be finding someone else to practice with. Here's to penpals!