Japanese Options

[Lenyo]

Hey, I've been seriously considering it for a WHILE.

I've got tons of free time on my hand, I finish all my chores early in the morning, and I decided I want to start an intensive study on the Japanese language. And further delving into such matters later, I wish to learn to read Kanji.


I know we have a plethora of Japanese speaking people on this forum, and I don't know of any classes I can take in real life to help me learn Japanese, so could anybody here help give me tips, teach me the tricks and stuff, and help me out?

Thanks.

[Celia]

You seem to be on the right track already, Len. The only tips/help I can think of right now would be...

If you want to know how to pronounce the words, search Japanese openings of anime on Youtube. It's a fairly good way of picking up the pronunciation. You can also look up subs for anime to start watching; some repeated phrases tend to stick. People who sub are often good at it. I've never found a sub that was off at least. It's as close as you're going to get to being in a conversation with a Japanese person at the moment. I'm sure you can find some honest, valid lessons on Youtube, as well.

Don't use online translators. Whatever you do. They steer you the wrong way and can't teach properly. Translators like google's or babblefish's especially.

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As far as buying anything to help, you can get Japanese In Mangaland. It's very helpful. The first book alone (they have three, and two Kanji only ones) will teach you alot of what you need to know and basic phrases.

The first book gives you the hiragana and katakana syllabaries; and the difference and uses of the two. It explains things nicely. They introduce important, key words and how you can tell time or ask for it, and how you'd introduce yourself, address your family, etc, etc. Each lesson comes with a few manga examples. (Don't expect anything wellknown, like Naruto or Inuyasha. I totally dig the squid, though.)

There's 10 questions at the end of each lesson to mildly help you along.
In the back of the book, they have a table of "160 essential kanji" to move onto after you're done with the rest. (and an index on some of the words you've learned) The strokes are also important and they show you the order of that, too.

You can get it at your library, but if you find it good, I'd suggest buying it for your own since it's not something you can learn properly in a week.