Any good apps or programs for learning Japanese? Not just phrases.

[fuzzybabybunny]

I want to learn Japanese but the phone apps available are really frustrating because all they are are glorified phrase books, so you're basically memorising sounds but have no idea what they mean in component form.

They don't teach you grammar rules, sentence structure, or even break down the individual words of the phrase into their equivalent English meanings. I had the same experience when trying to learn Spanish - words with the same meaning would have different conjugation in different situations but the programs never actually tell you when you should use what.

So..... any recommendations for language programs or even YouTube vids that don't suck?

 

[purbeast0]

Rosetta Stone

 

[evident]

Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone did not work for me for learning Japanese. In fact i think it's pretty horrible for it.

I would start with an app on your iphone or android to recognize hiragana and katakana. I used iKana touch for the iphone.

Then sign up for a free trial of japanesepod101 and see if that works for you. It will get you used to listening to the language and they explain to you what you're listening to as well. Also Pimsleur japanese is good, but not as good as the podcast i mentioned.

the Genki textbooks are excellent once you're ready to do serious learning.

another good resource for learning Japanese is tae kim's free online guidebook, tofugu.com, and finally, wanikani.com to learn kanji. I can converse in basic japanese, get around the country pretty confidently, and can read sentences as long as i can recognize the kanji (only 300 so far and counting). took me about 4 years of lackadaisical self study to get to where i am, although i've been studying more seriously within the last 6 months because i'll be living there soon.

 

[sdifox]

Watch lots of subtitled anime

 

[Sonikku]

アニメーションは日本語を学ぶ良い方法です！まあまあ...

 

[evident]

アニメーションは日本語を学ぶ良い方法です！まあまあ...

Imo It's only good if you're using it as a supplement, not as a primary way

 

[turtile]

This looks interesting but I haven't tried it yet:
http://www.fluentu.com

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Watch lots of subtitled anime

Or better yet, start subbing anime. You'll pick things up in a hurry

 

[KeithTalent]

I've heard a lot about this Duolingo. Maybe try that.

KT

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

アニメーションは日本語を学ぶ良い方法です！まあまあ...

ゴジラ!

Yes that was the first japanese word I learned. Anyway, I've heard people saying that Japanese can and perhaps should be learned by focusing on writing and spoken language separately. Does that seem reasonable?

At the pace I'm learning I figure I should have mostly mastered the language no more than 10 years after I'm dead. It's still fun especially the written part. I use fountain pens with soft nibs and a really interesting one, a Sailor Fude De Mannen pen. I bought a converter for it and am using my favorite black ink, Sailor nano black, one of the few safe pigmented inks to use in fountain pens. Takes a bit of practice to use but I can write/draw decent kanji, and nothing is better for learning the characters than ink on paper.

 

[Tormac]

Hello Fuzzybabybunny. I have been learning Chinese for a while now, and have gone through a lot of different methods from computer software to talking to native speakers to taking formal classes. My favorite of the "teach yourself" methods has been the Pimsleur lessons, but they do mostly teach one how to use phrases. I have never seen a computer program or phone app that goes into the depth that you want. I hate to say it, but I think you are going to have to take some formal training courses first.

I started by trying to teach myself with software courses, but always felt like I was missing something, and just not getting it. Then I took a couple semesters of college level courses (I work for the IT department of a college and can take courses for almost free). Those couple semesters taught me the basics that I was missing, and from that the "teach yourself" courses made much more sense.

 

[evident]

ゴジラ!

Yes that was the first japanese word I learned. Anyway, I've heard people saying that Japanese can and perhaps should be learned by focusing on writing and spoken language separately. Does that seem reasonable?

At the pace I'm learning I figure I should have mostly mastered the language no more than 10 years after I'm dead. It's still fun especially the written part. I use fountain pens with soft nibs and a really interesting one, a Sailor Fude De Mannen pen. I bought a converter for it and am using my favorite black ink, Sailor nano black, one of the few safe pigmented inks to use in fountain pens. Takes a bit of practice to use but I can write/draw decent kanji, and nothing is better for learning the characters than ink on paper.

I think it's for people who want the shortcut way. maybe its my way of learning but for me, learning grammar, and the written language in tandem helped me a ton when speaking as well, especially when you're picking up the kanji. I guess my "shortcut", if you will, is not bothering with learning how to write kanji, as everything is done on phones, computers nowadays.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Already knowing Mandarin helps bootstrap the learning process quite a bit as well.
On another note, spoken dialogue in anime and songs have unusually "crisp" / clear pronounciation, making it easier to pick up compared to normal conversations.

 

[kage69]

I've heard food things about Fluentu. Audio books with a narrator of your gender ain't bad. I'd load up on manga. Really helps with absorbing katakana. Save the kanji for later.

 

[RossMAN]

Rosetta Stone

If the OP has the following Amex Offer, might save a few $
http://runningwithmiles.boardingarea.com/amex-offer-rosetta-stone-deal/

 

[turtile]

I've heard a lot about this Duolingo. Maybe try that.

KT

Duolingo doesn't have Japanese since they didn't write the base for the characters. I'm using it for Spanish and it still has a few errors.

 

[CountZero]

Whatever you choose I would highly recommend finding a place you can discuss any questions you have. When my wife and I took Japanese for fun I'd send emails to my friend that is fluent in Japanese for help on what was going on. No book does a great job explaining the inner workings IME and you will likely make bad inferences without being able to ask questions.

Also helpful to have a reference from someone that can tell you how things are really used. Many lessons you'll see will be both very formal and likely very stilted to how anyone in Japan talks. Mechanically correct but robotic sounding to a native speaker. Or things like counters, there are lots of different counters but not all of them are commonly used.

Lots of good flashcard apps for learning kana and kanji but I haven't really seen anything good for learning grammar or even something as relatively simple as particles or verb/adjective conjugation. Though I haven't looked in a few years.