• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Anyone know Japanese?

japanese is VERY EASY to speak and not too hard to write (yes there are thousands of kanji characters you would have to know eventually), but the real hard part is the grammar, tenses and knowing when you should use the different levels politeness
 
Learning Japanese is a LONG process. Period. It can be abbreviated by skipping studying the 2,000 or so Chinese characters, referred to as kanji (this is the achilles heel of a colleague). But this is only good id you want to pidgin around with the language, use for travel, etc.

Knowing the writing systems helps immensely in figuring out the vocabulary and variety of phrases which so dramatically differ from English in both nuance and construction.

One could also go the "I am an underdeveloped anime fan" route and learn just enough to impress their friends while watching said Japanese animation. Nothing inherently wrong with this, but why?

So if you would like to learn the language, get yourself an introductory level textbook used by a university. Do NOT go with the ""Japanese for Busy People" , "Japanese in 10 minutes a day while driving to work", etc. They do teach you some things, but gloss over a lot of key stuff. They are a great tool if you need to pickup some stuff in a rush for your job (e.g. transferred out to Japan, or vice-versa) but will plateau at a point. And unlearning the bad habits they often embue will be a PITA later.

Once you go over that first year textbook, quite doable in a summer of intensive study plus a month or so of review, figure out why you're stil studying it. Girlfriend in Japanese? Ask her for help. Need it for work? Focus your vocabulary and grammar on business-related things. For fun or movie appreciation or whatever? Go that route. But when you first begin a language, the baby steps you take there, especially with one as unique as Japanese, will make all the difference later.

Now that I am done preaching, learn your hiragana and katakana. And the first 50-75 kanji learned by 6-7 year olds here. Learn the basic sentence patterns, the simple particle useages, and how to conjugate verbs and adjectives in non-past and past tenses. The amount of time there will vary on both your ability to absorb languages and time you put in, but like I said, doable over summer if you're dedicated.

Make a point to study X amount of kanji per week (5 is a nice and easy, very doable number) and a certain length of vocabulary study (not by # of words as they difficulty to remember varies, but say 2 hours to voca every week). Find a study partner if you can. Do what you can, when you can. And don't do it half-assed. Either study or don't, it is a waste of time and money to keep buying new books and flashcard sets fi you never use them.

Happy to answer anny questions you have.
 
I bought some software from Wal-mart some time ago. It supposedly teaches Japanese. How accurate do you think it is? Or could it be something they just tossed together for some $$?

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top