Japanese help

[RyouIshtar]

I'm trying to learn Japanese, I am familiar with recognizing some kanji and some hiragana, but where should I start to learn how to speak/read/write it fluently? I had a friend that was willing to teach me, but due to certain situations, I wasn't able to use mic to talk and to hear what was going on. I'm also a slow learner with languages and couldn't keep up. Any suggestions on what I should do to help learn?

[RyouIshtar]

Sorry didn't see that there was a services area that would help with this question sweatdrop sweatdrop

[Ukryu]

Nah it's okay, everyone makes language help threads in this forum.

Well first off you're gonna want to learn the kana. And the perfect place to do that is on http://smart.fm. Just sign up and take the hiragana and katakana courses. After that there's a few different paths you can take.

A. Buy a textbook and learn from that (recommended). This is the most expensive path but also the best overall, in my opinion. I suggest buying Genki, it's a good book for beginners. There are some other good book series too however.
B. Subscribe to http://japanesepod101.com. If you're a "slow learner" like you say you are, you might find this way easier. It costs $15 to subscribe for a month, but during that month you can just download all the podcasts and then unsubscribe. The lessons move rather slowly and cover pretty much everything up until an advanced level. Plus they're portable as long as you have an mp3 player.
C. Learn the free way -- on the internet. You could use http://guidetojapanese.org. It's like a free online textbook, but it's not quite as good as one. This way is free but isn't really as good. Plus it's pretty hard to learn kanji online.

And using http://smart.fm is always a good way to build vocabulary and improve your dictation.

[RyouIshtar]

Thank you, these sites seem quite helpful ^^. I'm gonna check them out as soon as I'm done fishing biggrin

[fayebelly]

Learn hiragana and katakana first! Once you've learned them ONLY read and write in Japanese in kana, otherwise you're holding yourself back!

Also, make sure that you're pronouncing them right... There are plenty of sound files on the internet.

Once you're comfortable with them and have a bit of vocab under your belt, start on the kanji.

I suggest you focus a lot on the grammar first. Once you've learned the basic grammar rules you can start playing with the language, making up stupid sentences and the like... And it's always better to learn by being silly! =D
Learn some of the basic particles asap too! They're awesome!

Personally, I don't suggest getting a textbook! This is my own personal preference, I just find that textbooks hold you back a bit by giving you prescribed amounts of knowledge and by holding your hand far too much. For me, learning Japanese is exciting and vibrant, I don't wanna be held back! Personally, I'd get a good quality Japanese grammar book. You can learn the vocab and kanji you need on the internet very easily (and freely!)... A grammar book will give you guidelines to follow as far as what you should learn next is concerned, without holding you back.

As for vocab, I suggest you start basic; numbers, days of the week, weather, who, what, where, when, why.... Work your way up from there.

Also, stop conning yourself that you're slow at picking up languages or that you're not a language person! It's simply not true and by telling yourself that you're just holding yourself back! You've learned English and the only thing stopping you from learning 20 more languages is your own lack of confidence! Fact!



Websites:
First website I used. Really good for beginners - http://www.genkienglish.net/genkijapan/menu.htm

Free worksheets from super-basics to advanced stuff - http://www.mlcjapanese.co.jp/Download.htm

Your new best friend - http://www.jisho.org/

Amazing Kanji dictionary - http://www.yamasa.cc/members/ocjs/kanjidic.nsf/SearchKanji3?OpenForm

Those are some of my favourites! But don't be afraid to use google! A lot of people will argue that it's hard to find what you want through google... But I found all of my favourite websites through google!


Good luck! Try your best!! ^-^