I'm wanting to learn japanese?

I was having good success with Pimsleur. I did the first phase, which is 30 half-hour audio lessons. I thought it worked well. I did at least understand some very basic things. I tried to watch an anime without subtitles after this (Dennou Coil). Although I did get through the whole season, I only understood a little bit. I want to go back to do phase 2 and 3, and then try some other audio programs.

The good thing with the audio is that you can just listen and repeat as the instructor says which helps you understand how it's supposed to sound. I've tried reading books before and it was too difficult. Hope that helps.

"cybereality" wrote:
I was having good success with Pimsleur. I did the first phase, which is 30 half-hour audio lessons. I thought it worked well. I did at least understand some very basic things. I tried to watch an anime without subtitles after this (Dennou Coil). Although I did get through the whole season, I only understood a little bit. I want to go back to do phase 2 and 3, and then try some other audio programs.

The good thing with the audio is that you can just listen and repeat as the instructor says which helps you understand how it's supposed to sound. I've tried reading books before and it was too difficult. Hope that helps.

I actually started understanding basic japanese conversations (through watching anime) with english subtitles :P (haha)
but then I started trying to learn more audio + conversations. *But as of right now* I just want to learn the alphabet first before I start getting into conversations. (Basic conversations I find relatively easy.) how ever, I don't understand 100% of it. I usually understand small conversations like (How was your day?, What did you put in your bento for lunch today? ect."
I can understand simple conversations, how ever I can't really understand anything that isn't simple. >_<

"TheArcheaon" wrote:

"cybereality" wrote:
I was having good success with Pimsleur. I did the first phase, which is 30 half-hour audio lessons. I thought it worked well. I did at least understand some very basic things. I tried to watch an anime without subtitles after this (Dennou Coil). Although I did get through the whole season, I only understood a little bit. I want to go back to do phase 2 and 3, and then try some other audio programs.

The good thing with the audio is that you can just listen and repeat as the instructor says which helps you understand how it's supposed to sound. I've tried reading books before and it was too difficult. Hope that helps.

I actually started understanding basic japanese conversations (through watching anime) with english subtitles :P (haha)
but then I started trying to learn more audio + conversations. *But as of right now* I just want to learn the alphabet first before I start getting into conversations. (Basic conversations I find relatively easy.) how ever, I don't understand 100% of it. I usually understand small conversations like (How was your day?, What did you put in your bento for lunch today? ect."
I can understand simple conversations, how ever I can't really understand anything that isn't simple. >_<

And as per my issue learning, most anything worth reading/listening to isn't simple.

And I'll restate that you should use Anki, since you want to focus on the alphabets right now. I didn't learn of it until after I wrote my own flash card scripts, but I'm pretty sure there are some Kana decks too. I just found I learned a LOT faster when I started drilling flash cards. Before that I was just trying to learn more manually. Helps with words too, though I'm unsure if there are any good decks for Japanese words too. Probably are. If not, you might be able to create your own easy enough to go along with other learning material.

I'll still maintain I didn't care for Pimsluer. But I can at least say it was good for helping develop an ear for Japanese accents and rhythm.

To the OP,

Have you considered study abroad? Or even work abroad as an English teacher? I say this as a foreign resident of Japan for 15 years. There are lots of materials for studying Japanese online and many links other posters have already suggested to you, but there is nothing that can compare to actually living in the country where your target language is spoken. One year or even 6 months living and studying in a foreign country will do more for your language learning than any amount of time watching anime, reading books, and listening to audio tapes.

Though this isn't always an option for everyone, there are lots of resources such as scholarships, internships, rotary programs etc... If you want specific information on schools locations and the like feel free to PM directly as well :) Or ask me here either way :D

2otaku4me

Hello,

It's great that you want to learn a language. Here's my advice. Don't believe all the naysayers and people who say Japanese is hard, or that it's impossible to learn.

Step 1. Change your environment to become Japanese

Basically, change everything that you can to japanese. So for example, when I was learning Japanese , I changed my operating system (windows to Japanese), change the language settings of your phone to Japanese.

In your spare time, only watch native Japanese media without subtitles. If you're getting your anime hardsubbed, when you watch it , just open another window and block the subtitles on the bottom.

Step 2. Get this book :

http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Characters/dp/4889960759

This is the book that will make you know the kanji .

Also, I got most of these tips from :

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-use-this-website

Also, another person I used to help me learn language are :

http://www.fluentin3months.com/

Also, you could probably google it , but Tim Ferris has some good techniques too.

But I highly recommend you read http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-use-this-website.

Hope this helps! Ganbatte!

"langknow" wrote:
Hello,

It's great that you want to learn a language. Here's my advice. Don't believe all the naysayers and people who say Japanese is hard, or that it's impossible to learn.

Step 1. Change your environment to become Japanese

Basically, change everything that you can to japanese. So for example, when I was learning Japanese , I changed my operating system (windows to Japanese), change the language settings of your phone to Japanese.

In your spare time, only watch native Japanese media without subtitles. If you're getting your anime hardsubbed, when you watch it , just open another window and block the subtitles on the bottom.

Step 2. Get this book :

http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Characters/dp/4889960759

This is the book that will make you know the kanji .

Also, I got most of these tips from :

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-use-this-website

Also, another person I used to help me learn language are :

http://www.fluentin3months.com/

Also, you could probably google it , but Tim Ferris has some good techniques too.

But I highly recommend you read http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-use-this-website.

Hope this helps! Ganbatte!

I'll add a word of caution to using the steps recommended for AJATT (all japanese all the time). If you're a productive adult then changing your operating system to an unknown language can be destructive. It's a step you should take, but being pseudo literate in the language will help else you made yourself illiterate with a technological tool.

Second, changing your environment is good as in having Japanese shows playing either on the TV, your computer or even your iPod. However, until it becomes comprehensible audio you're not going to get as much benefit from this. This is from experience with AJATT. I found that speaking weeks listening to audio from Japanese Dramas that I actually studied sentence by sentence was far, far better in developing my listening and speaking skills than the months I use listening to drama audio I just ripped and played non-stop. There is some benefit, but nothing compared to what you'll get once you begin studying dramas, which in itself should not happen till you get some kanji, vocabulary and grammar concepts under your belt to make the studying process more efficient.

The blogs are great and the tips on altering your environment to have less native language and more Japanese is great. However, it's not a magic bullet. Comprehensible input will have much better impact.