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[Catphish]

So thanks to Babymetal (yosh!), I once again feel the urge to learn the Japanese language.

I've been down this road before, about 20 years ago, when I wanted to learn it to be able to understand Japanese games. I learned the kanas, but not kanji, and a few words and sentences. Unfortunately, I had no humans to talk to and practice with, so it all just kinda fell away.

And it might happen again that way now. Aside from the intellectual and musical/lyrical attraction, I don't have a real practical reason to learn Japanese. I don't have any Japanese friends, and I don't see me visiting the country any time soon. However, the internet is much bigger now than it was then, and there are all kinds of online resources and social groups that could keep this alive.

So, my question to all of you Japanese speakers here is, simply: what resources or processes would you recommend? Right now I'm going through a Pimsleur's CD set, and I have a good app, Memrise, for my phone. But I'm open to more suggestions, even ones that cost money. Also, is there a certain path you would recommend to follow? Should I read more, or listen more? Etc.

Thanks in advance

 

[Gromph]

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/lear...-and-shame-are-huge-parts-of-it-lets.1206948/

 

[Catphish]

Awesome. Thank you.

 

[Cybrwzrd]

So thanks to Babymetal (yosh!), I once again feel the urge to learn the Japanese language.

I've been down this road before, about 20 years ago, when I wanted to learn it to be able to understand Japanese games. I learned the kanas, but not kanji, and a few words and sentences. Unfortunately, I had no humans to talk to and practice with, so it all just kinda fell away.

And it might happen again that way now. Aside from the intellectual and musical/lyrical attraction, I don't have a real practical reason to learn Japanese. I don't have any Japanese friends, and I don't see me visiting the country any time soon. However, the internet is much bigger now than it was then, and there are all kinds of online resources and social groups that could keep this alive.

So, my question to all of you Japanese speakers here is, simply: what resources or processes would you recommend? Right now I'm going through a Pimsleur's CD set, and I have a good app, Memrise, for my phone. But I'm open to more suggestions, even ones that cost money. Also, is there a certain path you would recommend to follow? Should I read more, or listen more? Etc.

Thanks in advance

I went to a language school over there (www.yamasa.org if interested and have time/money) for 1.5 years after college to learn it. I am conversationally fluent and use it at work daily. I really liked the James Heisig "Remembering the Kanji" books, but I so rarely write kanji by hand these days and use the computer for everything I basically can only read them.

Its a tough language, and wanting to master it to the point of being able to play games is not an easy task. I highly recommend finding someone to use it with at minimum.

 

[Zenaku]

Cant link anything now, on mobile at work, but I learned a huge amount of kanji by playing japanese visual novels.

There are programs called text hookers that hook on to the games and extract the text as you play, displaying it in a notepad-like window. Highlighting text there would copy it straight to the clipboard, and I had a dictionary program set to look up text from the clipboard.

Basically I'd play the game, and whenever I came across a word or a kanji I didn't know (which was a lot at first), I'd highlight it in the text hooker and get an instant translation in the dictionary. Learned a ton of new words and hundreds of kanji very quickly.

 

[Catphish]

Zenaku, I'd very much like to know more about this...

 

[Sakura]

Cant link anything now, on mobile at work, but I learned a huge amount of kanji by playing japanese visual novels.

There are programs called text hookers that hook on to the games and extract the text as you play, displaying it in a notepad-like window. Highlighting text there would copy it straight to the clipboard, and I had a dictionary program set to look up text from the clipboard.

Basically I'd play the game, and whenever I came across a word or a kanji I didn't know (which was a lot at first), I'd highlight it in the text hooker and get an instant translation in the dictionary. Learned a ton of new words and hundreds of kanji very quickly.

This is pretty much what I did. Lots of anime and visual novels and now I am JLPT N1.

 

[GamingEnthusiast]

I remember a Japanese ethnic Canadian woman telling me in a manga store that I have no hope of understand the language besides learning how to read.

 

[NahaNago]

Yeah, I'm interested in getting back into learning it as well but my main goal for the majority of this year is Korean. I do plan on studying kanji this year though, so I can at least have some kind of head start when I finally do decide to tackle Japanese.

 

[Susurrus]

Honestly, I've learned a shitton of Kanji and vocabulary using Wanikani. Mind you, it doesn't teach grammar or words that don't utilize kanji, and even teaches some obsolete words as the goal is to get you to memorize the kanji and give examples, but I have learned over 1000 kanji using this and a crazy amount of words. Mostly useful for reading, but I have picked up words when people are talking (my Japanese wife/her family and friends/also Japanese shows).

You do need to know hiragana, and to an extent katakana beforehand.

It lets you do the first couple levels free, so give it a shot. Don't be put off when it gets slow, it just starts this way, you'll definitely not have that issue after a week or so. Read the FAQ on the page.

 

[KevinKeene]

I'm in the process of learning for the JLPT N3-test at the end of the year. My current learning regime consists of various Kanji-focused units every day. Most importantly, though, I make sure to never let a day pass without doing at least something Japanese related. And be it going through a set of AnkiDroid
cards.

I will say, though, that I'm currently at an annoying skill level: I can understand most of an anime episode without subtitles, so I really try to not look at the subtitles. But, of course, there's always some details that I don't understand, so I either have to rewatch a bit or accept to have missed something. That's especially true for scifi series with lots of special vocabulary. But oh well. It feels nice to understand more and more without having to look.at subtitles

 

[Blackace]

Honestly understanding anime or manga isnt a good bar for how well you understand Japanese... I mostly studied like Japanese kids do for kanji and did the JLPT books... Living in Japan also really helps

 

[KevinKeene]

Honestly understanding anime or manga isnt a good bar for how well you understand Japanese... I mostly studied like Japanese kids do for kanji and did the JLPT books... Living in Japan also really helps

What books did you use? Might be a good idea to use these

 

[Blackace]

What books did you use? Might be a good idea to use these

I used 日本語能力試験公式問題集 and a few other books I found useful...

I suggest the Japanese Grammar Dictionary series by The Japanese Times as a must

 

[RCU005]

I am beginning to learn Japanese, too, and I can tell you that what has worked for me is:
- Learn Hiragana and Katakana

- I study vocabulary with Kanji, the reason is, I don't understand about radicals and those crazy things they do to learn kanji. After all, Kanji are made to form words, and if you know the concept, you know the word. In my experienced it has helped, because when I see the kanji of a word that I already know, I already know what it means. I think it is frustrating to study hard to learn a word in hiragana, only to see it in kanji and not even have a clue what it says.

- practice the grammar a lot! I think Japanese has easy grammar, so practicing makes it even easier, and helps you a lot with understanding a sentence. Even if you don't know any word of a sentence, you can tell where is the verb, where is a noun, etc, so it gives you a way to deconstruct a sentence to understand it better.

- vocabulary is a b**ch! In other language, you learn that apple in spanish is manzana and that's it. But in japanese you learn ringo, but also in kanji, and also if applies in katakana (which I've noticed it's mostly english japanesized), but sometimes a word sounds so different that is hard to know what it is. So it's three times learning some words.

I recommend a lot Japanese from Zero (books and youtube videos, as well as website). George explains so good, is amazing! I also recommend Tae Kim to understand informal a little better, since George doesn't explain it until later.

Have fun! and actually learn it! I am learning it because I adore languages with different writing than us ( I also studied Russian). And my fantasy is to marry a Japanese girl. I find them so beautiful!

EDIT: Also talk and read a lot! It doesn't matter if you sound and read like a drunk! It will help you recognize the characters easier and faster! Once you start learning words, somehow the fact that there are no spaces, will not matter.

 

[NahaNago]

So i knew that I had some extra packs of notecards with my old Japanese note cards and seeing all those hundreds/ possibly thousands of cards made me feel I think the word is wistful. Seeing all those cards felt nostalgic but at the same time sad due to the fact that I never did learn the language. It has me rethinking my approach to Korean. Like maybe adding writing more sentences to my routine.

 

[KevinKeene]

I ordered the official JLPT learning book for N3 level. Should arrive at the end of March.

Also, I ordered a certain video game-related book that, according to my google fu, was never translatef into English (or German ;o), so I'll make it a little side project to translate it. Wil broaden my vocabulary and grammar understanding, and if it's legal to publicize it, it'd be neat for other gamers, too

 

[Catphish]

Well, in typical me fashion, I've decided that it would be more practical to learn Spanish, so, you know, donde esta el bano?

 

[Beard of the Forest]

Duolingo now offers Japanese. I've learned a fair bit of German and Spanish from there. I started the Japanese course when it was first introduced but ended up fizzling out like I do with most language learning quests. Anyhow, I think it's worth checking out.

 

[BANGS]

I'd just like to be able to speak semi-fluent Japanese, reading it seems like a superpower at this point in my life...

 

[Big4reel]

hiragana and katakana is easy enough that you can learn it in a week. Kanji is another beast all together, but don`t worry about learning all of it, not even japanese people know all of it. Some of my friends can`t even write it

 

[KevinKeene]

I'd just like to be able to speak semi-fluent Japanese, reading it seems like a superpower at this point in my life...

I'm the opposite, haha. Want to be able to read and translate, but speaking Japanese ... well, I'm not good at speaking in general ...

 

[Porcile]

There is a learning Japanese thread. Anyway, I use Netflix, TV, NHK online, Kindle and a dictionary. All these textbooks and tools start to mess with brain after a while. You end up a servant to them instead of using them to actually learn anything.

 

[Catphish]

Bah, I can't switch to Spanish. Japanese is where the fun is!

Watashi wa hijō ni konran shite imasu!

 

[KevinKeene]

Bah, I can't switch to Spanish. Japanese is where the fun is!

Watashi wa hijō ni konran shite imasu!

Thx, just learned another bit of grammar I had just learnt the kanji for hijou, so I kept wondering how 'emergency' could fit into the rest of your sentence. Turns out 'hijou ni' is a fixed expression meaning 'most/extremely'. Good to know!

僕 の 日本語 また
少し 良くなった！

 

[MasterMiller]

Honestly, I've learned a shitton of Kanji and vocabulary using Wanikani. Mind you, it doesn't teach grammar or words that don't utilize kanji, and even teaches some obsolete words as the goal is to get you to memorize the kanji and give examples, but I have learned over 1000 kanji using this and a crazy amount of words. Mostly useful for reading, but I have picked up words when people are talking (my Japanese wife/her family and friends/also Japanese shows).

You do need to know hiragana, and to an extent katakana beforehand.

It lets you do the first couple levels free, so give it a shot. Don't be put off when it gets slow, it just starts this way, you'll definitely not have that issue after a week or so. Read the FAQ on the page.

I agree WaniKani does really work people.
I started using it 2 years ago and I was shitty at kanji but it helped me understand the logic behind it. and now after two years of doing 200 reviews per day, I have the JLPT N2 certificate.
it doesn't teach you all the vocab you need but it helps you get there faster and easier.
It is a bit hard to do the boring reviews at first but after a few month it kinda becomes a habit and you feel something is wrong if you haven''t done them yet.

 

[Porcile]

Learning Japanese thread here: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/lear...-and-shame-are-huge-parts-of-it-lets.1206948/

 

[KevinKeene]

Learning Japanese thread here: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/lear...-and-shame-are-huge-parts-of-it-lets.1206948/

I think it's not so bad to start over, now that lots of new members have joined and will continue to do so

Just got done with my lunch-review, phew. I keep messing up the second kanji of 'futsuu' 普通, so random. Damn you, brain!