04-17-2007, 02:39 AM

I hope some people on here know it as their second language. I recently decided that I wanted to learn so I ordered some books off of Amazon and slowly started. Does anybody have any suggestions? Picking up the romanji? portion seems a ton easier then the symbols, kanji? but ultimately I need some advice of what to do. If I didn't have a career and had an boat load of money, i'd move to Japan, but thats never going to happen.

Thanks in advance!!

04-17-2007, 03:45 AM

A lot of people swear by the Pimsleur CDs. I've worked through just a little bit of them, and while they are good for learning phrases, I'm a very visual person and do better with a combination of books and audio. I don't know where you live, but the libraries here in Seattle have loads of these to check out. I ended up switching to Mandarin (more useful to me) and found taking a class at one of the community colleges to be quite helpful.

There are also some great resources you can pick up from jbox.com (a great site for Japanese goods -- I've used them so far for iTunes pre-paid cards from the Japan iTunes store).

04-17-2007, 09:25 AM

I'll give another nod to Pimsleur. I took Japanese in college, but I Pimsleur for Mandarin and they were great, but I didn't go past the first set. I think they will be great for learning to speak the words, but you may need a book to learn grammar, different kinds of adjectives, verb conjugation, writing, etc. I wouldn't recommend the Rosetta Stone series that's advertised in some magazines and late night TV. It claims to teach you naturally, but it has you saying things when you don't really know what you're saying. I didn't like it at all.

The good thing about Japanese, compared to Chinese, is Japanese has a basic set of characters for writing, like letters, so you don't have to learn kanji right from the start, but it can make you lazy to learn Kanji. Also Japanese isn't tonal, so the way you pronounce a sound doesn't change its meaning.

That being said, if you really want to learn a language that can hold value in the future, learn Mandarin. There are over a billion Chinese and their economy is growing like crazy! But if you're just particularly interested in Japanese and just want to learn for fun, it's a great and fun language to study.

04-17-2007, 09:27 AM

Oh, and Pimsleur CD sets are always being bought and sold on Ebay, so if price is a problem, you can usually buy them and sell them right back for about the same price, so you actually only spend a minimal amount.

04-17-2007, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by fleurya

I wouldn't recommend the Rosetta Stone series that's advertised in some magazines and late night TV. It claims to teach you naturally, but it has you saying things when you don't really know what you're saying. I didn't like it at all.

I gave Rosetta Stone a try, and I don't get why it's popular. Unless I was missing something, it appeared to be nothing more than a bunch of flash cards (with audio to help learn pronunciation). There was nothing about grammar; it was simply a way to learn vocabulary. Perfect if you wanted to learn to speak sentences like, "Store where go I."

The good thing about Japanese, compared to Chinese, is Japanese has a basic set of characters for writing, like letters, so you don't have to learn kanji right from the start, but it can make you lazy to learn Kanji. Also Japanese isn't tonal, so the way you pronounce a sound doesn't change its meaning.

Agreed about the lack of tones. I'm not so sure about the written language however. While it seems that many of the Japanese books I've seen are written in hiragana, much of practical Japanese (for example, what you'll see while walking around the streets of Japan) is written in kanji. Still, I'd guess that having a phonetical script is an aid to learning.

That being said, if you really want to learn a language that can hold value in the future, learn Mandarin. There are over a billion Chinese and their economy is growing like crazy! But if you're just particularly interested in Japanese and just want to learn for fun, it's a great and fun language to study.

That's been my struggle actually. I think Japanese is a much more elegant language, and as someone who listens to a lot of jpop, I think it would be a very fun language to learn. However, I think Mandarin is a far more practical language as it's the most widely used language in the world. As China works its way into becoming the next big superpower (which I see as a genuine possibility in the next fifty years or less), being able to do business overseas might be very useful.

Originally Posted by fleurya

Oh, and Pimsleur CD sets are always being bought and sold on Ebay, so if price is a problem, you can usually buy them and sell them right back for about the same price, so you actually only spend a minimal amount.

There are also "starter" kits available for under $20. I picked this one up last weekend to give it a try, and so far it appears to be an abridged version of the full first set (at least the first lesson is the same).

04-17-2007, 10:49 AM

Soun ds like you're in the same situation as me, James! I enjoy some jpop and still like to watch some anime, so Japanese is more appealing, but I would like to work overseas when I finish grad school and China is the best option. I guess that's why I haven't committed to one language and advanced in it. I tried doing both for a while, but doing one is hard enough.

I plan to start in on the Pimsleur Chinese again soon and once I've really gotten a good hold on it in a couple years, I'll on the Japanese if I still want to. The good thing about learning Chinese first is the meaning behind the characters of both languages is often the same, just spoken differently.

04-17-2007, 03:17 PM

I've been using Rosetta Stone for a while now and I certainly have my reservations about it. However it is an excellent way to build your Japanese vocabulary. Sentence structure is learned by example but IMO there are not enough examples. Fortunately for me, my wife is Japanese, so I get a lot of help from her. In exchange, she gets to laugh at me a lot.

04-17-2007, 10:01 PM

You're a lucky guy, Sarg! Thanks again for posting the pics.

04-17-2007, 10:07 PM

Thanks a lot guys, this is the advice i was looking for. I'm not where near the business world so I wont worry about the Mandarin. I should learn Spanish for my career but thats an easy pickup eventually. What really got me started on this whole thing is a sudden interest in Japanese video games. I wish I knew someone who knew it well or even had classes on it in the area, but neither is an option.

04-18-2007, 12:27 AM

While looking around the net, my wife and I found this article.

BEWARE: Do not read this while drinking around your Mac. You will spit up laughing....

http://pepper.idge.net/japanese/

04-18-2007, 01:03 AM

Originally Posted by Sgt Beavis

While looking around the net, my wife and I found this article.

BEWARE: Do not read this while drinking around your Mac. You will spit up laughing....

http://pepper.idge.net/japanese/

That was hilarious. I definitely remember a few of those classmate types from my classes. I think I was a "deer caught in the headlights".