Hello! So I'd like to start and topic about Japanese Language.. I started to get interested when I was watching the drama, Gokusen (haha i know weird huh?) but anyways, i was pretty amused on how they talked and mimicked pretty much everything that was fun to say.. so i started to self-study the language in summer like, hirgana characters and katakana and i'm able to greet and ask some common questions so basically just everyday common phrases you'd hear on the street or something. so i'd like to ask the people who speak japanese or took classes on it:

How far do they teach you Japanese?
[ by that i mean i heard in college they only teach you a few kanji.. or enough to get around tokyo]

Is it worth taking classes or better self-studying?

I'm learning Japanese also... not at university or school, but from a private teacher in the evening hours.We are with a group of 4 people. She teaches us grammar, hiragana, katakana, kanji and conversation. I find it very helpfull to be taught by someone who speaks the language.

And besides that I also do some self-studying... there are so many sites on the internet who can help you with that ^^

oh really? maybe i'll try a private teacher thanks for sharing ^__^

i would like to learn japanese too,being hispanic i kinda have an advantage,cause japanese and spanish have the same pronounciation and vowels,even the "r's" are similiar.

College Japanese classes don't really help much. The highest lvl they teach is pretty basic. I learned more from 2 out of 3 years of high school Japanese then my friends have at the highest lvl of Japanese possible in college. Though I'm sure states like California are different.

Japanese isn't hard to pronounce at all though since it doesn't have any tones like other asian languages. Though it is more complicated.

The hardest thing for me to learn was the counting system since there's dif. ways to count things. like by it's size shape and what type of fish/animal it is.

um......
i'd like to learn japanese as well....
Aoi_tori
um
you said that there are some sites that can help us in learning japanese.....
can you list the sites so i can give them a try too?
onegaishimasu!!!!

hey, im from london and i want to study japanese too. im going to study a 3 month japanese course once a week for 2 hours with a group of 4.
ever since i was 7 i memorised words and small sentences from anime and J movies. but theres a limit.... i want to reach the level where my japanese friends can understand me, and i can say something like "we missed the bus, lets just get the 176 bus to the cinema" without thinking what words to say.

well hope you reach the level u want, jus keep stick to it and u can never fail! Xx

hey meyb someday we can speak to eachother in japanese

Hajememashite!
Kyo wa doo deshita ka?

Well not one Asian study or class was here around my college, and canceled the Korean course since no one really cares and the European studies are still popular! :(
But most people learned better self study and to me it's fun and better, as you learn at your own pace.

Japanesepod101.com
That's a great site with audio instructors, pdf files of lessons, flash cards, tutorials, videos, Hiragana, Katakana, and kanji hands on videos, basically everything..although you get a 7 day free trial and after that you gotta pay monthly fee. :(

Lang-8.com is great to as you can speak to Japanese and they can correct your writing once you start writing complete sentences in Japanese. :)

I'm self-studying. Well more like I'm over-indulging in Anime and Japanese dramas/comedies and then checking out sites that offer Japanese speaking lessons. Being a Filipino-English speaker, pronouncing Japanese words is not very difficult. But I guess if I really want to learn fast, I better take private lessons or buy audio tapes.

^.^

Syaeetaque Wrote:
Aoi_tori
um
you said that there are some sites that can help us in learning japanese.....
can you list the sites so i can give them a try too?
onegaishimasu!!!!

Hi Syaeetaaque,

the sites I use are livemocha com, it is a site like the sites described by Blaznist... you have flashcards, you can listen to texts etc.

guidetojapanese org is good in explaining grammar, teaching hiragana, katanana

kanjisite com is (as the name says) all about kanji

genki.japantimes.co.jp is also handy...

hope these are a bit of help..

I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO LEARN JAPANESE IM SAMOAN I CAN ONLY SPEAK ENGLISH BUT I KNOW ALOT OF SPANISH IM REALLY LOOKING FOWARD TO LEARNING IT SO I CAN GO TO JAPAN 1 DAY AND HAVE THE REAL FEEL OF ACCOMPLISHING MY 1st GOAL SINCE 7yrs SO THANK YOU ALL THAT RECOMENDED ALL THESE SIGHTS

ammaroxx Wrote:

I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO LEARN JAPANESE IM SAMOAN I CAN ONLY SPEAK ENGLISH BUT I KNOW ALOT OF SPANISH IM REALLY LOOKING FOWARD TO LEARNING IT SO I CAN GO TO JAPAN 1 DAY AND HAVE THE REAL FEEL OF ACCOMPLISHING MY 1st GOAL SINCE 7yrs SO THANK YOU ALL THAT RECOMENDED ALL THESE SIGHTS


You are Samoan. ME too I am only half though... I also to would like to learn Japanese.

hello

i learnt most of my japanese from anime but now i have bought japanese work books and downloaded podcasts. i can hold a conversation.
am studying it so that when i get to university i can do a year abroad

I have been studying Japanese for 4 years, and in a few years I will be over there teaching English in Japanese schools :D

日本語が大好きですよ

i love japanese language but i only know a few right now
i wanna learn more and someday i wanna go to japan!

fuwaa !minna ima nihon go benkyou naritai desu you naa.kitto minna de aru hi wa nihon go hanasaseru you,kitto!ganbatte naa minna !ore saa chugouku jin desu.tada sannen mae nihon go benkyou nattanda demo ima saa ore no nihon go sukoshi zutsu mou subete wasurechatta zou !(warachatta).ja mata au naa minna.genki de!!!!!

watashi wa zutto anata ga kai ta mono wa hyōji sa re mase n . watashi wa sorehodo nihongo dekiru baai , watashi wa ima no tokoro , dare ka nihongo ka dō ka wo jibun ga kai ta mono wo rikai shi , tesuto suru koto ga dekiru kanō sei ga ari masu ga ii desu kai te iru watashi wa shira nai .

konnichiwa minnasan! can anyone teach nihongo? please contact me ^-^ Onegai-shimasu! Sankyu

lol depends on what college you are going and they teach what is in the book you got so everyone is different and books are different you can take classes in college but you also may want to get rosetta stone which is faster than taking classes

I have always been interested in the japanese culture that my grandparents taught me and so I decided to lean the language in school, I have been studying Japanese in my college for a year now and I can comunicate with my other Japanese friends and the school has me helping in tours for the students coming over from Japan. The classes alone do help, but it is the practicing that makes it really stick. I plan to teach English in Japan when I get my teaching degree, I cant wait to see where half my family comes from.

i lived in Japan for about four years with my relatives, at first i didn't know how to speak or how to communicate with them, i only knew was "arigatou" and "onaka suitemasu" which mean thank you and im hungry. i'd used to speak with them with my gestures with english but they couldn't understand me, so i decided to study Nihonggo by my own. i did it word by word, everyday when i heard something new to my ears, i'd used to wrote it, looked for the meaning of the word, and used it in a sentence the next day. it is easy to learn Nihonggo if you will use it everyday and you have someone to talk to..

I would love to learn Japanese and Korean... but i cannot find a school close where i live. But I know that i might learn some how... Never give up!!

well 2 learn japanese full 100% it takes about 5 years (fact) unless you study it 24/7/365 it take about 2 & a half years(fact) right

well 2 learn japanese full 100% it takes about 5 years (fact) unless you study it 24/7/365 it take about 2 & a half years(fact) right

みんな頑張ってね！
日本語はすごい！！！！
Japanese language is the best!!! please don't give up and try to study this fantastic language!!!!

Do you know the Kumon method of learning??
I do kumon of japanese and it's really good to learn with this method! You study buy yourself with the "homework" they give to you and as longs as you "memorise" the words and expressions you pass to a higher level after making an exam to see if the student is prepered or not to begin other level of studying. It's easy and you can search on internet words and expressions to add in your vocabulary!
A good site to learn somethings is genkijapan.net