Best ways to start learning Japanese on your own?????

Go to Japan.teh_destroyer

Read this first.

If that doesn't deter you, then start learning the kana. (I suggest hiragana first)

Why? So you don't need to wait the day it takes for subbed anime to be realesed?
Guiltfeeder566

[QUOTE="smack_masta"]Rosetta Stone maybe, I was thinking about getting it because I want to learn Japanese or Korean.

http://www.rosettastone.com/offer/cj127[/QUOTE]

I have Level 1 Japanese from Rosetta and it improves listening skills. As far as reading Kanji (Chinese characters), Hiragana (Japanese equivalent of the alphabet), and Katakana (used usually for foreign words) it is basically nonexistent. There is an option to change the Romaji (Roman or English letters) to Hiragana, but it is difficult to learn what sound each Hiragana character makes. To make things clear Level 1 Japanese only focuses on vocabulary, comprehension, and sentence structure and so it lacks advanced conversational phrases besides "yes" and "no." Level 2 however (which I have not purchased) is supposed to enable to have a conversation with someone.

My opinion is because Rosetta Stone has NO translation for ANY vocabulary or any explaination of sentence structure it can get confusing. I can't speak for learning Korean, but if you want to learn Japanese then I heard Genki is a really good option. Genki takes a more orthodox approach with memorization and usual things you would expect. I believe that even schools use Genki (an elementary Japanese language tool) to teach Japanese to their students. Genki is also much cheaper.

Read this first.

If that doesn't deter you, then start learning the kana. (I suggest hiragana first)

the_foreign_guy

lol "Kanji are letters that were stolen from China. Every time the Japanese invaded China (which was very often) they'd just take a few more letters, so now they have an estimated 400 gazillion of them. Kanji each consist of several "strokes", which must be written in a specific order, and convey a specific meaning, like "horse", or "girl". Not only that, but Kanji can combined to form new words. For example, if you combine the Kanji for "small", and "woman", you get the word "carbeurator". Kanji also have different pronounciations depending on where they are in the word, how old you are, and what day it is."

"let's examine the differences between Japanese and English grammar.

English Sentence:
Jane went to the school.

Same Sentence In Japanese:
School Jane To Went Monkey Apple Carbeurator."

My opinion is because Rosetta Stone has NO translation for ANY vocabulary or any explaination of sentence structure it can get confusing.

ChevelleFan

actually learning without translation is the best way to learn a language, maybe you need to translate a little at the beggining to learn the basic sentence structures, but learning vocabulary by translation is really really hard, because you have to use 2 languages in your brain at the same time. if you learn the word for apple and you see the picture of an apple, but dont think of the word in english is much faster for the brain to memorize

I don't see how anyone could be able to learn a language like Japanese from books and videos.

Get one of those computer programs that teach japanese and start from the basics.

あ　い　う　え　お　

か　き　く　け　こ

[QUOTE="smack_masta"]Rosetta Stone maybe, I was thinking about getting it because I want to learn Japanese or Korean.

http://www.rosettastone.com/offer/cj127[/QUOTE]

I have Level 1 Japanese from Rosetta and it improves listening skills. As far as reading Kanji (Chinese characters), Hiragana (Japanese equivalent of the alphabet), and Katakana (used usually for foreign words) it is basically nonexistent. There is an option to change the Romaji (Roman or English letters) to Hiragana, but it is difficult to learn what sound each Hiragana character makes. To make things clear Level 1 Japanese only focuses on vocabulary, comprehension, and sentence structure and so it lacks advanced conversational phrases besides "yes" and "no." Level 2 however (which I have not purchased) is supposed to enable to have a conversation with someone.

My opinion is because Rosetta Stone has NO translation for ANY vocabulary or any explaination of sentence structure it can get confusing. I can't speak for learning Korean, but if you want to learn Japanese then I heard Genki is a really good option. Genki takes a more orthodox approach with memorization and usual things you would expect. I believe that even schools use Genki (an elementary Japanese language tool) to teach Japanese to their students. Genki is also much cheaper.

ChevelleFan

[QUOTE="teh_destroyer"]Go to Japan.iwokojance

(sorry if someone said this already... ).... watch dubbed anime

[QUOTE="ChevelleFan"]

[QUOTE="smack_masta"]Rosetta Stone maybe, I was thinking about getting it because I want to learn Japanese or Korean.

http://www.rosettastone.com/offer/cj127[/QUOTE]

I have Level 1 Japanese from Rosetta and it improves listening skills. As far as reading Kanji (Chinese characters), Hiragana (Japanese equivalent of the alphabet), and Katakana (used usually for foreign words) it is basically nonexistent. There is an option to change the Romaji (Roman or English letters) to Hiragana, but it is difficult to learn what sound each Hiragana character makes. To make things clear Level 1 Japanese only focuses on vocabulary, comprehension, and sentence structure and so it lacks advanced conversational phrases besides "yes" and "no." Level 2 however (which I have not purchased) is supposed to enable to have a conversation with someone.

My opinion is because Rosetta Stone has NO translation for ANY vocabulary or any explaination of sentence structure it can get confusing. I can't speak for learning Korean, but if you want to learn Japanese then I heard Genki is a really good option. Genki takes a more orthodox approach with memorization and usual things you would expect. I believe that even schools use Genki (an elementary Japanese language tool) to teach Japanese to their students. Genki is also much cheaper.

EmilioDigsIt

That is what I did. I'm just saying that if you expect it to teach you Hiragana it won't really help until you have a good grasp of the characters.

[QUOTE="ChevelleFan"]

My opinion is because Rosetta Stone has NO translation for ANY vocabulary or any explaination of sentence structure it can get confusing.

G-Man88

actually learning without translation is the best way to learn a language, maybe you need to translate a little at the beggining to learn the basic sentence structures, but learning vocabulary by translation is really really hard, because you have to use 2 languages in your brain at the same time. if you learn the word for apple and you see the picture of an apple, but dont think of the word in english is much faster for the brain to memorize

That is why I bought Rosetta Stone. I am not saying that it is bad because once I went a week without even using the software and I could remember a few sentences about an airplane, fish, and a bird so it works really well with getting you to relate a picture with a word. Now everytime I think of a cat, dog, airplane, fish, bird, man, woman, boy, or girl I think of the Japanese words. I'm just saying that you shouldn't rely on Romaji as crutch and learn Hiragana as soon as possible and with Rosetta Stone there is a very steep learning curve.

I'd love to learn Japanese, but I actually kinda despise the country and the way the Western world portrays it.

Dont bother. Its ridiculously hard even with a professional teacher. Alter_Echo

[QUOTE="Alter_Echo"]Dont bother. Its ridiculously hard even with a professional teacher. camreeno360

[QUOTE="Alter_Echo"]Dont bother. Its ridiculously hard even with a professional teacher. camreeno360

Odd...I've always found learning words that sound nothing alike much easier as learning ones that sounds similar means you are prone to making mistakes through over-familiarisation.

[QUOTE="the_foreign_guy"]

Read this first.

If that doesn't deter you, then start learning the kana. (I suggest hiragana first)

G-Man88

lol "Kanji are letters that were stolen from China. Every time the Japanese invaded China (which was very often) they'd just take a few more letters, so now they have an estimated 400 gazillion of them. Kanji each consist of several "strokes", which must be written in a specific order, and convey a specific meaning, like "horse", or "girl". Not only that, but Kanji can combined to form new words. For example, if you combine the Kanji for "small", and "woman", you get the word "carbeurator". Kanji also have different pronounciations depending on where they are in the word, how old you are, and what day it is."

"let's examine the differences between Japanese and English grammar.

English Sentence:
Jane went to the school.

Same Sentence In Japanese:
School Jane To Went Monkey Apple Carbeurator."

Do you know how many times you make these threads? We know you want to learn Japanese and the same answers always arise; Rosseta Stone or take a class.

We know you're tired of watching lame anime in English or with subtitles and you aspire to be a little ninja of virtue who says some phrase of honor to an evil man and save the world, but give it a rest

Rosetta Stone.
It's used by the Army to instruct lingiusts.

Trust me, that means it works, no questions asked.