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Topic: How to learn japanese ...........

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ToadFan

I have a know clue about japanese . I want to learn it for a lot of reasons one is to import a wii or dsi . So can you guys give some tips about it and some fun books and websites about so I can learn ? Thanks .

ToadFan

Vander

I know someone who is trying to learn japanese and he's using the rosseta stone (might of spelled it wrong) program and it's supposed to be good. Not guaranteed the best though, it's the only language program I know of and I've never tried it but I think it's a little expensive, but what program isn't. you might want to do some reasearching on something like top ten lists for programs, or go to your local library and look around. That would be the cheapest way but maybe not the best

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BleachFan

http://smart.fm/
Best. Website. For Learning. Japanese. <-------------Period

I'm using this thing to pull ahead of my Japanese class. Just search "Japanese" at the top, and click Japanese Core 2000: Step 1. It'll teach you the most basic 200 words of the Japanese language to start.

To begin, create an account (it's totally free). Then, you can start the lesson. Find the link on the page that is called "iKnow". From there, it'll teach you in a way where you'll feel as though you are actually learning stuff! Let me know what you think, and if you want, you can "follow" my profile! :3 (Username: GameWiz)

EDIT: Oh wait...If you know absolutely NOTHING about the language, then I suggest searching "Master Hiragana" and "Master Katakana" in order to get to grips with the Japanese writing system... Just ask me if you have any questions about the language, and I'll do my best to try and help!

Edited on by BleachFan

I'm working on a game that's coming out soon!
Cipher Trailer

Aviator

@ToadFan do you know any other languages apart from English?

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It's like, I just love a cowboy
You know
I'm just like, I just, I know, it's bad
But I'm just like
Can I just like, hang off the back of your horse
And can you go a little faster?!

Ravage

If you like anime, once you get the basics, try following the subs and listen to the words and how they are pronounced. They aren't word-for-word by any means, but at least it's entertaining

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Aviator

@TBD You left out the :3

QUEEN OF SASS

It's like, I just love a cowboy
You know
I'm just like, I just, I know, it's bad
But I'm just like
Can I just like, hang off the back of your horse
And can you go a little faster?!

Bobpie

Aviator wrote:

@TBD You left out the :3

Agreed.

On topic: Good idea, learning Japanese so you can import!

The Pie O' Bob be watching you...

StarBoy91

Some games I have on VC are Japanese. It's fun to learn Japanese words from games like Star Parodier and Detana! TwinBee.
Omenetah = high score
Shirido = shield
Barroon Bomba = balloon bomb
Just to name a few. :3

To each their own

Sean_Aaron

I'd start out with the two basic writing systems: hiragana and katakana. The former tends to be used for words of Japanese origin (though because it's the first writing system learned by children you will find words of foreign origin written in hiragana in games/manga aimed at younger folk) and katakana for words of foreign origin as well as objects in the natural world like animals and plants (but again, it's not an absolute rule and you will find Japanese words other than animal/plant names sometimes written in katakana).

I highly recommend from personal experience the Let's Learn books: Let's Learn Hiragana and Let's Learn Katakana, both of which are easily found on Amazon. They're great because they're workbooks and have exercises with repetition so by the time you finish you should be able to recognise the characters when you come across them. You will need to keep exposing yourself to them and there's different fonts to account for so occasional practice writing them should continue afterwards. There's a large 3rd volume: Let's Learn Kanji which teaches you components of the Chinese characters used in Japanese (2,000 for daily use) and 200 or so basic kanji.

If you have a DS there's the My Japanese Coach software from Ubisoft which I'm getting in the post soon and will review for Nintendo Life. This has spoken Japanese (something you don't get as well from reading books) and I've heard pretty good things about it. The Kodansha Furigana dictionary is also a good resource to track down, though it's a bit pricey. Furigana means the kanji have hiragana written over them as a pronunciation guide -- invaluable because many kanji have multiple meanings and thus pronunciations depending on their context.

Whilst the number of writing systems makes this seem impossible, the syllabic nature of hiragana and katakana makes it not too difficult to get to grips with and many words are between 3-5 characters long.

Kanji is definitely a challenge and there's nothing for it but to study and try to immerse yourself in it. Getting into manga (something I've yet to do) in the original Japanese should provide some incentive and exposure to aid reading comprehension. I've actually not moved into trying to learn the language "proper" just yet and will start out with something basic like a Berlitz phrasebook/CD set prior to my trip there planned for this year.

Just being able to read hiragana and katakana and knowing a few basic words will help you a lot in playing import games that don't have heavy story components because a lot of games use words borrowed from English -- if you can read the script you'll find that menus have an Options section just like they do in English and other familiar words are used.

Feel free to mail me direct if you have further queries -- learning languages is fun!

Edited on by Sean_Aaron

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The_Fox

Are you just looking to learn to read it or to speak it well? If there's one thing I learned when I picked up Spanish it's that you can't really get a good grasp on speaking a language from books or tools.

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-President John Adams

Treaty of Tripoly, article 11

ToadFan

BleachFan888 wrote:

http://smart.fm/
Best. Website. For Learning. Japanese. <-------------Period

I'm using this thing to pull ahead of my Japanese class. Just search "Japanese" at the top, and click Japanese Core 2000: Step 1. It'll teach you the most basic 200 words of the Japanese language to start.

To begin, create an account (it's totally free). Then, you can start the lesson. Find the link on the page that is called "iKnow". From there, it'll teach you in a way where you'll feel as though you are actually learning stuff! Let me know what you think, and if you want, you can "follow" my profile! :3 (Username: GameWiz)

EDIT: Oh wait...If you know absolutely NOTHING about the language, then I suggest searching "Master Hiragana" and "Master Katakana" in order to get to grips with the Japanese writing system... Just ask me if you have any questions about the language, and I'll do my best to try and help!

Uh it says the system is down .

@ Sean Aaron

Thanks for the help . I think I will try to get those books . I am a kid tho. My parents say we have a chance of going to japan this summer since we have cousins who live there and they know japanese completly ( i think i spelled that wrong but oh well ) .
( Oh and my cousins who live there are not realted to anyone who is japanese . )

Edited on by ToadFan

ToadFan

Adamant

The+Fox wrote:

Are you just looking to learn to read it or to speak it well? If there's one thing I learned when I picked up Spanish it's that you can't really get a good grasp on speaking a language from books or tools.

That's true. The only way to truly become fluent in a language is to talk with fluent (preferably native) speakers on a regular basis.

It's not really necessary to have educational material that uses spoken Japanese, though (not talking about actual living, breathing tutors here, of course they're always useful) - Japanese is (almost) completely phonetic, and it it's one of the easiest languages to learn to pronounce right. You can easily pick it up by just watching a movie or something, no need to waste money on expensive CDs and videos.

Adamant

BleachFan

Toad+Fan+101 wrote:

BleachFan888 wrote:

http://smart.fm/
Best. Website. For Learning. Japanese. <-------------Period

I'm using this thing to pull ahead of my Japanese class. Just search "Japanese" at the top, and click Japanese Core 2000: Step 1. It'll teach you the most basic 200 words of the Japanese language to start.

To begin, create an account (it's totally free). Then, you can start the lesson. Find the link on the page that is called "iKnow". From there, it'll teach you in a way where you'll feel as though you are actually learning stuff! Let me know what you think, and if you want, you can "follow" my profile! :3 (Username: GameWiz)

EDIT: Oh wait...If you know absolutely NOTHING about the language, then I suggest searching "Master Hiragana" and "Master Katakana" in order to get to grips with the Japanese writing system... Just ask me if you have any questions about the language, and I'll do my best to try and help!

Uh it says the system is down .

@ Sean Aaron

Thanks for the help . I think I will try to get those books . I am a kid tho. My parents say we have a chance of going to japan this summer since we have cousins who live there and they know japanese completly ( i think i spelled that wrong but oh well ) .
( Oh and my cousins who live there are not realted to anyone who is japanese . )

...Oops...I forgot that the website is gonna be closed for then next few days... Sorry...

I'm working on a game that's coming out soon!
Cipher Trailer

Bankai

If you have a DS there's the My Japanese Coach software from Ubisoft which I'm getting in the post soon and will review for Nintendo Life. This has spoken Japanese (something you don't get as well from reading books) and I've heard pretty good things about it.

It's ok. It gets some things wrong about the Japanese language, but is a good introduction tool. You can't just use it to learn the language though.

Look, I'll be honest here. There are only three real ways you can get a proper grasp of a foreign language - 1) Date someone from that nation. 2) Live in that nation. 3) Do a proper course (the reason a language course costs more than a DS game is because its a billion times more effective).

Those are the only three ways you will get enough exposure to regular, day-to-day spoken and written Japanese to actually learn the language (as opposed to a few isolated sentences and quotes).

In your case, I would recommend finding a proper course.

Adamant

Courses will not give you a good enough grasp on a language. You can learn enough to communicate decently, but the only way you can really learn it is to have normal conversation with normal people on a regular basis, and that's probably not going to happen unless you spend considerable amounts of time in a country where that language is spoken.

Adamant

theblackdragon

He's already mentioned he's just a kid, Adamant. While i do agree that the total-immersion method is the best way to learn a new language, the best he can do in his situation is try to get into some kind of language course where he's at right now and then take the fullest advantage of his time with his cousins in Japan if/when he visits them.

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ItsFuzzyPickles

BleachFan888 wrote:

http://smart.fm/
Best. Website. For Learning. Japanese. <-------------Period

I'm using this thing to pull ahead of my Japanese class. Just search "Japanese" at the top, and click Japanese Core 2000: Step 1. It'll teach you the most basic 200 words of the Japanese language to start.

To begin, create an account (it's totally free). Then, you can start the lesson. Find the link on the page that is called "iKnow". From there, it'll teach you in a way where you'll feel as though you are actually learning stuff! Let me know what you think, and if you want, you can "follow" my profile! :3 (Username: GameWiz)

EDIT: Oh wait...If you know absolutely NOTHING about the language, then I suggest searching "Master Hiragana" and "Master Katakana" in order to get to grips with the Japanese writing system... Just ask me if you have any questions about the language, and I'll do my best to try and help!

Oh thank you, I'm signing up for the site right now.

@BTW, I'm SuperSmashBros.Fan. Make sure to send me an PM message.

Edited on by ItsFuzzyPickles

ItsFuzzyPickles

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Bankai

Adamant wrote:

Courses will not give you a good enough grasp on a language. You can learn enough to communicate decently, but the only way you can really learn it is to have normal conversation with normal people on a regular basis, and that's probably not going to happen unless you spend considerable amounts of time in a country where that language is spoken.

Courses are a better place to start than a book or CD.

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