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Topic: Japanese (language) discussion thread

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Turnip

turtlelink wrote:

So I've been thinking about learning the language independently (for now)... What's the best way to start? It seems like studying the pronunciation of the hiragana and katakana seems to be what people on the internet recommend but I just wanted to see what you guys would recommend. Hope the thread isn't too dead for discussion D:

Before learning ANY vocab or grammar, learn hiragana and katakana (focus on remembering them, not writing them; remembering them well enough to write them will come naturally after you read enough).

After that, use some or all of the following resources for grammar, vocab, and kanji.

~Grammar resources:

-Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese($70 w/ workbook) This is what I recommend the most. It isn't horribly boring, and it explains concepts very well.
+Teaches grammar, kanji, and vocab.
+Good explanations
+Workbook forces you to use what you've learned

-Textfugu.com ($20 per month/$80 for a lifetime subscription). This is my second recommendation (very close to being first).
+Teaches vocab, grammar, and kanji.
+The style of writing is very interesting, and I felt much more motivated with this course than any other.
+You'll also get unlimited access to his future site, etoeto(which is for reading practice), if you have a lifetime TextFugu membership.
NOTE: There are about 8 months worth of content right now. The creator of the site, Koichi, is currently working on a huge upgrade to add more content.
NOTE: They're having a new years sale until Jan. 7th, I believe. The forever membership is $40/$50, can't remember

-Imabi.net (FREE): I haven't used this a whole lot yet, but it is pretty good for a free resource from what I've seen. Its explanations sometimes get a bit wordy and boring.
+Teaches grammar, vocab, (and I think it teaches kanji too).
+Teaches basically all grammar exceptions.
+LOTS of example sentences.

~Kanji learning resources:

-Wanikani.com ($8/month $80/year: first two "levels" are free) Okay, I can't recommend this enough. It is absolutely amazing for learning kanji. Sometimes the workload gets a bit intimidating in the higher "levels." Just try out the first two levels to see if you like it.
+Good community
+Teaches the 2,000+ kanji you need to know to read manga, newspapers, and video games, as well as 5,000+ vocab.
+Mnemonics for each kanji, radical, and vocab to help you remember everything better.
+Uses a SRS (Spaced Repetition System) to help get the kanji/vocab into your long-term memory.
+Only takes about 1.5-2 years to finish if you follow it faithfully (which is incredibly fast for learning that many kanji)
NOTE: Half off coupon for WaniKani is included in a Textfugu membership.
NOTE: I recommend using this even if the grammar resource you use teaches kanji.

~Reading practice:

-Video games
-Manga
-Japanese blogs
-Japanese news sites/newspapers
-Japanese children stories
-Etc.

~Resources for reference:

-Jisho.org: A great online dictionary.

-tofugu.com/downloads/japanese-particles-cheatsheet.pdf --Cheat sheet for basic grammar particles

-Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese: (http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar) This is something pretty much every self-learner I've met uses. It doesn't explain new concepts very well, as it gets quite wordy and technical, but it is great for referencing already learned grammar concepts.

-http://www.realkana.com/ katakana/hiragana quiz.

More resources here: http://www.tofugu.com/2010/04/06/tofugu-100-best-japanese-lea...

Edited on by Turnip

Cringing is really fun.

KeeperBvK

Kawaii_Neko wrote:

Even though i'm not Japanese, i know plenty of it. For example, スーパー means Super and マリオ means Mario. I can remember those in a snap.
Just look at my signature.

Sorry to say, but your signature is full of mistakes and inconsistencies. If you want me to, I can fix it for you later when I get back home and can type in Japanese again.

KeeperBvK

Turnip

Saw this on Kickstarter and thought it was pretty cool.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1374838500/japanese-the-g...
I'd back it, but only if I knew that it used more advanced particles and sentence structures than what was shown. I also wish it didn't use ローマ字, but I suppose it was a good idea to add it so that people who can't read kana can play as well.

@Kawaii_Neko The correct way to say your signature would be
"私の名前はこなたです! かわいくて元気ですよ!,"
or
"私の名前はこなたです! かわいくて明るいですよ!,"
I believe the former way would be the most common way of saying it. The "よ" particle could be omitted, but it adds extra "force" to the sentence. xD

Edited on by Turnip

Cringing is really fun.

Turnip

@CanisWolfred As long as the books are accurate, they're helpful (for reinforcing what you've learned from other resources, at the very least).
Even if you already have resources, it's good to have others to use. Not only is it amazingly helpful for difficult concepts to hear a rainbow of different explanations of the same thing, but having multiple resources is also good for checking the accuracy of said resources.

Cringing is really fun.

turtlelink

Thanks so much Ataraxia. I already started writing in a notebook and tried learning/memorizing the first 10 hiragana from textfugu. I think I'll spend the rest of the month or so with hiragana before moving along. Thanks for all the resources! I'll try and check most of them out. Any more good tips for a beginner?

TurtleLink's backloggery
Brawl FC: 4425-1340-4519
The Sister Complex Kingpin of Steel!

Turnip

turtlelink wrote:

Thanks so much Ataraxia. I already started writing in a notebook and tried learning/memorizing the first 10 hiragana from textfugu. I think I'll spend the rest of the month or so with hiragana before moving along. Thanks for all the resources! I'll try and check most of them out. Any more good tips for a beginner?

I'm still somewhat of a beginner myself, but my main tips would be:
-Focus on reading kanji, not writing them (unless you live/plan on moving to Japan in the near future).
-Don't rely on furigana for reading kanji (furigana are the little hiragana characters above a kanji; they show you the reading of the kanji)
Untitled
-PACE YOURSELF. I've seen countless beginners bite off more than they can chew, and quit within a month. On top of being semi-demotivational, you also don't learn the things as well if you rush through them.
-Use many different resources
-Use what you've learned by doing things you enjoy (reading manga, playing Japanese games, etc.) Don't get unmotivated if you can't read everything yet; just look it up or skip over it.
-When looking for learning resources, be wary of "Learn Japanese Super Fast: The REAL Way" books/websites; many times, these book's goals aren't to get you to fluency, but to give you a "quick Japanese lesson" to become tourist level at the very least.

Cringing is really fun.

KeeperBvK

AtaraxiaX wrote:

@Kawaii_Neko The correct way to say your signature would be
"私の名前はこなたです! かわいくて元気ですよ!,"
or
"私の名前はこなたです! かわいくて明るいですよ!,"
I believe the former way would be the most common way of saying it. The "よ" particle could be omitted, but it adds extra "force" to the sentence. xD

Ok, I see I'm too late, but for what it's worth: You've corrected everything I was going to. ^^

KeeperBvK

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