Let's learn Japanese (old thread)

Hi guys!

I don't know if any of you have stumbled upon this yet, but if not, I thought I would share. The best way to learn Japanese (or any language, really) is to keep at it and try to read, watch, listen, etc. to things in that language. Reading and "shadowing" (following along with audio readings and repeating) is huge - for me, anyways. I'm approaching my second year of learning 日本語, and still consider myself to be on the beginner - intermediate level. For those of you near also this level, you may find it tough to locate things that you are able to read (or at least challenge yourself to read) or listen to.

And so, here is a great resource for things of the aforementioned nature: http://www.tofugu.com/2012/08/28/japanese-reading-practice-for-beginners/

From Japanese children's stories, newspapers for young Japanese, to basic manga and TV shows - there is a lot offered!

So feel free to check it out and keep on learnin'!

 

I don't know what level I'd consider myself to be. If I were to take a college class on Japanese, I might feel out of place. I know the kana alphabet pretty well, and know a lot of structural things, but I don't really know the language at all. The part where the class would teach how to read and write the letters would be a waste of time, yet I can't speak even the most basic sentences.

I learned kana from translating Final Fantasy 5. I was the reverse engineer, while my Japanese friend was the translator. I had to learn kana in order to work with the game's text rendering system. Our two roles weren't exclusive; my friend did some of the reverse engineering, and I actually translated a thing or two. In particular, I helped with the item names, because so many of them were references to European fantasy written in katakana.

 

How you learn depends on what type of learner you are too.
I learn more from reading and writing than listening - my gf speaks to me in japanese i dont understand all the time as well as tells me words and their meanings but i forget them easily.
I just picked up some manga to start reading but they are not easy manga ... perhaps I should start lower.
i picked up NANA and Attack on titan.
Whilst they have kana i still need to have a dictionary for most words and also the grammar is difficult for me.

 

@Myria
They only teach Kana for around 2 weeks in a university language course, it's not a big deal at all in terms of wasted time. And sometimes you may learn something new that can help you on the way (i.e. I learnt how to write シツンソ properly. I never knew which stroke was supposed to go from bottom to top and vice-versa)

I took the intensive course and everyone had to be able to write all 100 katakana and hiragana within one week. Boy was I happy that I had already known them for years LOL

 

http://www.nowpro.co.jp/menu/products/iphone/shindan/pc.html

Has anyone tried this?

This looks to be really good
After I learn my 3000 kanji i will do this after

 

Wow, 3000 Kanji? That's more than what most people consider to be fluent in Japanese... correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the typical Japanese person need not know more than roughly 3000 Kanji in order to read most newspapers, books, etc.

You're also learning grammar along the way, right?

 

Hi Zhaled
welcome to the forums and thanks for your reply!

Yep definitely though I suck at it..once i finish the Kanji I want to devote more effort into the grammar.
This is my progress routine

"
After 3 weeks using the Heinsig method I am up to 1000 Kanji.
And I have a 90% correct answer (no cheating) record on Anki with 2218/2450 correct answers
just under 1/3 of my target

This is also whilst trying to do a private Japanese lesson 2 days a week (with homework...generally a chapter of minna no nihongo 2) exercising, cooking my meals, and a full time job with occasional overtime + a bit of social life on weekend + Japanese gf who i speak to on weekends.
I think my progress will slow down soon though as I have Tokyo Game Show to attend.....ちょっと　邪魔 けど。。。。
I am only on 6-7.5 hours sleep though..I could cut out the exercise and save a few hours"

 

Thanks!

Wow, what a routine... sounds really busy! I'm taking Japanese courses through my college, and my second year of learning the language begins next week. I think I'm roughly around 200 Kanji + all of the grammar and vocabulary from the first year. It's quite a bit of studying, but honestly, it's such a fun language to get into! The book we use is titled なかま, by Hatasa, Hatasa, and Makino. I've also heard of Genki, but haven't had the time to check it out.

Your busy schedule reminds me of college! Can't wait to go back next week!

 

Do you guys know any good iPhone apps for practicing kiragana and katakana recognition? Specifically, the "ten-ten" and... Whatever that little circle thing that gives kana a "p" sound is called, versions. I know the all the basic hiragana and katakana kana, but I'm a bit slow on the altered versions. Dr. Moku would be ideal, but it doesn't include the altered kana in the quiz I can't seem find any apps that are "Quick! What kana is this?" style that also included the altered kana.

 

What about Anki and just making your own flashcards?

 

I've been trying to learn japanese. I started last week but with other school work I have, I've been able to only know that Aoi is Blue, and the po and bo symbol. I know onee-chan and onii-chan but don't really know how you would pronounce them. Anyone know where I could buy flash cards for kata? or where I could find a site that has the kata. symbol chart do I could copy them down?

 

I browsed though this quickly and picked up one without trying to hard to remember any of them, so it should do it's job if used properly.

http://www.tofugu.com/japanese-resources/hiragana42/

 

That's very similar to the Dr. Moku's Mnemonics app I used to learn hiragana and katakana quickly, except that app also has a quiz. I'd recommend them for a beginner!

As to pronunciation, that's where knowing hiragana/katakana is helpful, since you'll learn all the sounds that Japanese is made up of. Like the old saying goes, "friends don't let friends rhyme "Akane" with "Rain""! So in the case of "onee-chan", written in hiragana, it would be "おねえちゃん", which is "o" "ne" "e" "chi" "ya" and "n". So long as you know how these are suppose to sound, string 'em together, and you know how it's suppose to be pronounced!

Of course, I'm a beginner myself, so any "せんぱい", feel free to correct me

 

Sometimes! This is more-so the case with katakana, I've found. However, both katakana and hiragana use take advantage of the small tsu (っ and ッ) to produce a harder consonant. So, for example, we know that いい means "good," essentially. But, if we want to say "was good" (past tense) when describing something, it's irregular and is よかった... not simply よかた. There is, indeed, a slight difference in pronunciation, but to the untrained ear, it is very hard to pick up.

I know it's something really minor, but the small tsu can make a whole lot of difference! And things aren't always spelled exactly how you'd hear 'em.

 

Oh that damned small tsu, I'm STILL not sure I know how that thing's suppose to work!

Here's a good example, listen to a Japanese person say "Sonic" (i.e watch a Sonic the Hedgehog retrospective or something), they say it as "Sonikku" (ソニック). If you ask me, if you spelled it as "Soniku" (ソニク), that's much closer to how it's suppose to sound in English.

 

What do you mean by how it works, exactly? Let's reverse this a bit - do you know how every phonological change, merger, split and chain shift works in English? Should one who's been studying English for a few years learn these complex concepts when they lack fluency? You're better off just listening to it, seeing examples and practicing mimicking those rather than working on trying to understand every core detail of the language at the beginner level. With what you're asking, it seems as if it's akin to analyzing every radical in a particular kanji in an attempt to derive how it got its meaning vs just memorizing that kanji and realizing it means X. For now, just try to go with the flow, and it should start to come a bit more naturally as you progress.

If you're asking how it sounds, think of it as a slightly small pause. BTW, look up the words マッハ and バッハ if you want some vocabulary that are a bit more out of the "norm" when it comes to standard loan word pronunciation.

 

Haha good way of putting it. I agree; just keep up with vocabulary and grammar exercises before you try to make sense of the technicals. I'm roughly 2 years into learning Japanese, and the finer details and rules still elude me. It's all very much a game of memorization and practice / application at this point. :]

 

私は日本で生まれて日本で暮らしている...
この国はとても平和だ......