How would i learn basic Japanese online?

zeromac · Mar 2, 2011

Well i tried to enter the japanese class in my school but they were full so my only other option was to teach myself. Problem is i don't have any resources to do so or know of any. I heard of this program called Rosetta Stone, is that viable?

Evo.lve · Mar 2, 2011

Rosetta Stone sucks. It thinks that sentence structure which is not as important in Japanese as it is in English is more important than how to say the word "I".

Try getting some Japanese PDF books, there are numerous GOOD sites for learning hiragana and katakana etc.

Densetsu · Mar 2, 2011

Depends on what your ultimate goals are.

If you want to read manga, watch anime or play games in Japanese, then the obvious first step would be to learn how to read kana:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kana

If you're truly motivated you can learn all of the kana in one weekend--it's really not that hard. It's the kanji that takes a long time.

After you have some basic reading ability, learn some basic grammar:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar

At the same time you should learn as much vocabulary as you can.

If you use Firefox, you should install rikaichan. This will help you navigate Japanese websites. All you have to do is hover your mouse over a Japanese word and it will tell you how to pronounce it as well as its definition in English. You have to learn how to read kana before you can use it though.
http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/

You should immerse yourself in Japanese as much as possible. Check here for tips on how to do it:
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/

If your goal is to be fluent at speaking (without learning to read), I would suggest going with Pimsleur's Japanese audio CDs. They're pricey, but they can be ninja'd, if you know what I mean.

For listening skills, you should listen to Japanese podcasts or watch Japanese clips on YouTube. Of course, this isn't for beginners. You should try all of the things I listed above, and once you've gained a basic understanding of Japanese, listening, reading and speaking will fall into place.

For textbooks I think the Genki volumes 1 and 2 are pretty good for beginners. Those can be ninja'd as well, including the Genki audio CDs.

Good luck.

Evo.lve · Mar 2, 2011

Also this for learning symbols and not particularly caring about speaking.

http://www.genkijapan.net

altorn · Mar 2, 2011

i'm also in my quest to learning japanese and what i do is just watch subbed anime, use google translate sometimes and read articles online.

so far i know how to say a number of words, build VERY simple sentences, and count.

but regardless i will also follow DensetsuITSOVER9000 advice and follow the links he posted.

("they can be ninja'd", no more pirates eh? lol)

zeromac · Mar 2, 2011

Whats the difference between Kana and Katakana?

Evo.lve · Mar 2, 2011

Kana is both hiragana (the normal Japanese script) and katakana, the script used for words borrowed from english, e.g. toosto/toast (can't actually write it in katakana, there'll be an error)

zeromac · Mar 2, 2011

Wait so Kana is both complete alphabets? Is it just a way to refer to both those alphabets or is Kana a completly different alphabet?

Also, got any sites for learning Kana, Densetsu?

Evo.lve · Mar 2, 2011

Kana = katakana and hiragana.

Hiragana and Katakana BOTH consist of
a
i
u
e
o

and then the letters k, t, s, n, h, m, y (ya yo yu), r, w (wa o nn)

Densetsu · Mar 3, 2011

Any website that shows you the kana tables (both hiragana and katakana) would work, but ideally you want to see the stroke order (exactly how to write it) as well. The Wikipedia website I listed in my answer above contains all of the kana. Each character has its own link, and if you click on it you will be taken to a page that shows its stroke order.

One thing I forgot to mention about learning to read Japanese: Once you master the kana, you should go to a manga website that offers the raw scans as well as the translated scans.

Look for anything by Shonen Jump (Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, etc.) because Shonen Jump comics have kana next to all the kanji so you know how to pronounce it and look it up in a dictionary if you need to. Download both the raw and "scanlated" versions so you can read the Japanese, try to figure out what it means on your own, then look at the English version after you've tried to guess. In general I've found the "scanlations" to be pretty accurate. Sorry I can't provide links to manga websites because it's copyrighted material, but they're a lot easier to find than ROM sites so you should have no problems.

How would i learn basic Japanese online?

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