Best way to start learning Japanese?

[Extreme Coder]

So my school wants every one of the high school students (all of us together are about 5-6

) to each start learning a third language in addition to Arabic and English from now, so in two years time, we should be able to speak a bit well.

There were a few to choose from, like French, German, but I choose Japanese for some reason I still don't know even now

And I can't go back and choose another one now.. I wonder if that was a good choice

Anyway, the school tells us that we should learn Japanese anyway we choose, and they do something like a check-up on us every 2 weeks or so to see how are we doing.


So I want to know, what do you think is the best way to start learning Japanese? I also want to know some more about it before I begin.. I only know that there are a few things in it, like Kanji, and Hiranji.. :/
I also know that sooner or later I will have to take private lessons or go to a local Japanese teaching school here, but that will come later on..


Thanks a lot!

 

[cruddybuddy]

You guys rock. Many Americans can barely speak one language, let alone three.

 

[Law]

As long as you don't want to learn Moonrunes, you can try using Rosetta Stone to learn the language.

 

[Orc]

I know it kinda sounds cocky but... skip the steps and:
Get a tutor or a class. It's the best and fastest way.
It'll have better pacing than starting on your own. The books that your class/tutor requires will be easier for you to self study.

 

[Extreme Coder]

You guys rock. Many Americans can barely speak one language, let alone three.

Thanks!

QUOTEAs long as you don't want to learn Moonrunes, you can try using Rosetta Stone to learn the language.

And what exactly is a Moonrune?
And this Rosetta Stone is a good program?


I kinda remember seeing a website one of you guys linked to that was good for learning Japanese...

 

[Extreme Coder]

I know it kinda sounds cocky but... skip the steps and:
Get a tutor or a class. It's the best and fastest way.
It'll have better pacing than starting on your own. The books that your class/tutor requires will be easier for you to self study.

Yeah, of course I know that.
But the thing is the best(actually, the only

) school there is in Cairo for teaching Japanese won't be open till after a month from now.. :/

Is it even a possible goal to learn how to speak Japanese in two years? All I know is, Japanese letters look hard to write

And the only word I know how to say are bukka (idiot, AFAIK) and desu (that is right). I learned those from my cousins who live in Japan

 

[Law]

Moonrunes = Kanji

The other alphabets too.

 

[xJonny]

The best way to learn is to live there

I suppose you'd want plenty of books and a tutor to help you starting to learn though.

 

[Extreme Coder]

The best way to learn is to live there

I suppose you'd want plenty of books and a tutor to help you starting to learn though.

I'm sure you wouldn't mind giving me a ticket for Japan and paying for high school and University there

 

[Orc]

I know it kinda sounds cocky but... skip the steps and:
Get a tutor or a class. It's the best and fastest way.
It'll have better pacing than starting on your own. The books that your class/tutor requires will be easier for you to self study.

Yeah, of course I know that.
But the thing is the best(actually, the only

) school there is in Cairo for teaching Japanese won't be open till after a month from now.. :/

Is it even a possible goal to learn how to speak Japanese in two years? All I know is, Japanese letters look hard to write

And the only word I know how to say are bukka (idiot, AFAIK) and desu (that is right). I learned those from my cousins who live in Japan

I don't know if there's a Japanese Embassy there but that's where it's best to ask where to find classes/tutoring.

If you are really eager to learn it, there isn't really an easy way like most websites say.

But to start of, learn how to read the kana. Don't spoil yourself by just learning phrases in romanized Japanese, those are only good for asking where the toilet is.
There are a couple of books on them but I think the most popular is James Heisig's Remembering the kana.

One of the sites that's helpful is Tae Kim's Japanese Guide to Grammar

And yeah, if you can go live there. Go. lol

 

[Extreme Coder]

I know it kinda sounds cocky but... skip the steps and:
Get a tutor or a class. It's the best and fastest way.
It'll have better pacing than starting on your own. The books that your class/tutor requires will be easier for you to self study.

Yeah, of course I know that.
But the thing is the best(actually, the only

) school there is in Cairo for teaching Japanese won't be open till after a month from now.. :/

Is it even a possible goal to learn how to speak Japanese in two years? All I know is, Japanese letters look hard to write

And the only word I know how to say are bukka (idiot, AFAIK) and desu (that is right). I learned those from my cousins who live in Japan

I don't know if there's a Japanese Embassy there but that's where it's best to ask where to find classes/tutoring.

If you are really eager to learn it, there isn't really an easy way like most websites say.

But to start of, learn how to read the kana. Don't spoil yourself by just learning phrases in romanized Japanese, those are only good for asking where the toilet is.
There are a couple of books on them but I think the most popular is James Heisig's Remembering the kana.

One of the sites that's helpful is Tae Kim's Japanese Guide to Grammar

Thanks a lot for the tips! They will sure come in handy

QUOTE

And yeah, if you can go live there. Go. lol

I can only wish..

 

[kikuchiyo]

I am in the same boat as you, Japanese is my third language. I am on my second year in Japan now, but I know what its like to study Japanese abroad and if you search this forum, I know test84 had some threads about learning Japanese and there were a lot of tips there.

My suggestion is, get Genki I and II. They are the best intro level text books (I have used Japanese for busy people, minna no nihongo, and j. bridge). Go through those and if you have questions I am sure I or someone else on the forum can help you.

I know there are a lot of Japanese people in Cairo (one of the girls at my school in Kansai Gaidai, went to Cairo and came back conversationally fluent in Arabic...I really should have asked her out, she was hot). If you can find ANY native speaker, ask them if you can treat them to lunch once a week and practice with them. Speaking is going to help you more than anything else right now. If you can get a Japanese girlfriend, do it ; ) It will help more than anything and a native speaker will help a lot.

 

[Extreme Coder]

I am in the same boat as you, Japanese is my third language. I am on my second year in Japan now, but I know what its like to study Japanese abroad and if you search this forum, I know test84 had some threads about learning Japanese and there were a lot of tips there.

My suggestion is, get Genki I and II. They are the best intro level text books (I have used Japanese for busy people, minna no nihongo, and j. bridge). Go through those and if you have questions I am sure I or someone else on the forum can help you.

I know there are a lot of Japanese people in Cairo (one of the girls at my school in Kansai Gaidai, went to Cairo and came back conversationally fluent in Arabic...I really should have asked her out, she was hot). If you can find ANY native speaker, ask them if you can treat them to lunch once a week and practice with them. Speaking is going to help you more than anything else right now. If you can get a Japanese girlfriend, do it ; ) It will help more than anything and a native speaker will help a lot.

Thanks a lot, thankfully two of my cousins and my aunt live in Japan and they come to Egypt every once in a while..
I will try getting Genki.

What would help if I could go there, but I don't think they give scholarships for A* high school students

 

[User200]

lol 5-6 high school students... thats not bad... when i was in highs chool there were 4 of us total

 

[User200]

lol 5-6 high school students... thats not bad... when i was in high school there were 4 of us total.. and we had no language courses other then... English. Which is sad to say 2 of them failed and it wasn't me

Crap... double post

 

[pewpz]

It's going to be tough, but not impossible. The biggest drawback is having to essentially learn a new 'alphabet'. With the other languages like French and German, you have regular Roman letters which you can at least sound out.

Project JDS is a good place to start, DS homebrew:
http://www.ds-scene.net/?s=viewtopic&nid=4357

And here's an actual NDS title for learning the different kana:
Ojaru-maru: Ojaru to Okeiko Aiueo DS

One of the easier parts of learning Japanese is pronunciation, everything sounds exactly the way it's spelled. As long as you remember the vowel sounds, a=ah, i=ee, u=oo, e=eh, o=oh.

Good luck, it's definitely a challenge but very useful.

 

[Little]

There is a game, that has Sonic in it to help you learn vocab. All I can remember about it is that it has sonic in it.

 

[Raisingod]

Thanks a lot, thankfully two of my cousins and my aunt live in Japan and they come to Egypt every once in a while..
I will try getting Genki.

What would help if I could go there, but I don't think they give scholarships for A* high school students

Genki is indeed good. I would also reccomends looking at "Mina no nihongo" its a bit more comprehensive and its orgenized in a better way but its harder to use witout a teacher ( you will need to buy the english reffernce book) .

Anyway both Genki and MNN don't explain the grammatical logic behind most of the stractures they teach but they still great for begginers ( way better then 'Al-Arbia ' the text book they used to teach me Arabic in the seventh grade)

 

[kikuchiyo]

One of the easier parts of learning Japanese is pronunciation, everything sounds exactly the way it's spelled. As long as you remember the vowel sounds, a=ah, i=ee, u=oo, e=eh, o=oh.

This is why it's easier for me to read Bangla in katakana than it is in English.
I can actually understand Bangla written this way better than in Bangla script or Romanized. I used to check out books on Bangla from Kansai Gaidai's library and understand the Bengali this way.

 

[Raisingod]

This is why it's easier for me to read Bangla in katakana than it is in English.
I can actually understand Bangla written this way better than in Bangla script or Romanized. I used to check out books on Bangla from Kansai Gaidai's library and understand the Bengali this way.

You know Bengali? may I ask if your a naitve speaker or you learned it (you rarely see people who study it now days since most go for Hindi insted )