I wanna learn Japanese

[KingAsix]

So I've wanted to learn Japanese since I was like 13 or 14.....But now at almost 19 Im ready to act on the dream. Im getting Rosetta stone and looking into other stuff so my question is.....What should I do and what should I use? What should I but....How often a day should I study. The main reason I'm acting on this is because I finally found a game on the DS that I REALLY wanna play but its Japanese only and the team working on the patch needs a translator. I just wanna be able to play the wicked awesome games that never make it here and help others do the same. So somebody help me out here.

P.S.-If anyone is wondering what game I'm talking about its Summon night X Tears Crown and even though I didn't mention it I wanna play that new Medarot game on DS

 

[Phoenix Goddess]

I use Rosetta Stone and two Japanese language books I bought from a book store. I also have Japanese friends

 

[KingAsix]

If I can't find the couple of Japanese books I have I'll just get more....I have some kanji books

 

[yuyuyup]

Sorry hate to piss on your parade but crazy old japanese elders say it takes a fucking lifetime to master the language so give up now forever

 

[Cermage]

in b4 weeaboo.

best way to learn reading imo. is to grab a hiragana/katakana chart. buy a little notebook that you'll dedicate to learning them. and grab a hira/kata dictionary. after you've learnt the hira/kata alphabet, go play a game like dragon quest ix or pokemon, play through slowly, you should be able to read it in japanese and then when you come across a word you don't know, look it up in the dictionary. play the games till the point you can read them smoothly (6 months to a year i'm guessing).

then tackle kanji.
http://www.hellodamage.com/top/kanjidamage/

read that to get the basics. and then go through his first few kanji here
http://kanjidamage.com/

imo you don't really need to know learn how to speak it, there isn't any odd pronounciations or anything like english. but if you want to have a go at it, use rosetta stone or something.

 

[Phoenix Goddess]

Sorry hate to piss on your parade but crazy old japanese elders say it takes a fucking lifetime to master the language so give up now forever

Well stop pissing

My translations are doing very well according to my Japanese friends, so hope isn't completely lost. If there's a possibility, then it can happen.

 

[KingAsix]

Thanks for your help guys...If anyone else has some tips....Keep'em coming.

 

[Raika]

http://www.youtube.com/user/bumnumba1

Look under Japanese Course...
Beware though, the dude swears a lot... Which makes it memorable and funny as hell.

 

[KingAsix]

@Cermage
That seems like it would work for me. Imma get a dictionary on my next pay day and get started.

@Raika
Yeah...I look at his 1st lesson, but as long as it helps.

@Anyone
Can anyone recommend a good hira/kata dictionary

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

My Japanese Coach for the DS is actually pretty decent. It has some small bugs but overall I suggest you use it if you're on the bus/train/plane somewhere. I learnt quite a lot of Japanese through it. The key word of course is PRACTICE, watch anime, read manga, play untranslated games, etc. You'll learn a little every time you do it!

 

[Blaze163]

I'm learning Japanese via a combination of the Japanese Coach DS game and the book 'Japanese for Dummies' which comes with a CD and phrase book. I ripped the CD to my Cyclo so I can leave it on overnight and pick up a little in my sleep. I know enough to flirt with the cute Japanese girl I know, that's good enough for me.

 

[Njrg]

 

[logical thinker]

@Anyone
Can anyone recommend a good hira/kata dictionary

This? http://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/?&#12...#12540;?

I recommend you to install Japanese language input in your OS. It is easy to do this on Win7.

 

[KingAsix]

Wow I should learn Japanese at a decent rate with all these tips.

But I wish I could find an hira/kata dictionary I could take with me. I use to use Japanese Coach (learn my numbers that way....can count all the way to 99). I've started learning my hiragana though. I almost got all the vowels. a,i,e,u, and o......yep.

 

[Alex666]

I can also recommend my Japanese Coach on the DS. Did the first 100 lessons and its awesome if you overlook the few bugs which are mostly wrong stroke order or sometimes a bit confusing translations ^^
I for me started to create my own japanese/english/german (obviously) dictionary with the vocabulary from the game. Now i got like a whole schoolbook and i bought a grammar book from "pons" dont know if they sell this in other countries except germany.
Dont get convinced by people saying its impossible to learn

it is possible if you got enough passion

and watch this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNHitUDJ1zo
meri san no hitsuji hitsuji hitsuji, meri san no hitsuji kawaii ne? *singz*

 

[gameboy13]

I would REALLY like to learn Japanese, but I don't have the patience.

 

[Alex666]

Yeah you can do it with My Japanese Coach, too. But as you said you have to do it on your own.
You have to do everything on your own with MJC

But if you are willing to do so i think its a great piece of software

although it cant replace a teacher or epensively made software i think =)

 

[KingAsix]

Yeah im basically using a combination of all that you guys are suggested.....Translated some lines from Summon Night Tears Crown (ones that were strictly kana and one that was kanji). I haven't checked my translation but I think I did well. Can;t wait to learn my kana sllayables


EDIT - I got the japanese input thingy。Im not sure if im writing this right but here goes.
じん　ひきがね　わ　そごん　です！！！

 

[logical thinker]

How did you translate it without even knowing kana?

 

[KingAsix]

i was bored and i used this book with a chart for help. As far as actually remembering them...I've only gotten a,i,o,e, and u

EDIT - I only picked small simple (looking) lines to translate. One that didn't have any kanji either. I learned the word for "what's wrong" in the process