I want to learn how to speak Japanese. Local university does not teach. Any suggestions for the best way?

Question

I need to learn Japanese to get a possible promotion on my job. This will be a great benefit to my career.

Answer 1

I don't know if you are willing to move to learn
Japanese, or are you looking for ways to learn
in your current situation. If so, (meaning
you cannot move) and cannot find a person to
teach you locally, you can still learn a lot
on the Internet. There are many helpful
free websites, and you can always practice
speaking with people using software such
as Skype or ICQ or Messenger once you
get some basic vocabulary. But you will
have to start with teaching yourself
the Japanse scripts of Hiragana and Katakana.
You can find several websites teaching these.
You can learn this by the brute force method
in a couple of weeks, or you can get a
book by James Heisig (Remembering the Kana)
and learn it from there. This will enable
you to start reading the basic words and
build your vocabulary. There are many sites
giving you a quick start on the Japanese
sentence structure. For example,
you can find "The Quick and Dirty Guide to
Japanese" at http://users.tmok.com/~tumble/qadgtj.html
or, "The Dirty Guide to Japanese"
at http://nihonbunka.uaa.alaska.edu/language/dirtyguide.html

Then you will have to start learning Kanji
(the Chinese characters). They are not
as dreadful/confusing as they initially look.
There are several good books which help
you to understand Kanji. Again, James Heisig's
"Remembering the Kanji" is recommended
by many. In fact, you can read the first hundred
odd pages online here:
http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/miscPublications/pdf/RK4/RK4-00.pdf

Here is a site by a person who taught himself
to read, write and speak Japanese all by himself
without going to a class. He was able to
interview and get a job in Japan as a SW engineer!!
Hope it inspires you
http://alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/

Good luck to you.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

2

Answer 4

Moshi-moshi!

Assisted immersion training/learning would probably be the best, meaning you dive right in with someone that can speak it with you every day. Make it so that they are there to help you translate, make sure you have a way to translate words by yourself, but overall just try and speak it WITH them.

From personal experience, I've noticed that the best way to learn a new language is to find a close friend or even a significant other that speaks the language you want to learn. You'll then have plenty of time (and fun) to learn it from them.

The translating tool I was referring to can be something like the Rosetta Stone software, which is a highly rated system that you can pick up and almost any shopping mall... I'm sure I'm not the only one that will recommend this as an added tool.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Get a software program

Get a tutor (exchange language skills with a Japanese speaker - I've seen ppl do housework in exchange for language skills even)

PRACTICE - always always always use what you learn - you'll only learn by using the language, so you can study all day long, but if you don't get those words out of your head and flying out your mouth, you'll never get it.

Join a Japanese cultural event or center so that you can practice on your spare time and learn about the culture. The lanague isn't all of it. Culture is part of language.

I admire you for you willingness to learn a new language... now if I can only take my own advice and finally learn Spanish!!! LOL!!!

Answer 6

The best way to learn this language is to attend a Nippongo Class or find a dictionary with English to Japanese translations, it will help.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

I have never tried to fully learn myself, but how awesome it was having a third grade teacher who taught me to count from 1-10 (count, not spell, sorry..). It has been many, many moons and I still remember that..lol. Having a Japanese foreign exchange student who ended up being a boarder during college years helped for a few years as well. Best wishes =)

Answer 9

internet sites. a couple of years ago i had to do a presentation on japan and i found a site that had japanese translations and i learned some words in japanese for my presentation. good luck on getting the promotion. also there is tapes and cd's that help you learn languages they have them in most music stores.

Answer 10

Internet classes, Japanese language tapes or CDs.

Find some Japanese friends.

Constant immersion is very important. Oriental languages are harder, because the written language is so different, and the words have nothing in common with European languages.