What is the easiest way to learn to communicate when first arriving in Tokyo?

Question

If a person is going to Tokyo to live and work there what is the best way to learn to speak, read, write and understand their language?

Answer 1

get a simple travel translator. then start from there. you have to learn formal japanese, or learn from the same sex. Men and women have different speech forms in japanese. so, if you are a male and use the female language, we just assume that you are gay. no offense. but be sure from this standpoint that you learn the neutral formal, or the same sex language. to read and write is quite difficult. there are three types of characters in japanese. katakana which describes many foreing words, hiragana, which is what any japanese learns first and this writing differs it from chinese. then comes kanji, the characters which came from china. names, stations, airports, all have kanji lettering. also, once you learn the language, it doesn't mean that you've learned japanese. many words or phrases have a cultural etiquette behind it, that must be understood. for instance, once common thing to do when you get married, or if you move house, is to send a postcard with your new address. at the closure of the greeting, it will always say: "when you do visit our neighborhood, please do come and visit" this is a message that has no word meaning at all. you will not visit a japanese "house" without being formally invited. young people visit each other often, but anyone who has family with them, or parents living with them, just add that message. its like the question "how are you?" do you really tell people that you are sick, or have any private illnesses? If you live in Tokyo, I hope you don't live right in the middle of everything. it is expensive and noisy. try to live a little off the central part, then you will find friendly neighbors, and good prices even when buying from mom and pop stores like the grocers, or butcher or fishmonger. It will always be better than just popping into a supermarket. Japan is a nice country to live as long as you go along with the flow, and always wait to be invited. on a friendly level, ofcourse, you can invite people as well, but on a personal level, the japanese are very conservative.
I hope you will have a good experience here. if you interact in a local area, you will learn the language and custom very fast as well.

Answer 2

I agree with wild man... gestures..or try to have pocket size dictionary with you anywhere...
best of all, be friendly with them..as you will have many Japanese friends to help you with your Japanese and learn their cultures and language..
how much approachable you are, you would not have problems dealing with the language..there are lots ways to learn but to have someone to talk with you and practice is the easiest I could say.

Answer 3

Start with the new universal language with hand signs.
When they communicate in ghostly kitchen's dialect then both will start to exchange communication in planet of apes.
They too love to learn the new universal language call English in planet of apes.

Answer 4

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