2007-01-17 07:53:29 · 15 answers · asked by kurrupt 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
im a senior in high school and i plan on moving to japan when i graduate from college. im taking the class when i go to college, but i want to start learning the basics now
2007-01-17 08:01:54 · update #1
japanese is not easy but not impossible either to learn it. at first, i suggest you to learn the two phonetic alphabet - hiragana and katakana - which you can learn in a month's time studying a few hours a day. you do have to practice a lot in order not to forget. then you can buy minna no nihongo I with its translation in english and start studying by yourself. it is a very good book and one can learn the basics by itself - there is also a cd available. after mastering hiragana and katakana you can start up with basic kanji. you have to learn about 2000 kanjis to be able to read a japanese newspaper. of course, it doesn't hurt to look up information on the web. good luck!
2007-01-17 08:32:18 · answer #1 · answered by Flavio Y 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
First of all, I hope you stick with this. Japanese is a fun but tough language to learn, and Japan is a great place to visit or live.
I agree with most of the advice written here:
http://www.takipedia.org/wiki/Learning_Japanese
Note their #1 advice: you should start with trying to learn hiragana and katakana, as someone else advised.
This is a site I discovered recently:
http://www.nihongojouzu.com/
I like it because he interviews people who learned Japanese fluently and asks them what they did to learn it so well.
After you graduate college, consider the JET program:
http://www.jetprogramme.org/
I'm a JET now, and I recommed it to anyone who wants to live here. I hope it's still around when you graduate!
2007-01-17 23:40:47 · answer #2 · answered by Big D 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You could try to get a "head start" all you want, but it won't work. Japanese is a very difficult language for Westerners to grasp mainly because they expect every language to conform to Roman letters (which is why the majority of online "learners" only use romaji).
Japanese is a language which requires a teacher for you to get further than just the stage of "memorizing certain phrases only used in certain, specific situations". A teacher (perferably a native Japanese speaker who knows how to use English well) is needed for Japanese to be learned at even a remotely decent first-grader level.
I also suggest not moving to Japan until you actually learn more about it and how much easier--and better--it would be to just stay in your home country and get a job.
2007-01-17 17:00:13 · answer #3 · answered by Belie 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Take japanese language classes.
2007-01-17 15:55:47 · answer #4 · answered by Shmesh 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Go to Barnes And Noble. They have tons of languages you can learn just by reading a book.
2007-01-17 15:57:23 · answer #5 · answered by Miss §hopaholic 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Find a Japanese teacher.
2007-01-17 15:55:46 · answer #6 · answered by CctbOh 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
http://www.japanese-online.com/
I am not sure if this is the right site, but my grandson is learning Chinese for Free on a web site.
Just google till you find what suits you.
2007-01-17 16:03:13 · answer #7 · answered by antiekmama 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
try meeting a japanese friend. get to know them and have them speak the language in front of you. you will pick up on it alot easier.
2007-01-17 15:57:20 · answer #8 · answered by Suga Baby 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
They really don't have a language. Just a bunch of non-sense type gibberish. Thats why they lost WWll
2007-01-17 15:57:29 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 4⤋
Lesson 1
vaca=idiot
That's all I know. Sorry
2007-01-17 15:56:55 · answer #10 · answered by gone from here too 4 · 1⤊ 4⤋