How long should it take to learn Japanese? What should I do?

Question

I speak english and was required to take two years of spanish (which I took reluctantly) and can speak a little of that, but I was never really interested. My HS doesn't offer Japanese, and it what I am planning to go to college for, but Id like to get a jump start, so Im not clueless when I get there. How long do you think it'd take for me to learn it, and what do you think I can do to begin learning?

Answer 1

'hiragana' and 'katakana' are easy characters to master. my husband mastered all in less than 2 weeks.

japanese conversation... less than 2 yrs

'kanji' is different...
it takes looooooong time.
normally japanese children learn kanji for more than 12 yrs. (which means highschool degree) some 3,000 kanji characters are in common use in modern japanese, but an asahi shimbun survey says that 94% of written japanese communication is in 1,500 characters

my husband couldn't speak japanese when he came japan.
but he can speak japanese fluently now.

try this one
http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/

and make some native friend
japanese love to help people

Answer 2

If you take it at a good university program, in three years, you'll be able to communicate, read a bit, and write a bit. If you want near-complete fluency, and you continue to work at the same rate you did in college (which isn't likely), it takes about ten years. Some people are better at learning languages than others, so this is a factor as well.

Now if you just play at it, studying now and then, in ten years you'll be able to communicate in easy situations, and read simple signs and instructions.

The main problem in learning the language is learning kanji. Almost every kanji has more than one reading, so learning to read really takes time and effort.

If you want to start by NOT using kanji, try Japanese for Busy People. If you want to jump right in, try Shin Nihongo no Kiso. There are others, but these are good texts.

Answer 3

Get a basic textbook and start reading...

I suggest the "Genki" line of textbooks.

In order to get a leg up, learn Hiragana and Katakana.
Those are the two easy alphabets.

Answer 4

It depends on how hard and much you study. The writing system takes much more time than pronunciation and grammar.

Answer 5

a month