Japanese

Japanese Learners Unite!

Do you study Japanese? If not, are you interested in starting? Got study tips? Post discussion related to learning the Japanese language here!

Just got my Japanese for Busy People III in the mail today, I've looked through it, but haven't started doing any work in it yet. Looks pretty much like II for the most part. I also have a huge Kanji book that I whipped out $30 for that I almost never use, besides memorizing Kanji during class and junk. >_>

Anyways, any fellow Japanese studiers on the forums?



Free Resources

Let's Learn Japanese Basic Episode 1 A (All other parts can be found on YouTube by searching) (Video series covering basic to intermediate Japanese. 52 Episodes total.)

Japanese Basics @ TJP (Introduction to Japanese and learning the Kana)

Grammar Lessons @ TJP (Several lessons on basic Japanese grammar.)

Japanese Learning @ about.com (Some basic lessons, also has some culture info)

Renshuu (Reviewing and memorizing Vocab and Kanji. Kana knowledge required)

Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese (Kana and grammar lessons. Moderate amount of Kanji needed to use the latter)

JapanesePod101. (Extensive audio lessons. Other content available for paying subscribers)

I always wanted to study Japanese, since my Dad & Step-mom got Rosetta Stone for Korean, I wanted to get the Japanese version of it

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Eh...Rosetta Stone ain't great. Well, I don't know if it's great or not, but it doesn't really work for Japanese as far as I'm concerned.

It was actually one of the first things I used when I was studying Japanese. Here's how the first lesson went.

"Otokonoko. Aha! That means boy *click on picture*."
"Booru. Hmm, that sounds like 'ball' *click*. Yup!"
"Otokonoko to Booru. Hmm...Well, here's a picture of a boy and a ball! 'to' must be 'and'! Whoo! This is great"
*next screen*
"Otokono no ue ni aru booru"
"...Whut."

And it continued like that until I quit. I recently got Version 3 from a friend, and it's a bit better, though I still wouldn't recommend it as a stand-alone resource.

For some free stuff, try searching for the "Let's Learn Japanese Basic" video series on YouTube. Although I guess technically it's 'pirated', since it's was a TV program and what-not, it hasn't aired for years and there are no more videos for sale of it.

They had a kiosk stand where they had it & it happened to me, but it was something with juice & they did this really long sentence which really confused me

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I was bored, so I added some links to the first post for beginners who are looking to get into Japanese. Although they can appeal to beginners, many of the links go into more advanced Japanese too, so even intermediate learners can take advantage. They are all free, but JapanesePod101 will give you some supplements to the audio lessons if you subscribe, but the audio lessons are free.

If anyone has any Japanese questions as well, feel free to post them here. I'll (And maybe some of the other sneaky Japanese learners on the forum) do my best to help out.

Ah, finally a thread in my current region.

The Japanese classes at my school use "Japanese: The Spoken Language" which is really good for what it has but a bit dated. I probably wouldn't recommend it without a teacher to clarify bits.

When my book's fail me, or I need to search for random bits of grammar, Tae Kim's Guide is pretty amazing. Also a google search for "[bit of Japanese grammar] grammar" is amazing for finding other resources explaining various Japanese grammar bits.

I think the most important part of learning Japanese is listening to lots of Japanese. The podcasts piepiepie mentioned seem good.

It's been four years since I decided to try and learn japanese, and this is where I start?
The fates are against me.

I do plan on going (and maybe working) in Japan on the near future and I wanted to learn japanese for that. Due to the nature of my course (Information Technology) I won't be taking a japanese language course (only for HRM and Tourism students in my college).

I'll try and learn the language with those links and books and the so-called "Rosetta Stone."

Thanks for helping me!

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hey, I have been wanting to learn for a while now. I might do foreign exchange my senior year, so Japanese is a must for me.

I just dont know what I should do to learn easily, and not get bored in five seconds...

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I think you should start with "Traveler's Japanese." You know, basic greetings like good morning,
hello, goodbye, etc.

And for the japanese literate, what does Nijiro, Banzai and Nippon mean and how do you say "Happy Birthday", "Good Afternoon", "Good Evening" and "Excuse Me" in japanese?

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nijiiro = 虹色 right?

niji = rainbow
iro = color

Banzai is usually equivalent to Geronimo in English.... or like "Yeah", so I don't think it has any true meaning (although I'm pretty sure there is one, I'm just not good enough yet)

Nippon　＝　日本 = Japan

Good Afternoon = こにちわ = Konichiwa (Probably there is another one but I think this will do too)
Good Evening = こんばんわ = Konbanwa
Excuse Me = すみません = Sumimasen

I forgot what is Happy Birthday, err..... おめでと？ (Omedeto?)

I'm still learning so I'm prone to mistakes too....

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Omedetou is Congratulations.

Birthday is Tanjoubi I think. According to excite.co.jp, it's お誕生日おめでとう: o tanjoubi omedetou.

Arigato for your replies (did I say it right?)!!!

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こんにちは (Konnichiwa) actually . I don't think you HAVE to use は at the end, as I've seen it used with わ a many time, but I think it's grammatically correct or whatever.


Try the video links I provided in the first post, a lot of people find those enjoyable to watch.

Actually, it is こんにちは with は pronounced as "wa", but using わ in wrong.

I'm taking Japanese I at the local college, and it's going fine so far. I've learned the 46 basic hiragana so far, and learned how to say:

Yes
No
I understand
I don't understand
Good morning
Good afternoon
Good evening
"We are meeting for the first time. I am ____. Please be good to me!"
"What is ____?"
I have a question
Repeat yourself
Wait a moment
Excuse me
Thank you
*someone drops something* "Here you go." "Thanks!" "It's nothing."

I know some vocabulary and a few country names, too.

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*bumb*

So I was wondering if someone could help me with this grammar point. Example sentence:

"私はこのりんごを食べるところだ。”

From what I've been able to tell, this translates as "I'm going to eat this apple", but I'm a bit confused on the implication of it. Does the ところ say "It's going to happen at some point in time" or does it specifically imply that the action is about to happen?

Thankies~

It can mean at some point in time, or in some place. I believe it's (usually) the first one.

I'm also learning Japanese, though on my own as opposed to a class. Few public universities in NY offer the class.

I'm also learning japanese on my own, I don't think my university will let some IT student like me take a japanese language course which is meant for tourism students.

Oh and how do you say "Let's Hurry", "I don't know" and "Today is my birthday."

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There, I answered some of your test! XD

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Ok, ive got a question. What does chotto mean? A friend of mine spams it and it pisses me off.

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