How many of your speak / read Japanese

[Nando]

How did you learn?

How well do ya know it?

[BlueBMW]

私は少し日本語をはなします。

高校時代に私は日本語を 勉強しました

だから、私は少し日本語をわかります。

[Arkhan Asylum]

I can fumble through moonrune RPGs and stuff fairly OKlike, sorta.


Heres how you do it

Step 1)  Pick an RPG that isn't very complicated
Step 2) Get a Katakana/hiragana chart, learn the difference, and get a Japanese word dictionary.   Something that lets you lookup Kanji with the SKIP method (find the radical, count the strokes, find the Kanji) helps also. 
Step 3) Talk to every motherfucker you see, and read every menu until shit makes sense.


As soon as they start doing voice overs, I no longer know what the hells going on.

[Nando]

Immersion is the key for sure and what better way to learn that with the PCE!! *does that read like a commercial or what?

LEARN JAPANESE THE PCE WAY!

[munchiaz]

i took japanese for 3 semesters in college like 4 years ago. I dont really recall to much. I've always wanted to give it another shot and learn

[grimm]

Its my favourite language to learn, but ive never had the level of concentration, motivation and dedication needed to learn such a radically different language compared to swedish, or other germanic or romanic languages we are used to in the west.

If my life ever turns around, i would definetly give it a shot. I love the language, some of their culture (mostly the ancient, not too into the "you gotta have new stuff or you are shamefull" business), and definetly the women. those eyes man.

[SuperPlay]

Unfortunately not :-(  I have to rely on translation projects for games (that kind people produce) and for articles etc. I have been using some open source OCR software (not pretty)

http://code.google.com/p/nhocr/

and

http://translate.google.com/#ja|en|

Also I use Google translate for web sites.

I have read about a better open source OCR application that supports Japanese called SmartOCR Lite.  Details here:

http://www.sandg-anime-reviews.net/?p=552

Not tried it yet!

[DragonmasterDan]

I took a year of it in college and have forgotten most of it.

[ps3repair1981]

Actually sometimes  Google translate is not that accurate with the Japanese.

[Gao]

I took it for a year and a half in college (one semester was intensive), and I spent about a month in Sapporo on this mini exchange thing my college offered, but I felt like I was hitting my limit with the thing.  Basically, I could do tests and homework and the like well enough, but I had a lot of trouble actually conversing with anyone, and it was a bit frustrating to see the one person who went over knowing virtually nothing being able to have a conversation better than I could by the end of our time in Sapporo.  Around that point, I was able to get the gist of what was going on when I played of Dragon Quest III and Fire Emblem Gaiden with a dictionary, but it was really slow.  It's been over five years since then, and I've atrophied a bit, but I can get around menus in games pretty easily.

[Tatsujin]

I'm forced to speak, read and write (thanks to PCs) it for the past 7 years. being now over the 30s for the same amount of time, it isn't always easy to remember all that stuff. So most of the shit I can speak and remember is the daily stuff I am confronted to, since I haven't much of time and the will to study that stuff when I'm back home (after hearing/using it all day long).

I have learned some basics (like kana and some kanjis/vocabulars) already two decades ago, so that helped me a lot to build up on this during the past 7 years.
without knowing some basics, this shit will go in one ear and straight out the other.

And I'm not really good at languages in general..lol.

[SuperDeadite]

俺は日本語をわからんけど。。。
でも、マンコ語は上手だよ!

[Tatsujin]

I like mango too.

btw. anyone speaks some ゼビ語?

[kazekirifx]

10th year living in Japan for me, so of course I speak/read/write.

PCE was the catalyst that got me here to begin with!
It's a good thing TTi failed so miserably and I had to start buying import games.
Don't know where I'd be today otherwise.

[Tatsujin]

10th year living in Japan for me, so of course I speak/read/write.

It's not so much of an of course. I know peeps being here even longer and they can't barely speak, let alone write stuff.

It also matters a lot at which age you move over? plus do you bring some basics with you at that time? plus are you willing to learn? etc.

[SamIAm]

Passed that JLPT1, baby.

I wanted to be a translator. Then I tried it and saw how boring the lifestyle is, so I went back to being a teacher. The downside is that I speak English all day, so I'm not as sharp as I was when I passed the JLPT, but at least I work for myself and I love what I do.

[Ji-L87]

俺は日本語をわからんけど。。。
でも、マンコ語は上手だよ!

I studied Japanese a bit in university (okay, 6 semesters) after getting an opportunity to try it out in high school but I don't even want to think about how much my "skills" have dropped since then. I've got no time (or motivation, lol) to study in my free time but I try to keep the understanding-what-the-shit-people are-saying-skills up by watching anime raws and laserdiscs Oh and playing games. Though, my kanji-reading ability have dropped so hard it's not even funny.　Actually, I should be watching news reports and dramas/live action instead but that's boring.

With all that said, I haven't been to Japan and really should go but I'm so afraid of flying (though I love aircraft) that this seems sort of impossible at the moment. Having someone to practice speaking the language with would be great. I have some friends from back when I studied but no one lives really close.

つまりだな、私は弱い人間であることを深く後悔している。笑ｗｗｗｗ

[SuperPlay]

Actually sometimes  Google translate is not that accurate with the Japanese. 

It's still better at translation than me ;-)

[Tatsujin]

Passed that JLPT1, baby.

gongrats dude I'm probably far away from passing the 1kyū, mostly due to the lack of kanjis, lol.

[Samurai Ghost]

Lived in Japan for 8 years and can speak fluently and read/write pretty well. I started studying on my own in high school and ended up getting a degree in the language. I work as a translator, just finished translating a document a few minutes ago actually! Gotta get up early and do another one. I quite enjoy translating although and I feel it helps keep my Japanese and English writing up.

[kazekirifx]

It's not so much of an of course. I know peeps being here even longer and they can't barely speak, let alone write stuff.

It is a matter of course, because I didn't write "10 year living in Japan and I am also a culturally insensitive dumbass".
That's pretty much what I think of Westerners who come here and never seem to learn the language. Don't care how old they are. They need to get out of their bubble, or quit relying on their Japanese spouse to do everything for them. Sure, I've met these people, and pretended to be nice to them, but sorry, honestly I have nothing but contempt for the ignoramouses you speak of.

[grimm]

Assuming everyone who lives in a country not of their origin who does not speak the language well, or at all, to be an culturally insensitive dumbass, if that is indeed your assumption, is very harsh.

Some people live in other countries for all kinds of reasons, and not everyone is adept at learning that language. If a person can "get away" with making themselves understood using another laguage than the one locally used, i see nothing wrong with that. Not everyone has the same ability to pick up a new language like you do kazekirifx.

[BlueBMW]

私はレーサクです。

[spenoza]

Studied Japanese for 4 years in high school and 3 years in college. Then I didn't use it for 12 years and forgot most of it  : )

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Zero chickenscratch language skills here and zero effort put in to learning it.

[kazekirifx]

Assuming everyone who lives in a country not of their origin who does not speak the language well, or at all, to be an culturally insensitive dumbass, if that is indeed your assumption, is very harsh.

You missed an important point there. I've been here over 9 years. Indeed, if I was saying that anyone who can't pick up the language in a half a year is a dumbass, then that would certainly be a little harsh.

Not everyone has the same ability to pick up a new language like you do kazekirifx.

Yes. Not everyone has the same amazing ability to learn a language after being immersed in it for 9 years. Guess I must just be super-intelligent or something.

In all seriousness, yes I'm kind of an asshole. But in all honesty I have to say that I am kind of disgusted every time I meet a foreigner who's lived in Japan over 5 years or so and can still hardly speak Japanese. I know not everyone is naturally good at picking up languages, but I just can't understand why anyone would want to continue living here without being able to speak the local language. It would be so limiting...

Incidentally, I also know a guy who never studied Japanese formally in a classroom a day of his life, but speaks/reads/writes excellently after living here 4 years. 4 years is pretty long, granted, but it just goes to show that classroom learning isn't necessarily essential. Each person learns in their own way.

[Tatsujin]

I never did any classroom learning as well, that's why I suck at kanjis...lol. Sure I can read quite a lot of 'em, but when it comes to hand writing I'm uberlost. Sure using a PC & keitai every day for 8hrs plus, doesn't help a lot in that departement.
It's just like using a calculator for the past 25 years and forgot all about mental math.

But speaks/reads/writes excellently after 4 years is amazing tho. to some it's just dropped in their laps.

[kazekirifx]

Yeah, I'm the same here, Tatsujin. Can't write kanji for crap since I use a PC/phone all day. If I need to write by hand I usually need a PC or phone in front of me in order to look up kanji.

[SamIAm]

The only western gaijin I've ever met who can write kanji by hand at something like an adult level are people who teach Japanese to other foreigners. For everyone else, there's not enough demand. These days, I can write my address from memory, but not a whole lot more.

[OldRover]

I can read some romaji but that's about it.

[grimm]

Assuming everyone who lives in a country not of their origin who does not speak the language well, or at all, to be an culturally insensitive dumbass, if that is indeed your assumption, is very harsh.

You missed an important point there. I've been here over 9 years. Indeed, if I was saying that anyone who can't pick up the language in a half a year is a dumbass, then that would certainly be a little harsh.

I didnt miss the point, i simply didnt take it to heart, because i dont think time has anything to do with it, not knowing a persons circumstances.. Finnish people migrating to Sweden in the 60-70's workforce migration can STILL not speak proper swedish. They have all sorts of weird grammar and pronounciation (not related to their finnish roots) simply because they learned the basics in the barracks while not working.

And regardless of how long anyone has lived anywhere, i still disagree, i am in no way disgusted or insult people who lives in sweden and cant pick up the language. I just accept the fact ill have to communicate with them some other way, and there always is. I dont take it as a personal insult, and neither should you. But thats up to you.

Its good if they do pick up the language, but they arnt automatically culturally insensitive dumbasses if they dont.

[Tatsujin]

I can read some romaji but that's about it.

pure reading can be done by almost everyone who learned reading in school,
to understand the meaning behind is an other rabbit hole 

[termis]

This thread pops up once every couple years, it seems. 

日常生活に必要なことばはできるけど・・・

I lived in Japan for one year between '05-'06, so I was able to pick up a good amount that year.  I had a good head start than most Westerners since I'm Korean and Japanese language structure is pretty similar to Korean (i.e. default/flowy/optional subject-object-verb order, usage of particles, usage of kanji-derived nouns, etc.).   Oh, and I studied the hell out of it when I was there too.  But of course, it's been on a slide ever since I left.

And agreed that immersion's the way to go if someone's serious about learning the language, but that's no secret...

As a matter of fact, I have to start thinking about how I'm going to get my 1 1/2 year-old daughter to pick up half-decent Korean.  She won't be able to do it in her current environment (in Western Australia, stay-at-home wife is Canadian).  Might have to go back to Korea for a few years I guess...

[jeffhlewis]

Took Japanese for four years in High School (we had a teacher exchange with a High School in Hiroshima) - by the fourth year I could conversate at like a kindergarten level, write about 80 kanji and knew kata/hiragana like the back of my hand...

Now 12 years later, most of it's gone. I can still read/write kana but my kanji knowledge went out the back door. Thinking about diving back in at some point but it's hard to find time.

[OldRover]

pure reading can be done by almost everyone who learned reading in school,
to understand the meaning behind is an other rabbit hole 

That's what I mean, ya weirdo.

[ps3repair1981]

What is the best Japanese dictionaries to get ?

[Tatsujin]

pure reading can be done by almost everyone who learned reading in school,
to understand the meaning behind is an other rabbit hole 

That's what I mean, ya weirdo.

lol, sure I had extracted that out of your post, therefore j/k

[kazekirifx]

What is the best Japanese dictionaries to get ?

http://www.alc.co.jp/
is really much better and easier to use than most book/electronic dictionaries in my opinion.

[BlueBMW]

My textbook in High School was called "Japanese for Busy People" lol

[Tatsujin]

hahaha benby, I used the very same books for my autodidactic learning, but as its german aequivalent (univ. issue).

@kiri. good link, but not really useful for any beginners, since everything is explained in japanese only. sure very good for japanese people and those who studied the language over few years.

[kazekirifx]

@kiri. good link, but not really useful for any beginners, since everything is explained in japanese only. sure very good for japanese people and those who studied the language over few years.

True. Still very useful for copying and pasting long and difficult terms. It has quite a bit of official names and long terminology which a typical dictionary does not include. I find this very useful for translation.
Also, it does pretty much the same thing that electronic dictionaries purchased in Japan do, which I have seen many a beginner purchase and attempt to make use of (presumably with some difficulty).

In my beginning years, I found a paperback version of Merriam-Webster's Japanese-English Dictionary to be indispensable. I hope that helps.

[spenoza]

Kodansha has a wonderful kanji guide for the jouyou set. All sorts of great indices as well. If you can't find one of the included kanji in that dictionary, you'll never be able to use a kanji dictionary of any kind.

[Ji-L87]

Well, if you have a DS there's always this.
It's not the best, but it's easy of use make it good to have.

It was a while since I used it but I think it's more for words than just a single kanji but you can both write the word to look it up, or you can look it up writing in english. Pretty handy. Though, there are a lot of words that doesn't have an english translation, with only a japanese description, but as I said, pretty handy software.

[Samurai Ghost]

What is the best Japanese dictionaries to get ?

http://www.alc.co.jp/
is really much better and easier to use than most book/electronic dictionaries in my opinion.

I agree that ALC is the best dictionary and extremely fast. I use it all the time for work. But for studying a paper dictionary has its merits. I feel that when you have to look up a work by hand you have a higher chance of retaining it than just copy-pasting something. It does take a lot longer though!

[CPTRAVE]

Does Rosetta Stone really work?

[Tatsujin]

Nope!

[guyjin]

Nope!

Why not?

[JoshTurboTrollX]

I know how to say sumi masen, and Nehongo ga wakatimasen.  That's about it. And I'm sure I'm not even saying that correctly.

I just picked up a series of CDs/MP3s of Pimsleurs speaking Japanese.  We'll see if a few car rides of this will start something with me learning moon man.

[Bernie]

[Samurai Ghost]

I think the CD stuff would help or be a good supplement to one's studies, as maximum exposure to the target language is key for really internalizing it. The problem is a lot of those CDs are dull as dirt. Which is why I say listen to something that interests you. If you happen to enjoy anime or Japanese film, knock yourself out watching some every day. You'd be surprised what you pick up from those kind of shows, especially TV series' which have catch phrases or characters who always say the same kind of lines. Plus you'd get used to hearing more informal Japanese which they don't teach you in any course that I know.