Learning Japanese

[Nando]

What do you guys think of these learning cards?

[Ji-L87]

Why the youtube link to Little Witch Academia? (Thanks though, will watch it later )

Other than that...Danny's Mirai cards are cute, I guess.   Does the backside show any kind of stroke order or how to write these kanas?

However, one card with all the kanas, in...well...not alphabetical order but the Japanese equivalent would be more practical to have on hand. For that quick reminder. Kinda like this.

I think I have one at home somewhere. I could probably scan it or take a photo of it if you want.

The good thing about those Mirai cards is that you learn a word with each one.

[Nando]

Why the youtube link to Little Witch Academia? (Thanks though, will watch it later )

HAHAHAH not paying attention on my part, but fun lil Anime, my daughter has really been enjoying it.


Here's the actual page for Cards
http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/26495/About+Moekana.html


Doesn't seem to include any sort of stroke order though. Anything you are willing to share on learning the language will be highly appreciated!

[Arkhan Asylum]

The best way to learn how to read the stuff is to play a PCE / SFC / MD RPG, and sit there with a chart in front of you and translate as you go for all the katakana! 

At least, that's the best way I found to memorize all the shit and stay amused at the same time.

Those flashcards look cute and exciting though.   I want some.   

there's also those Learn Japanese from Manga books which are useful, and Japanese From Zero!

Straight up textbooks/pimsleur/whatever shit is all extremely boring IMHO.   It's all rigid.  Also, Rosetta Stone blows dudes in a back alley.    Don't use it.

[Nando]

The best way to learn how to read the stuff is to play a PCE / SFC / MD RPG, and sit there with a chart in front of you and translate as you go for all the katakana! 

At least, that's the best way I found to memorize all the shit and stay amused at the same time.

Those flashcards look cute and exciting though.   I want some.   

there's also those Learn Japanese from Manga books which are useful, and Japanese From Zero!

Straight up textbooks/pimsleur/whatever shit is all extremely boring IMHO.   It's all rigid.  Also, Rosetta Stone blows dudes in a back alley.    Don't use it.

Werd! I'm on it playing ze games and reading JP mags, also want to have something that I can use with my kiddos. Helps that my sister in law in Japanese and my niece is fluent.

Didn't know about Japanese from Zero, will look into that. Thanks Ark!

[Arkhan Asylum]

Yeah, I liked Japanese From Zero.   It's probably designed for kids, but honestly, that's probably better than some dry ass textbook garbage.

[grahf]

There is no better digital flashcard program than Anki:
http://ankisrs.net

I recommend just spending a few minutes a day with that, and get the kana memorized.
Start with katakana - it will let you read a lot of menus in games, and you'll feel like a king.

[Ji-L87]

Personally, real textbooks only seem to work when in a shool-like environment because I can't for my life sit down long enough to learn from it without actually having to

Oh and here:


Web dictionary-> http://www.jisho.org/

Dictionary, info etc, a bit of everything -> http://www.nihongoresources.com/

[Nando]

There is no better digital flashcard program than Anki:
http://ankisrs.net

I recommend just spending a few minutes a day with that, and get the kana memorized.
Start with katakana - it will let you read a lot of menus in games, and you'll feel like a king.

Will give the App a run. Thanks!

[Arkhan Asylum]

Personally, real textbooks only seem to work when in a shool-like environment because I can't for my life sit down long enough to learn from it without actually having to

yeah basically.   I sit down and 5 minutes later go "Ok this is fucking boring im playing a game"

[Nando]

Personally, real textbooks only seem to work when in a shool-like environment because I can't for my life sit down long enough to learn from it without actually having to

yeah basically.   I sit down and 5 minutes later go "Ok this is fucking boring im playing a game"

The key to learning a language is immersion!

*goes look for JP porn....doesn't like cat sounds...goes back to gaming..

[Ji-L87]

The key to learning a language is immersion!

*goes look for JP porn....doesn't like cat sounds...goes back to gaming..

Hey now, the music used is often pretty decent

[Nando]

The key to learning a language is immersion!

*goes look for JP porn....doesn't like cat sounds...goes back to gaming..

Hey now, the music used is often pretty decent

LMAO!! so who is your favorite JP porn music producer? HAHAHAHAH

Nyan!



Is there like a progression to studying the language? Start with Katakana, then Kanji, then...etc, etc, etc..

[Arkhan Asylum]

Japanese porn sounds like chicks getting murdered by samurai with tourettes.

[Ji-L87]

Is there like a progression to studying the language? Start with Katakana, then Kanji, then...etc, etc, etc..

Probably start with Hiragana & Katana and maybe some "simple" or common kanjis - stroke order is pretty important when writing those tho' - I mean, you can of course write it still but many of them are composed of the same "parts" or smaller versions of other kanjis, so having an idea how to go about writing them should make the whole procedure a bit easier, also helps with muscle memory I suppose.

General idea, if I remember correctly, is to start top left and work towards the bottom right. Don't quote me on that tho :>

[Nando]

Japanese porn sounds like chicks getting murdered by samurai with tourettes.

OMG HAHAHAHAHA

[Ji-L87]

Japanese porn sounds like chicks getting murdered by samurai with tourettes.

Zing. 

Before moving on to kanji though, just trying to get a feel for the general grammar and sentence structure might be a good idea. I suck at grammar, but it's still possible to pick up, to "feel" that "oh, it should probably be like this here". Of course, being able to read but not having any idea of what any of the words actually mean is pretty useless, which is where a normal textbook actually becomes a good thing. Since a short text is often followed by a glossary list of words mentioned and their translations.

I don't really have any good examples of books that are both fun to read and easy to learn from but when starting out, I found this book and it's sequel pretty helpful:

Genki - An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese

In the back of the book, related to chapter 4 and onwards, they start teaching you kanji. Stroke order, ways to read & pronounce them, as well as a few words that can be made with it.
I've seen people say there are better books out there, but I can at least speak from experience regarding this one, even if it was quite a while since I paged through it.

Biggest shock for me though wasn't so much the wall of kanji everywhere (though it can be oh so intimidating) but the super big difference between the way of talking I had gotten used to in things like games & anime versus real life things like news reports, radio & TV shows etc etc. The textbook Japanese feels much closer to the "I am reading from a script"-feel of anime/games, where things are pronounced and spoken at least moderately clearly, whereas the real talk, like you'd expect is all over the place. People mumbling, talking way too fast and generally just not being a good textbook example is hard to get used too 

And as for general practice, might I suggest something some kind of "bishoujo"-game. You know, the adventure/visual novel fare. Granted, there's lots and lots of text in there, but in most titles you are only fed chunks of it at a time and some games, mostly PC games or newer games on DVD, have loads upon loads of spoken dialogue. So not only do you get to read a lot, you also get someone to say what actually is written in the text box. Also, since the game doesn't continue until you're pressed the right key/performed an action, you have all the time in the world to look up words or take notes.

Also, depending on the game, the usage of kanji doesn't have to be too bad, and as I said they might act out the sentence for you*, though rare there might even be furigana available (like subtitles for kanji) and the text itself often seem to use a pretty big font which makes for easier reading.

And of course, most big titles have non-erotic versions available. Rule of tumb - PC? Porn. Console? Not porn. Except for the PC-FX 
Then things like ToHeart 2 X-rated happens, where the original PS2 release was "clean" but when ported to PC later on they actually added teh pr0n - hence the name.

But then again, the PC versions are much easier to...acquire**... 

* Unless you, the main character, is speaking. Then there will be no voice over. 

Edit:
** There is actually no need to go pirate if you just want to test them out as some games also offers trial versions (体験版 taikenban) up for download.
Quick example, Yoakena.

[Nando]

Holy crap, THANK SO MUCH JI!

Lots to take in. I appreciate it.

[Nando]

I did a search for Katakana and downloaded the "Hiragana/Katakana" deck. Had to scroll down a bit to see it.

[Arkhan Asylum]

The best way to learn Kanji is to cry, smash your face on the books, learn how to use that Skip thing, and hope you have a good memory.


You can't read Kanji.  you just remember kanji.  It's cracked out pictures that represent things, supposedly.  ( I usually have no clue how they come up with alot of them, honestly)

Good games on PCE to practice your Japanese-Fu:
Digital Comics style:
Yuna
Cal II and III
Bubblegum Crash
Secret of Blue Water
Urusei Yatsura
Devil Hunter Yohko (Both of them)
Snatcher!

You will of course, have no clue what the dialogs are unless you somehow know how to hear/understand Japanese!

RPGs.  They're all a bit simpler than other RPGs with respect to text/dialog/crap to worry about:
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Necromancer  (YMMV)
Burai 1 and 2
Deathbringer

[grahf]

I haven't studied katakana in years, but I would just grab a few with high ratings. I actually used to make my own decks back then, but that can be pretty time consuming.

[soop]

this thread is good.  Makes me want to learn >___>

[Arkhan Asylum]

I think I'm learning Japanese, I think I'm learning Japanese

I REARRY TINK SO.


im done.

[Nando]

I think I'm learning Japanese, I think I'm learning Japanese

I REARRY TINK SO.


im done.

Damn near thread killer! lol

[Nando]

http://www.tofugu.com/japanese-resources/hiragana42/

 hiragana through mnemonics in a day

[JoshTurboTrollX]

http://www.tofugu.com/japanese-resources/hiragana42/

 hiragana through mnemonics in a day

Hey it's free.  I downloaded it to my Kindle and will give it a shot.   
Thanks!

[Nando]

Another free set

http://www.offbeatband.com/2010/12/the-most-commonly-used-japanese-words-by-frequency/