I'm trying to learn a little bit using the rosetta stone, but as everyone else my problem is self-discipline, I just can't study on a regular basis. Although i have a stange feeling that i can easily learn japanese but I've no idea where this self-confidence comes from. :mrgreen:
I watch doramas, animes, japanese movies and i read a lot of manga, i love japan in general. I feel like i "have to" learn the language and feel guilty when not doing something about it.
I do not think a teacher is essential, especially if you are in Japan. Asking people stuff is free and easier to digest if you ask 5 people 5 different questions spread throughout the day. Obviously you need to be able to speak some Japanese to be able to do this though
Took me a month to learn hiragana last year. Got lazy & had to study for my exams this year so didn't touch japanese. I have exams right now but somehow procrastinated and learned katakana last week o_O.
I can't wait until my exams are over so I can focus on studying japanese. I don't have any contact with japanese people so it's kind of difficult to study but I plan to find an intermediate japanese class to attend once I learned all the basics (see no point in attending a beginner class when I know half the stuff anyway). Don't care what anyone says, learning kanji is fun. Nothing is more rewarding than guessing the correct reading of the kanji when singing along with japanese lyrics.
I haven't done any studying on the language ever since I graduated from college (less than 2 years ago) and started my first job. I know that I have more opportunity to study the language now since I don't have school to worry about, but working 12-hour shifts at night makes me feel like I owe myself some free leisure time (and not to use it on studying lol). It' a matter of discipline. But since I just went to L.A. and got exposed once again to Japanese culture, I was inspired once more to go for it. I should go back to my Pimsleur materials. Aside from obstacles such as self-discipline, there's also the problem of not being able to practice the language from where I live. The majority of the population are Hispanics, and my non-Japanese Asian friends are not the least bit interested in Japanese culture as I am.
Does anyone else here find its hard to get others to believe you're serious when self-studying? I mean I live in the middle of nowhere and there is no language related courses around and I'm not going to travel and live elsewhere just to study a language. I've been learning for just over a year now, I have a full time job so its difficult to find the time but I try to get in an hour every evening. I use Rosetta Stone, and books - I'm a big fan of the "Lets learn" series for learning kana.
Has anyone tried learning Kanji? It looks so ridiculous!
^^ Actually have found Kanji is the the thing I've enjoyed learning the most, :banghead: sure it's also tough but for some reason also the most satisfying. :victory:
^^ Couple good books out there which I've gotten, make it somewhat easy in learning the strokes, meanings, etc, :mrgreen: once you start on the ones with 15+ strokes, yeah that'll make your head spin for sure. :nut:
What I think makes it worse is that the kanji characters look so small in my Japanese dictionary I can barely tell them apart!
Got any recommendations for books I can buy?
Lollidolly wrote:What I think makes it worse is that the kanji characters look so small in my Japanese dictionary I can barely tell them apart!
Got any recommendations for books I can buy?
Maybe the answer is to get a strong magnifier. :mrgreen:
I don't think books are the way to go, with Kanji at least. If you install the Japanese keyboard (Microsoft IME) on your PC then you can type in Japanese characters and see kanji for any kana that you type. There is also www.kanjisite.org (i think) which is pretty useful.
I'm doing Japanese @ uni, so I kinda 'have' to learn kanji to pass it lol. Actually though, kanji has been the hardest part of my japanese study >.< i was @ the top of the class until they introduced kanji LOL
I don't have a Japanese keyboard but do have a kana/kanji program which seems to work fairly well, also have one which translates sentences English to Japanese I think okay. :sweat: Bottom line is, doesn't matter what method you choose, you gotta have dedication, something this ƒoƒJ doesn't always have enough of. :beatyou: