Need advice for learning japanese

TheOtherPersonSo, a few questions. How long did it take you to learn this? (I'm determined to learn this so it doesn't matter whether its a day or 10 years.) If I can't find a tutor(I live in a small town where half it's population will die out in several years because they're mostly old people), what should I do? Online courses?

Online courses are good, but human interaction is far better. It took me five years of study plus some out-of-school-hours study and interaction with Japanese people (all the anime I used to watch didn't entirely hurt, but you're stupid if you think that's a decent substitute for formal education). Ideally you should be able to read and write Hiragana, Katakana and a couple hundred Kanji as well as have reasonable language comprehension before you start playing games.For the record I prefer subbed animu and translated games though, it's a hassle to translate stuff in my head because it's still slow work and I don't entirely understand the language. I can get the gist of most of the lines by hearing, though. Specifics take time.

tehuber1337Suis, you so kawaii~ but unlike baka gaijin like you I can learn Nihongo from anime desu.

Uguu~

S.I.RThose who already know Chinese will have a better understanding of Japanese, and make learning Japanese a few years shorter.

Korean friend of mine was far better at Japanese than I was.

lotlatbut japanese is 10x harder than chinese

nope.avi
Japanese incorporates elements of Chinese, but these are the hardest parts of the language because of the numerous interpretations. This is why you'll have people in Japan (you can see this in some shows and anime if you're a weeaboo) telling people how their names are written.

mikeacKanji is 10x harder than Chinese. Kana and the rest are a lot easier.I use My Japanese Coach like Koshou. :D Not always the best, but it works.

Kanji is Chinese-derived characters. I can type æ—¥ and someone from China will know what it means.

TheOtherPersonWhat kind of japanese writing do they use in video games btw.

Depends on the game. Most (Pokemon, for example) use just Hiragana and Katakana. Some games like Visual Novels (i.e. Yume Miru Kusuri or Fate/Stay Night) will use Kanji as well.

S.I.R1/4 of Japanese is made up of Kanji anyway.

Wrong! It's the other way around 3/4 of Japanese is Kanji as the written language, much like with Korean evolved from Chinese origins.

mikeacKanji is 10x harder than Chinese.

Kanji IS Chinese characters adopted in the Japanese written language.

mikeacMostly Katakana.

It's actually Hiragana for the in dialogue text. Katakana is often used on Proper names of people & to denote words borrowed from English & other Languages.

S.I.RThose who already know Chinese will have a better understanding of Japanese, and make learning Japanese a few years shorter.

Indeed, all you need to learn then is what each Chinese character's equivalent spoken counterpart in Japanese, as well as combining kana with them.

Replying to #22

did you live in japan?

No, but I took up six units (that's two classes) of Japanese in College as my language elective courses & believe those two classes are not enough :PTo be able to read Japanese newspapers well enough you have to at least know of 3,000 kinds of Kanji as our Professor who did live in Japan for 20 or so years said. In those two short course, we only ever learned of about 200, so yeah not enough kanji knowledge there. Sadly, I've forgotten a lot of 'em over the years.

did anyone say buy people :P

mikeacSome have the selection of both Kana and Kanji. I wouldn't worry about the latter, I'd just learn Katakana.Rosetta Stone is expensive.

Cahos Rahne Veloza · #22Wrong! It's the other way around 3/4 of Japanese is Kanji as the written language, much like with Korean evolved from Chinese origins.Kanji IS Chinese characters adopted in the Japanese written language.It's actually Hiragana for the in dialogue text. Katakana is often used on Proper names of people & to denote words borrowed from English & other Languages.Indeed, all you need to learn then is what each Chinese character's equivalent spoken counterpart in Japanese, as well as combining kana with them.

How is it 3/4?
---
Japanese will be easier for me since Kanji is basically Chinese characters, and I happen to be decently fluent in chinese.

Wolfgang HadamitzkHow many kana are there?The hiragana, like the katakana, consist of 46 basic syllable characters. To these are added 25 more that consist of a basic character with a diacritical mark (analogous to an umlaut in German or an accent mark in French or Spanish). In addition, 12 of the 46 basic characters also come in a smaller size; three of these are independent kana that have their own pronunciation, and the other nine represent a syllable only in combination with other kana.

Source -> http://www.hadamitzky.de/english/lp_kana.htmAnd the rest Japanese uses in their written language as I said is Kanji or Chinese characters.

Sorry for posting incorrect info. I don't know much about Chinese or Kanji, but someone told me that the Japanese language, Kanji, has thousands of letters.

Indeed, Japanese uses thousands of Kanji & to be honest I'm so baffled as to how The Japanese manage to memorize them all. And what's even more bizarre is that the Japanese find it harder to learn English & using our Latin based Alphabet consisting of merely 26 letters & 10 numeral symbols. ???

Ouch, this would be so much better if video games originated from maybe England or North America. :( So, anyone here remember all symbols from katakana and hiragana? Or is that simply impossible even without counting kanji?

Replying to #30

But then we wouldn't have awesome japanese games, why the "best" games will be games like call of duty...I'm glad they are Japanese, best games are 99.9% from japan, anything else is another COD.

TheOtherPerson · #30Ouch, this would be so much better if video games originated from maybe England or North America. :( So, anyone here remember all symbols from katakana and hiragana? Or is that simply impossible even without counting kanji?

A better solution would be to stop using & teaching English altogether & promoting Japanese as the world's most recognized & used language that should be taught in schools as a second language. That or make writing systems that uses pictoglyphs such as Chinese characters obsolete & FORCE the use of the easier Latin Alphabet :P

TheOtherPerson · #30Ouch, this would be so much better if video games originated from maybe England or North America. :( So, anyone here remember all symbols from katakana and hiragana? Or is that simply impossible even without counting kanji?

The hiragana and katakana scrtips are the easier part of the written language. I haven't studied for a year but I can still read them fine.

Cahos Rahne Veloza · #32A better solution would be to stop using & teaching English altogether & promoting Japanese as the world's most recognized & used language that should be taught in schools as a second language. That or make writing systems that uses pictoglyphs such as Chinese characters obsolete & FORCE the use of the easier Latin Alphabet :P

Haha, best idea ever! Also, I don't think I could live without the rpgs that come from japan. So yeah, Hypnos, I guess you're right.

Cahos Rahne Veloza · #29Indeed, Japanese uses thousands of Kanji & to be honest I'm so baffled as to how The Japanese manage to memorize them all. And what's even more bizarre is that the Japanese find it harder to learn English & using our Latin based Alphabet consisting of merely 26 letters & 10 numeral symbols. ???

But then people as feel as kick a** for learning it.Yes I put stars for the A word.

Cahos Rahne Veloza · #29Indeed, Japanese uses thousands of Kanji & to be honest I'm so baffled as to how The Japanese manage to memorize them all. And what's even more bizarre is that the Japanese find it harder to learn English & using our Latin based Alphabet consisting of merely 26 letters & 10 numeral symbols. ???

There are over 80000 chinese characters that ever existed. Japanese uses less than a quarter.

Cahos Rahne Veloza · #29Indeed, Japanese uses thousands of Kanji & to be honest I'm so baffled as to how The Japanese manage to memorize them all. And what's even more bizarre is that the Japanese find it harder to learn English & using our Latin based Alphabet consisting of merely 26 letters & 10 numeral symbols. ???

It's different syntax and word construction in English, we don't use a pictograph system and our letters represent letters, not sounds.

Another question, for the kana, should I be able to know all of them by heart, or just recognize it when I see it?

Replying to #38

Learn the everyday and other simple words first, usually games don't require that much of a vocabulary. Then learn how to spell with the symbols. Helluva a lot easier than to do it the other way around for me.

TheOtherPerson · #38Another question, for the kana, should I be able to know all of them by heart, or just recognize it when I see it?

Knowing all of them by heart is definitely advisable. Helps to be doing official study so you're constantly asking yourself "what's this one again?"