I basically been self taught, along with a couple webpages for hiragana and katakana symbol table, a few japanese friends have taught me some stuff to speak, but learning to read and write, i had basically no help except from a sh1t loads of practice.. and of course still practice everyday just to learn to read quicker and quicker.. i know jack all kanji, but i don't really have much time to myself now that I'm in college, but i get enough practice. when i started reading manga, when i came to words with a small letter next to it i (may not believe me but..) i tried playing around how to say it (at this time i wasn't in college and i didn't know any japanese ppl or had the net or w/e) and eventually when i came to college i made friends with the ESOL students and double checked with them how i was reading was correct. but tsu confused me.. it just didn't sound right after a proper sized symbol.. so i always been stuck on that 1.. cant blame me for not getting it if i wasn't shown how to read it.. :/
but yeh, thanks a lot for your help. ^_^
i hope to go to japan after college, and learn more..