窶堙ｦ窶堋ｵﾂ！

ﾂ債｡窶敕凪?堙坂?堙昶?堙ｱ窶堙遺?堋ｳ窶堙ｱﾂ！ﾂ！(It's evening here.)

I don't know much Japanese, though I have been learning off and on for the last 8 years... My schooling has gotten in the way of that. Anyway, since I am graduating from college with my AA at the end of this year, I have decided to dedicate all my free days to learning the Japanese language and culture. I am also a huge anime/manga fan, but I find myself enjoying anime more than manga. I dream of one day to have a lolita outfit and I am so going to rock it.

I am also curious about making Japanese cuisines. I suck at making dango. I just can't get the darned treat to work.

I love ramune and pocky and mochi. I always get those when I go to the Oriental Market. And I am just plainly obsessed with the Japanese, but their pop-culture is what I am interested in the most.

I am hoping to make use of this forum in my Japanese language learning. And next year, after my fiance and I settle in our own home, I am wanting to start a Japanese meet up group in my area.

Oh! I am an artist and my art style is anime/manga.

I am also a writer in a new blog that I started with my fiance. Feel free to visit it. Japanese Obsession <-linky

Shadow Fae =^-^= mew~!

Welcome to JRef! If it's knowledge you're after, I'm sure you'll come to love how friendly and helpful our members are. There are many native Japanese and well-studied 外国人 here who can answer any questions you might have.

Out of curiosity, how far are you in your spoken/written Japanese at this point? Also, do you have a MyAnimeList account?

どうぞよろしく。

I am not very far. I know the basic kana, and at one time I knew some kanji, but college has gotten in the way and I have forgotten most of the kanji. I am good with the accent and from learning some of the language off and on I find myself pronouncing some english words with a slight Japanese accent.

I think I had a MyAnimeList account a few years back when I was with my ex. But when I left him I ended up not watching much anime anymore. Being with him was the worst experience in my life when it comes to relationships.

Anyway, I am liking this forum so far. It does seem very friendly here.

Being able to read all of the kana is certainly a great start! It's an achievement that ends up feeling pretty insignificant when you realize just how many kanji we need to know to be literate, but every now and then you've got to take a step back and see that you've learned two alphabets, both of which have more characters and more complex stroke orders than our native alphabet on their own.

If you're looking to learn the basics of spoken Japanese in a structured approach, I'd have to suggest Pimsleur's lesson sets. I'm about halfway through the second (out of three) sets, and I've learned a great handful of important/useful words and phrases in their polite forms. It's definitely an incredibly useful resource for people who are looking to visit Japan. Is it a goal to eventually live in Japan, or are you only interested in visiting?

I have a few books I like that teach through a structured approach. I recently decided to use just one of them rather than going back and forth between them. I just really like them all, but I had some issues because of going back and forth. Part of the reason for back and forth though is that after a while I get bored with one book , so I go to use the other one. But doing that seems to be more of a hindrence.

I still forget some katakana symbols every so often, but hiragana seems to never leave my memory bank as well as katakana does. Oh! I have beef with most of the books I have. They keep using romaji with the kana and kanji. It would be easier if they got rid of the romaji. Because english is my native language my eyes go straight for the romaji instead of the kana that is right above it. It bothers me greatly.

My fiance and I want to visit Japan , but instead of acting like tourists we want act as if we live there. Because of all the medical issues that I have, moving there is not an option. I am on a medicaid plan and receive SSI, so moving there to live there is not something I can do.