What's new

Advice needed please

tinkerbell

後輩
25 Jul 2012
6
1
13
I'm planning on taking formal lessons starting February, but I'd like to get some work done now so it's not as much of a struggle later.
I feel like I won't really be able to teach myself really important stuff like grammar, but would it be helpful to memorise some vocab lists with their respective kanji, such as colours, days of the week, animals, ect?
 
Yes, but try to find some pronunciation guide so you don't get started with bad habits.
 
I think listening to Japanese will serve you well too. Even though you may not know what's going on, at least you'll get an idea of what it's supposed to sound like.
 
Since you have so much time to prepare, for me it would make sense to learn at least some simple grammar so you can see the vocab you learn in the context of some simple sentences. Despite my propensity to continue to make elementary mistakes, I still maintain that basic Japanese grammar really is not very difficult. Also, if you're not already aware, you will need to learn the hiragana and katakana "alphabets" in addition to kanji. You have plenty of time to thoroughly master those.
 
Ah thank you very much for the advice everyone, I really appreciate it. I've gotten reasonably good at reading hiragana and katakana, though I don't understand a lot of what I read. I will try to find some audio resources.

@eeky: I would be interested in learning some grammar, but I can't really purchase anything. Since I'd only really have access to free lessons I don't want to end up getting what I paid for and ingraining complete nonsense.

I have found this site, which seems promising. Again though I wouldn't know enough to really say if it's any good or not. Any thoughts on this site? Free Japanese Lessons
The grammar starts on lessons 4 and 6 I think. If it's legit that would be awesome.
 
@eeky: I would be interested in learning some grammar, but I can't really purchase anything. Since I'd only really have access to free lessons I don't want to end up getting what I paid for and ingraining complete nonsense.
This is a free site that I have seen some favourable comments about:

Learn Japanese | Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese

I have not been through all the lessons myself, so I cannot personally give you an evaluation.
 
Thank you very much for those links. They look great! Hopefully I can start making progress now.
 
Back
Top Bottom