Guide to using Rosetta Stone for Japanese?

[Chrislol]

I recently acquired Japanese Rosetta Stone, and I decided to dive right in...

Bad idea.

That put me way ahead of what I feel like I should be at. There was no covering Kanji, Katakana, or Hiragana, which I found was an option in another part of the program, and I can switch between the 3 above letter systems and Romanji, and I'm not sure which to use (which would be better practice?).

There's a lot of stuff in the Japanese rosetta stone as compared to the French or Spanish, and I was just wondering if anyone had a way to use it so a beginner like myself could grasp it easier and not feel as overwhlemed.

Arigato.

 

[Mike Cash]

Rosetta Stone.....the half-baked product that expects you to intuit Japanese grammar.

Send it back and get a textbook. Or if you're stuck with it, get a textbook and use RS as supplementary material.

 

[Chrislol]

Any textbook recommendations?

 

[Mike Cash]

The Genki series is frequently recommended.

 

[nekojita]

In the meantime you should learn hiragana/katakana, just google "hiragana chart" or so on, no need to buy something special for it. Most learning materials presume that you have already learnt kana.

Rosetta Stone or some other source of listening material is good as a supplement (I swear I'm not being paid by the folks who run Erin's Challenge). If you get the Genki textbook, My Kikitori is a site for listening practice which is based on the same material.

 

[Nieves and Co]

Here's a guide, step one: drop Rosetta or resell/refund, step 2:get Pimsleur nethod who's day-by-day courses will get you speaking and even reading Japanese fluently within 7 months. Need proof? YouTube people who have used it

 

[Nieves and Co]

Pimsleur, sorry^^

 

[Mike Cash]

Pimsleur, sorry^^

I thought you meant we should all read Japanese so much we get conjunctivitis.

(You can go back and edit your posts when you have a typo or autocorrect error like that).

 

[Nieves and Co]

I'm new to this tapas all app, didn't know it was possible from here.

Writing thre kana seems very effective as one repeats

 

[nekojita]

I really doubt there is any program that would get you "fluent" in seven months. Conversational, perhaps. Same goes for reading.

 

[Mike Cash]

I really doubt there is any program that would get you "fluent" in seven months. Conversational, perhaps. Same goes for reading.

I wish people would properly distinguish between "fluent" and "proficient".