Hello from Kentucky!

Hello everybody! I just found this site on a Google search! I love a lot of things about Japan it seems like everything I learn about Japan I end up loving! Anyways I found this site because I August I start taking JPN 101 elementary Japanese in college. I'm hoping to find something here to help me along as I learn Japanese. My student advisor told me it's unusual for someone to learn Japanese here and that most people never get more proficient than the middle school level but he saluted me for trying! Anyways if any of you have any advice or tips I welcome them! Hope to hear from you soo

Glad you found us ! Tons of info here in old posts about learning Japanese. The members here are super helpful if you have questions. Sometimes it does take a while to get an answer when you take in the different time zones and when members are working or sleeping. WELCOME !

Well it's like taking high school Spanish. My son took it for four years and I've never heard him hold a conversation in it. But I'm sure he has some sort of foundation in it. (That he's sure to forget if he doesn't continue somehow.)

Actually it was the same with me. I didn't touch Japanese until college. I ended up taking it for three years (six semesters). I couldn't hold a real conversation but I learned basic grammar and could say quite a bit (couldn't really understand what was spoken back to me). That would have been the end of it except I ended up moving to Japan for six years and one thing led to another and now between my work and personal life I've been speaking Japanese daily for over 25 years.

My son, by the way, got a 5 on the Japanese AP exam this year. He's never taken Japanese in middle school or high school but he took the test just for the heck of it.

Welcome to the forum! If you have a question about anything, feel free to ask! I recommend watching Youtube videos from Japan to get yourself used to the Japanese language, although in the beginning it will probably just sound like noise. If you can make friends from Japan, that will also be helpful. And you may be able to help them practice English, too.

Welcome aboard!

For practice hearing natural conversations, I recommend moshimoshi yusuke's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@moshimoshi.yusuke

If you want to hit the ground running, I recommend starting to tackle hiragana (and then katakana), and getting away from "romaji" as quickly as possible.