Hello people :)

Hi guys,

I just joined the forums. My name is Aaron, i'm 19 years old and from England.

I've been very interested in japan for quite a while now. Although I haven't been there yet, I would love to live and work there one day =)

But truthfully I don't know the first thing about how I go about doing it. I currently can't speak japanese, and there is nowhere close where I can study the language.

As for self-teaching, I probably wouldn't have the enthusiasm on my own to learn it.

So umm..as I said, I would love to live there one day, and I would like to go sooner than later.
I would ideally like to move there before I hit my mid-20's.
Don't ask me why that age, it just seems like the later I leave it, the less likely it is to ever happen.

Anyway that's mainly why I joined, to get some advice from all the people that know about japan or even people that live there =)

And of course, to make some new friends

DarkMantis said:

As for self-teaching, I probably wouldn't have the enthusiasm on my own to learn it.

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??? Come ON! I don't want to hear that from a 19 year old! You're "very interested" in Japan and "want to live and work" there, right? There are many members here who are learning Japanese on their own, and most of them are lazy bums! If they can do it, so can YOU.

...I guess so. Did you self-teach?

nevermind, I see your japanese lol

Hajimemashite! Watashi ha Kirakira desu.

Nice to meet you! I'm Kirakira.

All journey's must start with a single step . I self taught myself for about a year and a half before I formally enrolled in a course to study Japanese and Japanese History at University.

One of the biggest aids was the "Japanese101" podcast that helped me immensely. Updated daily, this podcast does beginner all the way to advanced conversations and is great for getting an ear for the language and expanding your vocabulary. I still listen to these everyday and listen to it during my lunchbreaks. They plan lessons around conversations that occur at natural speed, slow it down, dissect the vocab, grammar, context and meaning. Its mainly used in conjunction with their (paid) course but you can listen to it completely free! Its great just on its own.

I used to borrow various books on learning Japanese from my local library. I was pleasantly surprised at what was available. Although this may not be true for you. I was a bit wary of websites since I didnt want to be set on learning the wrong stuff. Some books I borrowed were "Japanese for Busy People" by Kodansha and the Genki! books by the Japan times. A lot of the Japanese learners here really like the Genki series. Currently my college uses "Yookoso! Continuing contemporary Japanese".

The JREF site itself has a fairly comprehensive explanations of grammar with lots of examples so thats really handy.

I recommend starting with Romaji to familiarise yourself with pronouncing Hiragana...but eventually learn to read Hiragana/katakana without the Romaji crutch. Start with some basic greetings such as "Hajimemashite!" or "Doozo yoroshiku", "Arigatou" and others. Then become familiar with the basic Japanese sentence and slowly introduce yourself to particles before going on to more complex grammar. Eventually I learnt about verbs and how they are modified (like how in english "run" becomes "running" or "ran") and about Adjectives and how they are modified.

Kanji is on a class on its own and there are various methods used to master kanji...but until then focus on the basics and vocab first Take it slow and dont rush it. The Japanesepod will be really handy if you have no access to a Japanese tutor or a formal Japanese class.

Any questions you have just post in the "Nihongo" forums and there will be lovely people like Ashikaga-san or the other Japanese natives and ex-pats that will gladly help you (I hope!)

Hope to see you around

Youkoso he JREF! Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

Welcome to the forums!

Ok, thanks for the advice

How long would you say it takes to become fluent in japanese?

lol i dont think you can really put a number on that. To really become fluent you would have to live in Japan a number of years. How many? Well depends on you really.

Well, I am trying to get round to going to Japan on holiday..but so far I just havent been able to get round to it.