Hello!

[Googly]

My name is Colin, I am a student at Boise High School (which doesn't offer a japanese class (these things are the cutest).

so I found this site while starting off on my crazy quest to learn japanese completely from the internet (at least untill I get to colledge).
hardest part will be pronunciation, I have no one to talk to

I first got interested in japan from anime on cartoon network. then more interested from playing japanese games and reading megatoyko. Then about a week ago I decided to take the plunge and start learning japanese.

so far I've got some of the hiragana memorized pretty good. (I've mastered 窶堙 窶堋ｷ 窶堙ｭ 窶堋ｵ 窶堙ｪ 窶堙ｧ and am pretty good at lots of others). It's really hard but after I master the kana the real fun begins.

My hobbies include Linux, Programming, Anime, and Manga.

 

[Glenn]

Welcome to the fora, Googly! Good luck with your Japanese studies on the internet. Be sure to get lots of listening practice so that you can hear the language (which it sounds like you're already doing), and read through some basic grammar lessons. The links in my sig are a good start. Enjoy your stay!

 

[Googly]

Thanks for the advice.
I'm actually kinda lacking in the listening department, which is entirely made up of my small collection of anime (3 movies, 8 episodes). I will definitly look at some grammer lessons after mastering the kana.

 

[Nothingness]

Welcome to JREF, Googly!!!

 

[NANGI]

Konnichiwa Googly-san!

Welcome and Hajimemashite. Please enjoy the forum!

NANGI

 

[Damicci]

Post count +1 Welcome to the forum enjoy your time here.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Hi Googly ! Welcome To The Forum !!

Hope you get to try out your Japanese in Japan some day! Enjoy!

Frank

 

[lexico]

Hello, Googly Colin! Welcome to the forum!
Congratulations on your decision to start learning the language.
It's tough to learn a language on your own, especially the sounds and the interactive part.
Just make sure to enunciate the 5 vowels which are all pure monophthongs unlike English, and the basic consonants are either voiced or unvoiced.
There is no distinction between aspirated (puffed) or unaspirated (unpuffed); just mush 'em together and they should sound fine.
Once you have a couple of conversational phrases, there is the voice chat feature in skype. Using that you can try conversing with native speakers of Japanese for exchange of English.
Good luck in your studies.
O, and then you can post your language questions in the "Learning Japanese" section, too.