I was reading up on the US military and how they have a Defense language institute which can teach a person a hard language in about a year and a half... i was wondering what the shortest amount of time it would probably a person to learn japanese if they truly studied 5 hours a day. What are the best resources out there? is rosetta stone software that great? what book is true in the way words are spelled and pronounced? What do you think is the shortest amount of time needed to speak,read,and write nihongo?
How much time to learn japanese.
- Thread starter God
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blessed
先輩
- 24 Jul 2004
- 251
- 11
Well, I hear that there is a superb course in vermont, USA offering to teach you at least conversational japanese (covers writing as well, but I doubt you'd memorise 2000 kanji so fast) in 9 weeks (these are summer courses, so you missed out this year...)... you go to the college, sign a contract saying you will only speach the language you are learning (or get kicked out, no refund) and over 9 weeks you cover... well, a lot. for some, 18 weeks is needed, but most people learn enough of the language within 9 weeks to develop it themselves by reading, watching japanese tv etc. its about $7000 so expensive, but then Pimsleur tapes cost $1000 (legally) for all three volumes, and that doesn't cover all japanese by a looong stretch (eg. writing). I'm doing German courses with them next year, see how that works out...
the college site is: Japanese
(check around for intensive summer courses)
otherwise, get pimsleur software for speaking and listening... i don't know, download it to save yourself a bundle of cash, you will get some conversational ability from this;
writing and reading... well that's hard, I basically just learn the kanji plainly... buy a good dictionary and go through the most important ones. The best dictionary in my opinion is the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary.
...For a deity you seem to be pretty inquisitive...
the college site is: Japanese
(check around for intensive summer courses)
otherwise, get pimsleur software for speaking and listening... i don't know, download it to save yourself a bundle of cash, you will get some conversational ability from this;
writing and reading... well that's hard, I basically just learn the kanji plainly... buy a good dictionary and go through the most important ones. The best dictionary in my opinion is the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary.
...For a deity you seem to be pretty inquisitive...
- Thread starter
- #4
thanks for your input.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 
I knew a guy who went to middlebury. He learned about the equivalent to two years or serious university study in the length of their program. you can't even listen to non-japanese music while you're there! I wish i had the money to do it.... I had studied two years at university plus 1 semester in Japan (intensive) and he had studied one year at university and then did middlebury, and he was FAR better than i was.
I also know another person who did the military's defense language institute. He's now at about the same level as me (able to pass JLPT2 but not 1 yet) so I think that's a great program too.
But I also think there are lots of features of japanese you just can't absorb in such a short time. You need time for things to sink in....
I also know another person who did the military's defense language institute. He's now at about the same level as me (able to pass JLPT2 but not 1 yet) so I think that's a great program too.
But I also think there are lots of features of japanese you just can't absorb in such a short time. You need time for things to sink in....
Dan B
"Follow your bliss."
- 1 Jun 2004
- 87
- 4
My dad went through the Defense Language Institute before we moved to Tokyo in the late 1970s. It was his full-time job for 6 months so, aside from the classroom hours, he put in a great amount of time studying outside of class.
At the end of 6 months, he had attained conversational fluency somewhere between the JPLT 3 and JPLT 2 level. But he's always had a knack for languages, too.
Dan
At the end of 6 months, he had attained conversational fluency somewhere between the JPLT 3 and JPLT 2 level. But he's always had a knack for languages, too.
Dan
It only gets easier. But if you are at university (or even high school) try to get on an exchange program. There are probably hundreds and hundreds of them, it seems to me, and the competition is not that high. In Australia virtually every language student who wants to can manage a decent trip to Japan. If you don't have the cash, try to get sponsorship. That's one good thing about Japanese - there is a fair bit of money sloshing about, unlike say learning Urdu or something.
