I want to learn Japanese

[Colin Gregory]

Hey, I'm just a simple grade 12 student and instead of spending my days sitting around playing video games and watching tv I want to learn a language and the language I chose was Japanese!
So, my question is how should I start?

 

[Morphling]

Textbook, instructor led class, practice with native speaker and a whole shed load of hard work.

If you are serious, you need instructor led classes. Not YouTube, not anime. It is the quickest way to proficiency short of going to Japan cold turkey for 5 years.

As Lao tzu would say every journey begins with the first step.

千里之行、始於足下。
千里の行も足下より始まる。

 

[Rinilex]

Before anything else, learn the kana. Meticulously. Until you can spot if it's シor ツ from a mile away with a blindfold on. Then get into kanji ASAP.

I don't know if classes are a necessary requirement of "serious" learning (I found them slow) but if you're completely new to the subject then they can definitely be beneficial for starting out and getting used to the language. Personally I went with books - there's some excellent recommendations in the Language Learning Resources sticky whichever route you decide to go down. And there are even online lessons available for free that can teach you the basics.

Listen to Japanese when you can. Watch stuff in Japanese when you can. Look up whatever new words/ constructions you come across - and there will be a lot to begin with, but that will decrease with time - and immerse yourself where possible. That's the only way you're going to get truly competent. Textbooks and teachers are all well good to give us a foundation of how the language works, but everyday Japanese goes well above and beyond ジョンが車で東京へ行った.

 

[Colin Gregory]

Do you recommend Rosetta stone? and if so should I use kanji text?

 

[Rinilex]

No. I've never used it, and other users have told me it isn't very good. The price is extremely high, and it's fairly easy to learn what it teaches you by yourself for the low cost of nothing at all.

 

[Colin Gregory]

Yeah, I did hear some reviews on how it's a waste I guess I'm going to go to my library to find a book or download one online.

 

[Tak Yamanaka]

Hello!
I am a Japanese teacher.

Colin Gregoryさん。こんにちは。
私は日本語の先生です。

 

[Colin Gregory]

Hello!

 

[Colin Gregory]

I found a few good books!

 

[Trufs]

Not sure if you are still on the site or forgot about learning japanese already, but here are my suggestions:

lessons with teacher - he/she can always answer your grammar questions which might be hard to find out on your own (unless you ask on a site like that ), it also motivates you, if that's a problem. It's just easier i guess, cause you don't have to find out everything on you own, but if you're motivated enough (and keep this motivation for loooong time) then you could do it without lessonss.

books - duh

music/anime/games etc - good way to immerse yourself in japanese, hear a lot of it etc. Not a great way to learn only from it but it's a nice bonus

podcasts - listening to japanese text, then translated and explained. Its nice because you can do it on your way to work or school, or on a trip or wherever. Not sure if i can recommend a site here... but im using japanesepod101. Pretty nice.

Anki/other flashcards programs - it's a great way to learn kanji in my opinion. Its basically flashcard program, that lets you review and learn kanji or whole sentences or whatever you choose (from many different courses that are free to download). You set how many you want a day, for example 5, and you learn those 5 everyday and review those from previous days. If you master it enough they appear less often. Repetition is very important, because its easy to forget older ones or more complicated ones. Im currently doing japanese sentences, so i learn both kanji in sentences and meaning of words (first i see sentence in kanji, then i see how you read it - with furigana and translation).

Ok thats all i came up with for now. I personally am going to class with small group, learning kanji/words everyday on anki and listening to japanese podcast from time to time as i mentioned.