Learning to *speak* Japanese- recommendations?

[kso299]

Hi guys!

I want to learn to speak Japanese but I'm not interested in reading&writing. Do you have any recommendations? There are so many options out there and it's VERY confusing.

(before you say "watch some anime"- I've yet to watch an anime show that I liked so that's not really an option...)

thanks!

 

[God]

I have the same question a lot of the time. Unfortunately yahoo.com has mostly chinese, and arabic at the time. Perhaps if you search around enough you could find people talking. Or perhaps if you have enough skills.. yahoo has a japanese server.. if you dig around at the right time, you might be able to find natives to talk to.. i don't remember how i found my way that well, but I'm sure in the japanese yahoo server you might find native speakers to talk to. Last time i was in one, a few people spoke english so it was easier to communicate on words i didn't know.

Yahoo! JAPAN

the thing about this server is that i believe you have to sign up for an email account for this server and you have to use kata, hira, kanji characters for the name. good luck i hope i was able to help you answer your question a bit.

just a personal thought here, reading can't hurt. Writing can be annoying, but the wise men don't speak right? Reading could also help keep you current with what's going on.

 

[Ewok85]

Need to find a real deal japanese person and talk to them. If you dont want to learn to read and write thats the way to go. You can use pimsluer and other audio tape stuff but nothing beats talking to a person.

 

[m477]

Berlitz Basic Japanese is a good course for beginners IMHO. There are probably other similar tape/CD courses that are good as well. Check Amazon.com for reviews. Good luck!

 

[myrrhine]

you can check libraries too - at least here in sweden they tend to have a few language courses kicking around in a corner somewhere, and while they might not be the 2004 edition (or as good as a real person), at least they're free!

 

[Tateishi]

How about just coming to Japan and living here for a few year :? :? I knew a girl that had been here for 10 years, didn't even know how to read hiragana but spoke absolutely perfect Japanese.

 

[kso299]

Thanks, everyone! those are great ideas. I will check on all of them.
I will definitely check the University library... it's HUGE so they must have *something*, right? Maybe even Berlitz tapes.

just a personal thought here, reading can't hurt. Writing can be annoying, but the wise men don't speak right? Reading could also help keep you current with what's going on.

Oh I'm not coming to live in Japan (I hope it's ok that I posted here)
I'm only coming for a short visit but the real reason I want to speak Japanese is that
1 I like how it sounds
2 I would like to understand lyrics in Jrock
3 I would like to understand what they're saying in clips I download all the time... talkshows etc.

Learning to write just seems like a LOT of work. My auditory memory is great but my visual memory is not so great.

 

[MeAndroo]

Even though the writing is by far the most irritating part of the language, it's also one of the funnest when you're good at it. Speaking is fine, but you'll need to check out books to figure out how to put your sentences together, what certain abbreviations mean (and you WILL encounter shortened words), and just gain a better understanding of the language in general. It's a tough one to learn on a whim, so be patient. Audio lessons only get you so far, especially when you encounter different dialects and styles of speaking. I suggest avoiding quick solutions, but if you're ok with just coloquial speech, you might be ok.

 

[Fantt]

I'm using the Pimsleur Japanese CDs right now. From what I understand, after going through all 90 lessons, you'll be off to a great start. They're horribly expensive to purchase ($900+ for all 3 sets), but you may find them at your local (large) library and I have friends who claim to have found them on the internet.

 

[Mike Cash]

How about just coming to Japan and living here for a few year :? :? I knew a girl that had been here for 10 years, didn't even know how to read hiragana but spoke absolutely perfect Japanese.

I hope this doesn't come off sounding confrontational, because that isn't the tone I mean to ask this in.....

How do you arrive at the conclusion that she spoke "absolutely perfect" Japanese? Presumably you would have to also speak Japanese at least as well as she does in order to make that judgment. Not casting aspersions on your Japanese ability here, so don't misunderstand. When I am trying to be an *** (as I so often am), it will be clear to you.

I would like to add that deciding to go for verbal fluency while ignoring literacy is like deciding to chop one leg off and spend your life being contented to hop around rather than walking. Being illiterate in a foreign language, while living in the country where the language is used, is just as limiting as being illiterate in one's native language. Yes, learning to read Japanese can be a pain in the butt, but literacy is a very important life skill.

 

[Glenn]

I would like to add that deciding to go for verbal fluency while ignoring literacy is like deciding to chop one leg off and spend your life being contented to hop around rather than walking. Being illiterate in a foreign language, while living in the country where the language is used, is just as limiting as being illiterate in one's native language. Yes, learning to read Japanese can be a pain in the butt, but literacy is a very important life skill.

While this is true,

Oh I'm not coming to live in Japan (I hope it's ok that I posted here)
I'm only coming for a short visit but the real reason I want to speak Japanese is that
1 I like how it sounds
2 I would like to understand lyrics in Jrock
3 I would like to understand what they're saying in clips I download all the time... talkshows etc.

 

[Vegetasama]

I have recently enrolled in a japanese class ran by a not for profit organization Japan American Society. Although you learn some writing the emphasis is on speaking (and is pretty cheap too)

 

[Fantt]

Got a URL?

 

[Mike Cash]

While this is true,

Read more carefully to see who my post was replying to. (Hint: not the original poster)

 

[Harvey]

I would recommend learning Hiragana *at least*.

The reason is, once you learn Hiragana, you will know ALL the sounds in the Japanese language. This will greatly help your listening comprehension, and intern help you out with your quest to learn how to only speak.

Personally, I think the better you are at writting, the better you will be at speaking.
Plus, if you can read, you will have access to countless more examples to add to your speaking reporitore (spelling?).

Catch my drift?

 

[brew]

>I would like to understand lyrics in Jrock

ohayou gozaimasu.
boku ha eigo ga dekimasen node roomazi de kakimasu.
Jrock no kashi nara roomazi de kakimasyouka?
hatuon ga daitai wakareba, imi mo wakaru desyo?

 

[Miko-Kokoro]

yeah, If I were you, I'd take a look around your area for language schools if not, your last resort would be a private tutor or...You teach yourself, Anime helps a little if you know basic wording structure...yeah, I'm learning to...BTW-I think my profile picture is WAY to big...

 

[Kamisama]

Keep Apes in a Zoo And Aliens.

 

[Glenn]

>I would like to understand lyrics in Jrock

ohayou gozaimasu.
boku ha eigo ga dekimasen node roomazi de kakimasu.
Jrock no kashi nara roomazi de kakimasyouka?
hatuon ga daitai wakareba, imi mo wakaru desyo?

こんにちは、ｂｒｅｗさん。私は上記の文章を英訳してみます。間違った日本語はすみません。どうぞよろしくお願いします。

I'll translate this for whoever it was intended for, in case they don't know Japanese (which seems to be the case).

Good morning.
Since I can't speak/write English I'll write in romaji.
Should I write the JRock lyrics in romaji?
If you understand most of the pronunciations, you'll understand the meaning too, right?

 

[brew]

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I'll translate this for whoever it was intended for, in case they don't know Japanese (which seems to be the case).

Konniti wa. Boku no romaji wo eigo ni honyaku site kurete arigatou.

Anata no honyaku wa kanpeki desu!!!!

Nihon go ga wakaru kata nara romaji demo iken koukan dekirundesune

Henji wo kurete totemo uresiidesu.

Boku wa eigo wo yonde sukosi imi ga wakari masu.

Henji ga romaji matawa fukanzen na eigo demo yokereba,iroiro ohanasi kikasete kudasai ne.

Arigatou.

 

[Glenn]

Konniti wa. Boku no romaji wo eigo ni honyaku site kurete arigatou.

どういたしまして。

Anata no honyaku wa kanpeki desu!!!!

まあ、それほどよくなかったと思うんですが。

Nihon go ga wakaru kata nara romaji demo iken koukan dekirundesune

そうですね。でも、実は私は日本語なら漢字と仮名で書いたほうが好きですよ。ローマ字なんて、いやですからね！ ですが日本語をローマ字で書いたことを心配しないでね。

Henji wo kurete totemo uresiidesu.

Boku wa eigo wo yonde sukosi imi ga wakari masu.

分かってくれてうれしいですよ。英語を読むほど分かりやすくなるから、ぜひ英語をたくさん読んでくださいね！

Henji ga romaji matawa fukanzen na eigo demo yokereba,iroiro ohanasi kikasete kudasai ne.

不完全な英語は問題ありませんよ。英語が母国語である方でも不完全な英語を出してしまうこともあるんですからね。

Arigatou.

また、どういたしまして。

 

[hirobumi]

get a japanese partner to listen to and practise with

 

[brew]

?????????



?????????????????????



???????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????



???????????????????????????????????????????????????



?????????????????????????????????????????????????????



????????????

ARIGATOU!

Boku no pasokon dato, kono [homepage] wa nihongo ga moji bake site hyouji sarete simaimasu.

[Word] de nyuuryoku site [copy] sureba yoi nokana?

Mata kimasu.

 

[Glenn]

ARIGATOU!

Boku no pasokon dato, kono [homepage] wa nihongo ga moji bake site hyouji sarete simaimasu.

[Word] de nyuuryoku site [copy] sureba yoi nokana?

Mata kimasu.

残念ながら、私にはそのことが分からないんです。推測したら、大丈夫だと思いますよ。しかしなぜｂｒｅｗさんのパソコンはこのページの日本語を文字化けにしてしまうのかな。 :?

 

[PaulTB]

残念ながら、私にはそのことが分からないんです。推測したら、大丈夫だと思いますよ。しかしなぜｂｒｅｗさんのパソコンはこのページの日本語を文字化けにしてしまうのかな。 :?

たぶん、ｂｒｅｗさんは Internet Explorer を使ってません。
前に管理人に言いましたが、 この掲示板のエンコード設定は不良で一部分のユーザに
迷惑を掛けてしまいました。

ｂｒｅｗさんには Firefox がお勧めです。