My Obsession to learn Japanese

[Janet Merai]

I have a strong burning desire to learn Japanese and I learn more every-day.

It all began when I was watching Inuyasha several years ago and finished the series with subtitled versions.

Then after that, I got into watching subbed anime and then I got into a person's art named "Aku Tojyo" who, and yes people he does a lot of adult art as a warning, made me want to translate his artwork on my own.
I began studying Hiragana in High School and introduced myself to the world of Japanese, but I only improved years later due to my horrible comprehension level.

I know every grade 4 Kanji by heart and about to soon finish grade 3!
(I am aware about the list change for the JLPT proefficiency test)

Every-day, I just can't get enough!
I watch Japanese everything from anime which I have ALREADY seen and watched subtitles and instead re-watch it in its RAW version (no subtitles) so I can understand whats going on and keep my pace with it.
I even use KeyHole to watch broadcasted Japanese shows as well.

I also downloaded many flash card systems and used official lists from the JLPT grades which tremendously helped me.

Rosetta Stone pushed my speaking skills to a higher level plus fluency as well as improving my grammar, sentence structure and particle usage too.

I use so many methods that I learn every-day

I also play MMORPG Japanese games too, I just recently installed:

Shin Megami Tsumei Online (Not sure if I spelled that right)
I have yet to play it but I also got Flyff Online in Japanese as well.

I do all I can to study and make sure I know it without putting too much effort to the point where I can't breath

Oh and, jisho.org and NJStar Japanese WP are my best friends for dictionaries

What do you do?

 

[Putrefaction]

I use Genki and Essential Kanji.

 

[Aurura]

I started out with "Human Japanese" free software which helped me with learning Hiragana/Katakana for the first time. I bought a "Teach Yourself" Japanese CD set, then studied from a free Podcast called Japancast.net for some time. I began to purchase books on sentence structure, particles and honorific levels. I watched subtitled anime (still do, from time to time) but I'm more into the "Slice-of-Life" drama type of stories.

I also listened to/learned from a few of my favorite JPop songs (Mika Nakashima, Thelma Aoyama - perhaps some songs from artists whos names I don't know or remember)... I also have used many, many online websites for help in fine-tuning my understanding (including this forum!)

All of this I've done "on my own", meaning without college courses or private teachers/tutors (because I can't afford any of them ).
I'm pressing on, too, and happily so - I've never had so much fun learning a language as I've been having with Japanese! Minna san, ganbarimashou!

- Aurura

 

[Amigo]

I learned 5 years ago by the spanish version of the text book "Japanese for busy people" in the Official School of Languague of Madrid.
But I was studying by myself during the first year. So I entered to the school in 2nd level.
While studying in the School I was studying KANJI by myself by the Heisig's books. I remember one day that I was so insided out in learning KANJI that I spent 8 hours in a row! with the first book. I was really excited in learning Japanese.
The first thing I did was to learn the basic words and expresions.
What is to say:
Right - left -Up - down
Spring - summer - autumn - winter
Nord - south - east - west
Weekend days' names
Months' names.
To say the time.
Thank you - you welcome - good morning - good night...

 

[Dell_1957]

The more post like this that I read inspires me to take in account all the ways you guys are learning Japanese and use your experiences to help me out...thanks for all the ideas...

 

[Janet Merai]

I think a constant motivator for me is to keep challenging myself even if I know I can't get past it.

For example, if I play a Japanese game, watch a Japanese TV show or RAW and still can't understand some of it, I know I am missing something!

So I try to grab words/kanji/kana I CAN hear/read clearly and translate them as I watch a show and make notes :3
(I think trying to find particular Kanji you either have seen or not and forgot its meaning without Furigana to help aid you is a waste of time when you can learn it later)

There are more things I do as well, but I find constantly reminding myself there is more to go than just what I am doing very motivational

 

[Dell_1957]

Informative post Janet....thanks for the tips....

 

[Janet Merai]

Knowing your limits help you to understand your weakness :3

 

[2inshix]

Hello, Janet, are you still going strong with your japanese?
I wanted to ask you, is there any aspect of the japanese language that you struggle with more than other aspects? (kanji aside of course)
you know like, memorizing new words, or confusion with verb conjugations etc...
Looking forward to your replay.
Cheers