My way of studying Japanese

[Janet Merai]

I usually have Quote Reader, a free Quoting program, that takes random phrases from a single text file, or you can speficy another text-file.

By default, Quote Reader displays random quotes from famous people, I created my own text file with useful Japanese information like the Katakana and Hiragana at first so I can learn them all before jumping ahead

Anyway, I grab useful Japanese information for the text file for display while on the go, such as translating Manga, 3D modeling or playing Trickster Online and have it at my discretion

I recommend this way, even others like Flash Cards and such, it REALLY helps :3

Anyway, I learn mostly by interaction, not by studying all alone XD

Its how I am learning effectively

Hey, everyone is different XD

 

[Mike Cash]

Textbooks are nice, too.

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Where exactly do you START when wanting to learn Japanese. I'd try to take lessons, but it seems so much like School and I would probably lose interest. I tried to teach myself Welsh and all I can say is, "Hello, I'm (my real name), I am learning Welsh." Oh... and that 53-letter train station.

 

[Glenn]

You start with learning the sounds, basic words and simple sentences like kore wa pen desu. At least that how I started, although the first sentence I ever learned was anata no namae wa nan desu ka, which I assume was meant to show us syntax more than give us a natural sentence.

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Thank you. I will keep that in mind.

Can you buy "Teach yourself Japanese" tapes or CD's that actually work? My brother showed one of the "Teach yourself Hungarian" books to a hungarian girl and she was laughing at how wrong it is.

 

[Glenn]

Well, from what I hear the Pimsleur method teaches you how to pick up Japanese women. That's a half-joke, actually. I don't know, though, 'cause I never used anything like that. I took a year of Japanese, and then studied on my own, so I'm not really sure what a good method is when starting on your own. I'm not even sure about good sites or books for beginners anymore, but as Mike said a textbook is a good place to start. Genki seems to be highly recommended.

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Thanks a lot. Really helpful.

 

[Mike Cash]

I'm not even sure about good sites or books for beginners anymore, but as Mike said a textbook is a good place to start. Genki seems to be highly recommended.

I'm guessing that you are like me and started learning Japanese before the internet was around. Back then, we all wanted textbooks and reference books. Nowadays, they're the last thing people want.

 

[yukio_michael]

Well, from what I hear the Pimsleur method teaches you how to pick up Japanese women.

Pimsleur's "method" is that if you throw enough sh$t against a wall, some of it will eventually stick...

And that's not an exageration. It's worked as a starting point for some (Bucko I know got some good use out of it), but I don't know why anyone would pay so much for something that only teaches listening comprehension of the most awkward phrases & provides a pittance in supplemental materials and absolutely no transcriptions.

All the dialog transcriptions were done by fans--- I mean, they were put out by people who did not produce the product...

To the OP, if you want a good start before you buy a book (and I do) recommend getting a good course book (Genki / Minna no nihongo) try

Learn Japanese Online - JapanesePod101 *

...You can listen to their podcasts in itunes (i dont like itunes, but i have an ipod so that's what i use) even read the script in itunes, which lets you know for certain that what you thought you heard is or is not what you actually heard.

* I know that site gets mentioned a lot, but its quite well done, probably the best Japanese language podcast out there, in terms of production quality and what you get, just for free.

 

[Glenn]

I'm guessing that you are like me and started learning Japanese before the internet was around. Back then, we all wanted textbooks and reference books. Nowadays, they're the last thing people want.

I started learning in 2000, and I actually used the internet as much as I could, but I always found having books valuable. I think the internet is a good supplement to books, but what you find in books is usually much better explained and much more reliable. That's most likely due to their being written by people who've been dealing with the language or teaching the language for a while, as opposed to the internet where anyone can write a "complete guide to learning Japanese."

 

[MeAndroo]

I'm guessing that you are like me and started learning Japanese before the internet was around. Back then, we all wanted textbooks and reference books. Nowadays, they're the last thing people want.

I started learning in 2000, and I actually used the internet as much as I could, but I always found having books valuable. I think the internet is a good supplement to books, but what you find in books is usually much better explained and much more reliable. That's most likely due to their being written by people who've been dealing with the language or teaching the language for a while, as opposed to the internet where anyone can write a "complete guide to learning Japanese."

I'm not going to say I started learning before the internet was around, but I didn't really use it as a resource until I was already a couple of years into it in college. I think the reason people don't want text books is because anything is more expensive than browsing a website, where you might find people with textbook knowledge willing to share it.

I still refer back to my textbooks from school, but now that I rarely use the language in everyday life, it's easier to google a specific problem.

 

[Glenn]

Not counting the class, I started learning with the internet. But other people having textbook-like knowledge online doesn't translate to me having textbook-like knowledge. That's why I went to books. Sure, they cost money, but they contain way more information than you can find on the internet in one place that's well organized. Of course they aren't perfect, but still, one or two good ones will put you years ahead of what you can find on the 'net in my experience.

 

[The7thSamurai]

It's worked as a starting point for some (Bucko I know got some good use out of it)

But had I started with a good text book and teacher from the beginning, instead of spending 6 months on only Pimsleur, I'm sure my Japanese would be almost six months better than it is now.

 

[leonmarino]

Pimsleur's "method" is that if you throw enough sh$t against a wall, some of it will eventually stick...

True! And that's the beauty of the Pimsleur method, seriously.

I'm actually quite fond of it. I started learning Spanish with this method and it has given me an advantage over my class-mates of Spanish class because I can pronounce things so much better and come up with typical grammatical structures without thinking, in other words as if I'm a natural in some way.

But I wouldn't advise anybody to solely depend on Pimsleur because it's not that good at vocabulary building and theoritcal grammar building, but it is good at other points like pronounciation and building up a semi-natural skill in coming up with rule-of-thumb sentences for certain situations.

Then again, I haven't tried Pimsleur Japanese, so I can't say anything specific about that.

 

[Karamuucho]

Anyway, I grab useful Japanese information for the text file for display while on the go, such as translating Manga, 3D modeling or playing Trickster Online and have it at my discretion

I only recommend translating things like anime/manga as a form of learning to those who have a decent level of understanding in the language. Not only does it require a good amount of knowledge on scentence structure and vocabulary but you'll come across a lot of slang and different dialects that may completely throw off those who are new to the language.

I wrote a (little) bit more on this here:
What are your most effective methods/tricks for studying Japanese?
Something about learning at an intermediate level, there's a lot of other replies there aswell.

 

[yukio_michael]

Then again, I haven't tried Pimsleur Japanese, so I can't say anything specific about that.

You naturally ingrained Japanese speakers make me sick! hehe Kidding... Oh, how much easier it would be had I grew up around Japanese parents!

 

[Robster]

Is there anyway to get huge blocks of the POD101 content, there are over 120, there is no way I'm downloading that much !

 

[yukio_michael]

Is there anyway to get huge blocks of the POD101 content, there are over 120, there is no way I'm downloading that much !

I don't know... download itunes and just click click click... and sooner or later they will be downloaded...

Look at it this way, mp3 audio content DOES NOT compress, unless it was poorly compressed to begin with... so you're not losing anything by downloading it piecemeal...

And Apple, is it too much to add the ability to remove a podcast episode off your hard-drive without removing the ability to re-download it!?!