How to learn Japanese?

[CBehr]

My wife and I are interested in learning Japanese....where should we start? I've heard many people comment on the Rosetta Stone products working very nicely. Has anyone used these or similar products?

Anyone here learned Japanese as a second language and can comment on it?

[iCam]

Is there a college nearby where you could audit a class?

[ThaNgBOm321]

i cant really speak it but i understand bits and pieces... i learnd from watching a bunch of anime ( subtitled )... a few years of it and i picked up some.. but if you really want to learn it.. i think a class is best...

YzGyz

[xxaquanutxx]

My brother learned a bit of Japanese from the Animes... he doesnt even need to watch them with subtitles any more....but he is a devoted anime fan.

When you learn it can you tell me how to say "Kobe Beef please."

[Sk8r]

I'd go with Rosetta Stone, manga in Japanese, and in English; and anime, with the Japanese language up...I used to teach language [other], and hearing, saying is best.

In writing or reading you will face the choice between hiragana and kanji, and they may be scrambled inside the same sentence. Chinese has had a profound influence on the language, and so has English. So you will hear words like 'memory' in Japanese, and you will see kanji [ideograms] derived from Chinese, with hiragana characters above the kanji to try to cue the Japanese reader which pronunciation to use...since a Chinese reader and a Japanese reader, faced with a kanji character, will often say something totally different-sounding, and probably with a related but not identical meaning. Japanese is in many ways an 'easy' language, but different in what it views as important. Colors, for instance, as in Latin, are very vague. Personal relationship titles, on the other hand, are very diverse...-domo, -kun, -sana, -san, etc.

Also search up Japanese lessons on the web...a great free source for starters.

[ThaNgBOm321]

wow sk8r... your purdy good... reading that reminds me that jap language structure is like how "yoda" speaks.. it gets confusing though.. cuzz sometimes they use noun predicate and not predicate noun like they usually do.. ( it might just be me though.. like i said.. i only learn some by anime.. i still need the sub.. but i can do w/o.. ill just miss peices.. ) another thing w/ anime is that in a lot of them, they have extra captions that teach you about there culture..



YzGyz

[dc]

I don't know if he's any good at it, but Patrick started out on the web, moved to dvds. He watches a lot of anime, and Japanese movies. He also buys corresponding books in both English and Japanese. Took a few classes but it was hard to fit into his work schedule.