Small question.

[mrdeanop2]

Hey!
My name is Dean, I am 16 years old and I live in England. For the past year or so I have been really interested in Japanese culture. It fascinates me. Since my school taught me nothing on Japanese and didn't even give me the option to learn the language. I took it in my owns hands to learn everything!


This past week or so I have been looking for ways in which I can learn Japanese easy with out extra lessons elsewhere. So for this is the best site Well I assume that most of you guys are better at the language than me, so I have a couple of questions.

Is it better to learn speaking Japanese first, then read and write? Or both at the same time?

Which method of learning is better for me to teach myself? I was thinking flash cards/


Thank you for reading this and I hope you replie soon.

[johnpa]

Welcome,
This is a great site with many helpful features.
Most educators say that an integrated approach (combining reading, writing, speaking, grammar points, vocabulary and listening comprehension into short dialogues ) is best for retention. My uncle,the linguist, swears that the spoken word is the heart of any language. And there's also people that claim learning kanji first will greatly accelerate your learning.
I don't know if there's any research to back up any of these perspectives. (My uncle does seem to have picked up a lot of Japanese very quickly but, a) he seems to have a knack for languages and b) he has a Japanese girlfriend to practice with.)
As a psychologist, I've got to say that whatever keeps you motivated is the "best" approach. But I can't site any research and I've only had about six months of personal experience.
I went for the integrated approach and recommend the "Style You" series in the Newbie Lessons for thoughtfully constructed and well integrated lessons.

Definitely use flash cards for memorization. (There is research to back this up.) I recommend iFlash for Macs, but I don't have any experience with PC based flash card programs.

PS If you're into Japanese culture, check out the Culture Lessons. They don't teach you Japanese, but I'm sure they will keep you motivated to learn.

[WalterWills]

Also, unless you're lucky enough to know or get to know some Japanese people who you can practice with, it's likely that reading and writing messages over the internet is going to be the main way you get practice using the language.

[jaypunkrawk]

I guess it depends on how you want to use what you learn. If you want to go to Japan for a visit, I'd say learning some spoken Japanese would be key. Otherwise, an all around approach would probably be best. Another good flash card program is Anki.

My high school was fairly unique for Texas and actually offered four years of Japanese language.