Hmmm. I'm confused.

[WCR91]

Hello, everyone.
This is my first post here at Japanesepod101.

I only recently discovered the Japanesepod101 podcast, and I am attempting to go back and listen to the lessons from the beginning. In the meantime, I'm also trying to learn Kanji. (I've already learned Hiragana and most of Katakana) I bought a book called "Kanji Pictographix" by Michael Rowley. I know many people are familiar with this book.

The bottom line is, I'm looking for the fastest and most intense way to study Japanese. There's no one in my area to teach me, so I'm relying on books/the web to learn.

Any suggestions? They'll all be appreciated.

Arigato Gozaimasu.

Yoroshiku O-negai shimasu!
Cody

[Jason]

The fastest and most intense way is to move to Japan.

But in all seriousness, I don't think you really can get fast and intense learning from books/web. Immersion's really the only way to get that. Not that books/internet are a particularly bad way to learn. Discussions here in the forum can get pretty in-depth and intense though. You could try to spark some by asking some questions, but in seperate threads though, please.

がんばって！ ^_^

[Tensei]

Moving to Japan to learn is only recommended if youre like, 13 or under. Yes, under.

If you were 6 years old and you suddenly moved to Germany or something, you would be speaking fluently in maybe over a month. Ive seen something like that happen firsthand.

At 18 without any Japanese experience, in Japan youd learn it in maybe a little over a year if youre really lucky, a quick learner, and if you talk a lot.

Why does this happen? I dont know, but it seems to be common fact that its easier to learn a language at a young age.

Listening to Japanese music wont help you learn anything but the accent. Rampant subtitled anime watching, while enjoyable, will give you little more than a few slangy, impolite phrases to use here and there since anime tends to use the same phrases over and over like 「絶対許せない！死ね！」, but thats it.

You could try learning by installing some Japanese dictionary plugins for Firefox for easy access and just diving right into Japanese text after learning all the basics. I tried this, but doing this offered no reinforcement whatsoever and Im far too lazy to copy down every word I dont know. If I didnt have a horrible memory and something pushing me to learn Japanese this wouldve been helpful for me, but it might work for you.

Since moving to Japan probably isnt an option, your best bet is books with credibility, Jpod, wikipedia, and various other readily available sources.

[WCR91]

Hmm. Maybe I should further enlighten you on my situation.
I am fifteen years old. I live in South Carolina, where there are about 20 japanese people. I have one Japanese friend that lives in town. I have no job, therefore no money to move to or visit japan. The immersion factor is something that's almost nonexistant in my area.

In the meantime, sorry if I'm posting in the wrong thread. I'm completely new to this website and forum. Try your best not to flame me (I'm doing my best.)

Here's my current method:
1) Listen to podcasts here at japanesepod101. (I use iTunes, I am not a subscriber to this site, however.)
2) Write kanji hundreds of times each. Once again, I use Michael Rowley's Kanji Pictographix as my guide.

At any rate, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to learn this language. Call me obsessed if you like, but I prefer "dedicated".

ありがとうございます for the continuing support.



On a lighter/side note, I am thoroughly interested in visiting Japan. Any suggestions on a good program or way that I could get there?

[Alan]

At the risk of stating the obvious, my thoughts are...

The key to learning languages is to do a little every day, i.e. studying half an hour every day is better than several hours in one go every week. Consider learning Japanese as a hobby, rather than work and do a mixture of stuff you enjoy as well as rote learning. This is important as it takes years to learn a new language.

There are several aspects to learning a language: Listening Comprehension, Speaking, Reading & Writing. Provided you can lay your hands on enough learning material, I think you can work on all of these outside Japan, with the exception of Speaking practice, which is a problem for all of us ouside Japan.

Japanesepod101 provides plenty of listening comprehension practice, but isn't so strong on reading/writing. For that, you are probably best to invest in one of the beginner text books and work through that. Learning the Kanji is only part of that and largely appears to be a feat of memory & use of Flash cards and repeated writing (as you are doing) seems to be the way to go.

If there are any Japanese courses in your area (e.g. evening classes), then this would be a great help. Check the Adult Education section of your local schools/colleges.

As far as getting to Japan on the cheap goes; the only thing I know about is the JET program, but this is aimed at fresh university graduates. This places young english speakers in Japanese schools as assistant English Teachers. So not much use to you now, but possibly something to aim for in the future.

[Jason]

Consider learning Japanese as a hobby, rather than work and do a mixture of stuff you enjoy as well as rote learning. This is important as it takes years to learn a new language.

Yes. This has definitely helped me. It made 3 years of classes and the past ~1 year of self-study never seems like work (except the midterms and finals. Those *were* most definitely work). It makes all that time spent fun which in turn helps keep your interest level up.

If there are any Japanese courses in your area (e.g. evening classes), then this would be a great help. Check the Adult Education section of your local schools/colleges.

I definitely agree on this too. Actually being in a class with a native speaker teaching you can help tremedously. Unfortunately, your options for this may be a bit limited since you're only 15.

As far as getting to Japan on the cheap goes; the only thing I know about is the JET program, but this is aimed at fresh university graduates.

You don't have to be a graduate. However, I'm pretty sure you have to be at least 18.

[Bueller_007]

You're 15. Get a penpal. Try one of these links, or google for something better.
http://glorybe.boo.jp/penpallist/cgi-bi ... a/sh_data/
http://www.worldfriend.net/penpal/j_index.html

But she'll probably want to practice her English too, so you'll have to make a 1-time English, 1-time Japanese deal.

[WCR91]

Ah, Bueller. Knew you'd come through for me. I think the penpal thing is a great idea, it just seems a bit confusing. Is there someone here who is experienced with the penpal system? Gomen nasai if I'm asking pointless questions. v_v;

[Brody]

Pick up a college textbook. I can personally recommend Yookoso! and I hear Genki is good too.

[WCR91]

So, an update on the penpal thing.

Bueller, the first site featured about 10 people that didn't really suit me as a penpal.
The second site had a bunch of kanji that I couldn't read.

I guess I'll try google-searching.

Thanks.

[Belton]

Having a penpal can be very rewarding. figuring out what's written to you is a great incentive. Getting the balance of English to Japanese is hard. (one exchange I have is almost entirely English from my end and completly Japanese from the other)

You could try
http://www.language-exchanges.org/

This is more for skype contacts I think rather than email but you never know. It's mainly in English so you might have an easier time looking through it. The minimum age is 13 so if you're in luck you'll find someone close to your age and interests.

There's also
http://www.japan-guide.com/local/jp/

I got 35 hits just now for people aged 14 to 16 looking for English/Japanese exchange.
and thousands if you just search for friends and most of these look as if laungage exchange is what they're looking for.

I've used both these sites. The Mixxer is new to me but it looks like there's someone who wants to chat and improve each others speaking. I found it through Liz21-san. (I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you PM'd her about it, she's very friendly) And I have a good friend from the Japan Guide site for over a year now.
It's best if you have something in common other than wanting to speak each others languages, otherwise the exchange might peter out through lack of things to say.

I'm sure there are other penfriend sites out there if you google™ them.

[Bueller_007]

http://www.japan-guide.com/local/jp/

Beauty.

I love Japan-Guide, but I had no idea they offered this service as well.