Comments on: I’m not on vacation any more!

By: Gustavo

Gustavo — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:48:54 +0000

Japanese is a difficult language to learn but it can be a very fun experience. I first became interested in learning Japanese after I started watching some Japanese Anime and I looked everywhere on the internet to try to learn the language but all the information I found was very confusing to me. Hiragana? Katakana? Kanji? Whats is that I ask myself as I learned. It was a very slow process for me but I somehow managed to learn a little. Anyways. Here are two things that I found to be very helpful after so much searching. First, Pimsleurs Japanese Lessons are audio files and they helped me to say words like a native, although I must say that the price for the lessons are very expensive and that I only finished about 14 lessons before I went to something I found to be better. (if your living in japan, i don’t think this audio lessons will be that helpful) I then found this website call yesjapan.com The cool thing about it was that I could go at my own pace and study when ever I wanted. The only downside was that it wasn’t a free service but for a guy like me living nowhere near a place where I could take Japanese lessons it was the thing for me. All I want to say is that this website is very well made and is worth checking out and who knows you might like it.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:38:40 +0000

Jamaipanese - Nice, glad to hear it. I hope it works out well for you. I just purchased “Minna no Nihongo I…. Translation and Grammatical Notes” which has Kana + English for learning some stuff. So far it looks good and the store had many different languages besides English for this book.

billywest - Haha, cigarette burns sound painful. I’ll have to check out Japanese For Busy People.

By: billywest

billywest — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:58:31 +0000

Back in the day, an hour a day with ‘Japanese For Busy People’ and a strong cup of coffee used to work for me. Right before the JLPT, I even resorted to cigarette burns on the forearm.

By: Jamaipanese

Jamaipanese — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:48:45 +0000

I recently picked up a few books to help with my Japanese as well!

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:47:26 +0000

Pushan - Thanks for the tip!

Mike - Crazy! I like how the book says to take it where ever you go and point to the pictures when talking to people.

Kali - Ah yes, thanks for bringing that up, I’ve heard of it but forgot all about it. $130 for the Japanese set seems reasonable. I’m going to check it out and see if others have used it. I went to a Japanese conversational lesson last Saturday which was pretty cool.

By: Kali

Kali — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 02:45:16 +0000

Maybe someone already recommended it but what about Rosetta Stone? Good luck!

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:52:19 +0000

Oh man, that’s funny! I have the exact same Japanese book that you have in your picture above! I have the white Japan book! It’s pretty good, many useful sentences in it!

By: Pushan

Pushan — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:40:50 +0000

Try Shin Nihongo No Kiso. I used it while preparing for my Japan trip. I have some more books which I will tell you about in some time.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:05:23 +0000

miss aunt - Thanks for sharing how you succeeded in learning Japanese. That’s great!

Sascha - Hopefully it looks more difficult than it really is. We shall see… we… shall… see…

Nomadic Matt - I have that ‘forgetful’ problem here. I’ll pick up some new words or phrases but forget one. It’s felt like I only have so much room for storage. Then there’s those phrases that you know by heart which aren’t useful all the time, for example ‘Happy New Year’. What’s up with that?

claytonian - Awe yeah! 3 weeks is the new goal. I had no idea how long this would take when I started on Friday, but now that it’s Monday I know 15 Hiragana characters pretty well. I think I’ll be able tackle it in 3 weeks like you suggested. I’m going to update this post now.

By: claytonian

claytonian — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:31:40 +0000

3 months. Nah, you can learn them in three weeks by using a normal college text book (one not covered in romaji). Crank up the challenge level!

By: Nomadic Matt

Nomadic Matt — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:20:45 +0000

When I learnt thai (or any other language really) it was like that….i’d learn basic sentence but then would forget another sentence…

Languages don’t come easy but I love ‘em anyways!

By: Sascha

Sascha — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:05:59 +0000

Japan is more then difficul

By: miss aunt

miss aunt — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:04:20 +0000

When I was in Japan, I learned hirigana and katakana through the Kumon method. I liked it a lot.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:27:29 +0000

Brandon - That book “Kana Pict-o-Graphix” by Michael Rowley is pretty sweet! I spent 850 Yen on that yesterday. Looks like it’s going to help a lot. And it’s small so I can take it anywhere.

mike - I like free, and that’s a great quiz tool that looks really helpful. I appreciate it.

Jessica - Thanks! I’m going to go through these books I have and then after a week or so I’ll give their free trial a test run.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:21:48 +0000

I’m moving to Japan with my husband in June. I wanted to suggest japanesepod101.com. I have found it extremely helpful.

By: mike

mike — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:43:47 +0000

Something that REALLY helped me learn to read hiragana and katakana was this website - http://www.theiling.de/schrift/

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:37:55 +0000

JYankee - Thanks! I appreciate it.

Brandon - I’m heading to a bookstore today to check out some English magazines. I’m going to look for the book you suggested. Thanks for the advice!

By: Brandon

Brandon — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:38:34 +0000

If you can find a copy, I highly recommend “Kana Pict-o-Graphix” by Michael Rowley if you’re just starting to learn hiragana and katakana. I was able to learn to read them in just a week or two using mnemonic devices of that book and retain the knowledge for much longer than I expected. Good luck either way!

By: JYankee

JYankee — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:15:22 +0000

good luck! any questions and i can answer…maybe…LOL…only if they’re basic though…