Learning Japanese

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JimboKudo
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Learning Japanese

Post by JimboKudo »

Anybody out there who can speak/read Japanese? I'm trying to learn the language, but it's hard to figure out how I can learn it well. If anybody has any suggestions that be cool. Thanks guys.
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Post by Artemio »

Get into a formal, daily, course. or go live in japan for a while. I know of no other way that can really give you results unless you are really determined and also have lots of discipline to keep track daily.

I am sure Osiris can provide better pointers
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JimboKudo
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Post by JimboKudo »

Snatcher wrote:Get into a formal, daily, course. or go live in japan for a while. I know of no other way that can really give you results unless you are really determined and also have lots of discipline to keep track daily.

I am sure Osiris can provide better pointers
I'm actually considering doing the Jet Program, which is basically an english teaching job. I want to learn some Japanese before that since that would probably help a bit. I won't be going for a few years so I have some time to learn. If I worked hard, could you guestimate how long it would take me? (sorry, I guess I can't expect anybody to know)
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Post by Artemio »

I can only give you my experience as a reference, but as you point out it is quite variable.

I was in lessons from 7am to 8:30 am daily, except Saturdays and Sundays. I was required to do homework daily, which took around 1-2 hours. And in the later courses I had to learn 50 Kanji per week. The course had 6 levels, and each one was 3 months long. I did all 6, and in the end knew enough to survive decently in Japan, make small conversations, and to have a vague idea of several texts.. but not all. I knew around 1200 Kanji. I've forgotten a lot though of the written part, since I have not practiced. I still hear and understand several simple sentences though.
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JimboKudo
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Post by JimboKudo »

Artemio wrote:I can only give you my experience as a reference, but as you point out it is quite variable.

I was in lessons from 7am to 8:30 am daily, except Saturdays and Sundays. I was required to do homework daily, which took around 1-2 hours. And in the later courses I had to learn 50 Kanji per week. The course had 6 levels, and each one was 3 months long. I did all 6, and in the end knew enough to survive decently in Japan, make small conversations, and to have a vague idea of several texts.. but not all. I knew around 1200 Kanji. I've forgotten a lot though of the written part, since I have not practiced. I still hear and understand several simple sentences though.
Did you take the classes at a college or something like that?
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Post by Artemio »

A dedicated Japanese language school. I took french during college... The only other option was English, and I had already done that since primary school so....
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Post by Cyan Garamonde »

Try watching Japanese movies or anime once in a while once you start studying. I think it's good to hear people say things you've learnt, you get this "wow, I actually understood that" feeling.
JimboKudo
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Post by JimboKudo »

Cyan Garamonde wrote:Try watching Japanese movies or anime once in a while once you start studying. I think it's good to hear people say things you've learnt, you get this "wow, I actually understood that" feeling.
I actually watch a ton of Samurai movies and anime, but sometimes I focus too much on subtitles and not enough on what I hear. When I tried playing Policenauts without any guide, I was only able to understand about 10% of what the people were saying. Maybe I'll take a summer course on Japanese (along with a computer programming class, which I've been planning on for a long time), I don't think we have any Japanese language schools near here, so I guess that's my only option for actually being taught. Thanks for the help guys.
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