Page 1 of 1
					
				Learning Japanese
				Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:17 pm
				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.
			 
			
					
				
				Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:06 pm
				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
			 
			
					
				
				Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:29 pm
				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)
 
			
					
				
				Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:14 pm
				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.
			 
			
					
				
				Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:46 pm
				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?
 
			
					
				
				Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:52 pm
				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....
			 
			
					
				
				Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:57 am
				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.
			 
			
					
				
				Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:54 pm
				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.