For myself, 6 years self-study under my belt.
-No Teachers, No speaking partners, no one to study with.
but the last time I went to Japan in the Summer of 2006, I understood pretty much everything everyone said to me, and I was able to communicate in Japanese quite well.
Self Study is hard indeed, but not impossible, all my hours of self-study have proved that it does infact work and you don't need to take a class or have a teacher to learn.
I'll provide afew of the resources I used:
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Japanese Kanji Site, very simple, and easy guide to learning Japanese Kanji.
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Japanese-online this is a very simple and very basic introduction to Japanese. It's what I used for the first year of study.
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Learn Japanese at about.com, another site, very useful and full of information about all aspects of Japanese culture.
I also bought many books at book stores about Japan, and I used audio lessons like
Pimsleurs Japanese, that was the most useful Audio lesson for learning proper pronunciation.
Also, "Lonely Planet" also has alot of very good and useful phrasebooks, small enough to carry in your pocket, but loaded with many useful phrases and guide on how to write Hiragana, Katakana and some Kanji, and how to properly pronunce them.
And I'd hate to break it to you, but unless you speak some Japanese, you might not have as much fun. Cuz alot of Japanese people tell you "I don't speak English or I can't speak English", and they aren't all that willng to try either, but if you can speak to them in their native language, they'll be more then happy to be your friend. So if you are going, study hard every single day, or atleast devote 1 hour per day to studying.
Before I went I devoted 2 to 2.5 hours per day of study.
Believe me, you'll have ALOT more fun if you can speak and understand Japanese, you'll make many more Japanese friends, you'll be able to travel to alot of other places with confidence.
***You'll even be invited into those "Japanese Only" places, I know because I visited 2 places in Tokyo that said that, at first they tried to not let me in, but upon discovering I could speak decent Japanese and understand what they were saying, they let me in.***
And lastly, study ALL aspects of Japan, not just the language, research their culture, their customs and etiquette, their art. Me, I never study only a countrys langauge when I visit.
Topic: Any1 Taught Themselves Japanese? (Read 8055 times)