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Author Topic: Any1 Taught Themselves Japanese?  (Read 8055 times)

Offline Bullets R Scene

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Any1 Taught Themselves Japanese?
« on: March 21, 2007, 04:12:10 AM »
My friend and i are gearing up for a trip to Japon over the summer, so i'd thought i'd bone up on some Japanese. Unfortunetly, i never took a Japanese class and my college doesnt have any Japanese classes until AFTER summer.
:ONtantrum:

I took some books and a CD from a library, but what else can help me learn some nihogo (japanese? sp? lol) and key phrases???  And how long did it take you to get comfortable with it?
:ONdunno:

btw...we are planning to go to Tokyo, which im assuming is tourist friendly, right? So far, i can ask things like "basu wa desu ka?" and know parts of a house...not bad for 2 days...
:ONsweat:

Oh and...i know this is a random question, but do they sell that life size leah dizon pillow in Japanese stores or only online b/c i cant read Japanese...if they sell it in stores, what stores should i keep an eye out on?
:ONwriggly:

Offline THUNDERDUCK

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Any1 Taught Themselves Japanese?
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2007, 04:29:18 AM »
Tyler Wood is the self teaching guru

Offline Bullets R Scene

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Any1 Taught Themselves Japanese?
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2007, 04:30:50 AM »
is...is that someone here...? or like an actual guru

Offline Sexykago

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« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2007, 04:33:35 AM »
A user here.


Offline burichu

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« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2007, 05:05:21 AM »
I taught myself for about a few years, and have also taken Japanese after taht for 3. i am still teaching myself while I am out of school though.
   
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Offline Dyka

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« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2007, 05:48:30 AM »
http://www.guidetojapanese.org

Get ready for a mind bender of a start, though. Once you have a basic foundation, learning is a breeze. I hope you have some time on your hands. :D

Offline chera

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« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2007, 05:54:35 AM »
Pimsleur's tapes are an "effortless" way to learn Japanese (and any other language, for that matter).  You listen for 30-60 minutes a day, don't have to read anything, and don't have to do any homework.  All you have to do is follow the exercises given in the tape.  It's not particularly fast, but it's certainly easy and convenient.

You can download the tapes from mininova or thepiratebay.

Offline thatguy

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« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2007, 09:19:59 AM »
considering how short of a time it is between now and summer, you probably won't be able to learn too much. or at least you may be able to learn some phrases, and be able to ask some questions, but chances are when native japanese start talking, most (if not all) of it will fly right by you.

moreover, it takes a long time to get accustomed to kanji. you could learn some basic elementary-level kanji, but once you arrive, you won't find it very useful.

the best thing for a trip is just to learn basic communication phrases, and then a few key phrases that will help japanese people answer your questions. namely:

地下鉄でどう行ったほうがいいですか?
chikatetsu de, dou ittahou ga ii desuka?
by subway, which way should i go?

住所を書いてもらえませんか?
jyuusho wo kaite moraemasenka?
could you please write the address for me?

...and so on. with those, and some other phrases, you can at least get the directions you need, and then you can show it to a subway station manager (who can provide you a map), or a taxi driver, in order to get where you need to go.

not all of tokyo is tourist-friendly (although you'd have to go out of your way to get to those areas), but it's actually pretty metropolitan, so you shouldn't have a hard time finding english-speaking people for help. here in the kansai region (osaka/kyoto), if you look caucasian, the crowds tend to find you, as a chance to practice their english.

Offline Gblue

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« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2007, 09:22:26 AM »
when im not at a lesson, i'm using my minna no nihongo textbooks, but i find it sticks better when i'm being taught it with my teacher :S

Offline Tyler_Wood_2005

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« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2007, 12:53:22 PM »
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:
-Japanese Kanji Site, very simple, and easy guide to learning Japanese Kanji.
-Japanese-online this is a very simple and very basic introduction to Japanese. It's what I used for the first year of study.
-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.

Offline Bullets R Scene

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« Reply #10 on: March 21, 2007, 08:43:35 PM »
thanks everyone, imma look all that shiznit up very soon!

Offline JTRIX

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« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2007, 09:07:51 PM »
I studied myself too, but I'm not as hardcore as... say Tyler does.
I do have a guide book for Japanese studying, but I'll also watch a lot of shows/dramas. At first I'll watch some of them with subs and listen to the dialogs/conversations to catch words/phrases. Then later I'll either re-watch the same shows/dramas or new ones without subs and see if I understand.

I also learn all the hiragana and katakana and then try to read the captions on the shows/dramas. By reading them immediately and try to recognize it, it helps me develop reading Japanese better!
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modesta107

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« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2007, 10:52:02 PM »
Yeah I'm actually teaching myself right now, and I've had my book for awhile, and things are going pretty well.I go page by page and don't skip around, and it's cool cuz I understand some things people say and pharses in songs(jpop) that I didn't know before.And when I'm listining to the songs, I don't try to listen for japanese words that click to my mind, I just listen  to them as I were listing to and english song, not really paying attention to whats being said but I still understand, but anways I recommend a book called adventures in Japanese, its a very nice, easy to read book

Offline cool_kickin_dude

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« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2007, 11:23:00 PM »
i'm trying to teach myself, but it's hard to. even with a book and listening to podcasts, it still hard for me to do

Offline Tyler_Wood_2005

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« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2007, 01:02:50 AM »
Hard yes, challenging yes, impossible, NO.

I do admit, I came so close to quitting because it seemed too hard to accomplish.

For one thing, I didn't know if I was doing it right, or if I was saying words right. Because I didn't have anyone around to test my Japanese as I studied and progressed, I wasn't able to know if I was getting any better or if I'd be able to speak correctly when the time did come to use my Japanese for real.

I never got a chance to really use it, until I took my first trip to Japan itself in 2005 and I started studying in 2001, at that time I was studying on and off, and usually only getting 1 hour of study/day.

When I went, it really shocked me to know that, yes I could understand quite abit of what was being said to me, I couldn't really speak back to them, because I never got to study or practice that with anyone.

After my first trip, I studied EVER HARDER, 2 hours of study eachday as soon as I arrived back to Canada. So that when I went next year, I'd be alot better then I was in my first trip.

And it worked, this time I understood pretty much everything everyone said to me, I was able to read maps, and I was decent at conversation this time.

AND, I know my self-studying payed off because...I asked out a girl who lived in Japan (In Japanese) and she said YES!!, we went out together about 5 times and usually spoke in Japanese and some English. I also got the cellphone #s of a few Japanese girls as well <3 <3 <3
_____________________________________________________________

So don't ever give up, self-studying is hard but it works, you don't need a teacher, a speaking partner and you certainly don't need to take classes, to become good at Japanese. You can still progress quite well on your own.

I know because I've never once had someone teach me, help me, or study with me for 6 years now. But my Japanese is quite good, and that's from only studying by myself.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2007, 01:09:37 AM by Tyler_Wood_2005 »

Offline Bullets R Scene

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« Reply #15 on: March 22, 2007, 01:13:58 AM »
Well, it's pretty much official, there's a 85% chance im going to Japan NEXT summer (im going to either Toronto or Florida this summer)

...so im definently taking a Japanese course at my school, still got some books/CDs, and i think im going to rewatch some japanese movies...i've been listening to some j-rock...but this time trying to recongize some words...

oh and im planning on buying that "Pimsleurs Japanese" Audio thingy...

modesta107

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« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2007, 02:20:43 AM »
^ well anways, I wish you luck with that. Man you're lucky to go to Japan, I plan to go with my friends, but its not really going anywhere

Offline ferrar1

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« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2007, 02:35:34 AM »
I would still recommend people to join those basic Japanese courses. From there then you can slowly learn on your own once you have a good foundation.

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Offline ggliff

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« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2007, 08:04:21 PM »
I have been trying to learn using audio and video lessons and I thought others might find these useful, so I upped a load for direct download HERE.

Offline Bullets R Scene

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« Reply #19 on: March 23, 2007, 03:30:19 AM »
^ i dont have permission...yet. :MKevil:

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