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Best Japanese Learning language program? | ||
Tags: Language Program | Japanese | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| kurtisayr Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4015 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 7 07 December 2013 at 9:04pm | IP Logged |
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So basically I'm wanting to learn japanese, and I can't any tutors who teach it locally
in my area, so I'm basically thinking about just teaching myself it. So I was wondering what you guys think is the best japanese learning language program to use. And also, what would you guys think is the best way to learn japanese? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4670 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 2 of 7 08 December 2013 at 1:02am | IP Logged |
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There's no "best", there's only "might work for you". Here's a list of the things I've
found helpful. I found both Pimsleur and Michel Thomas audio courses useful at the start (they were both in my local library). Neither of them get you very far but they get you up and running. I've used memrise.com and Anki for vocabulary and kanji. memrise has a set of vocabulary for the JLPT language proficiency tests. Even if you aren't going to take the tests, they at least give you some organised vocabulary to start with. Reviewing the Kanji (http://http://kanji.koohii.com/) I found very useful for getting used to the kanji, although it's not eevryone's cup of tea. Even if you put off working with Kanji for now, I'd strongly suggest that you learn hiragana and katakana. That way you can at least write out the sounds of words properly rather than having to rely on one of many slightly different roumaji systems. JapanesePod101.com has an extensive set of lessons (900+), but I was lucky in that my company was willing to take out a subscription for me. Otherwise a basic membership ws about $34 and Premium about $180; but there are often deals. Watch out for the marketing emails - best to create a new email address just for the sign up if you go this route. I've only used a few text books. The Minna no Nihongo series is good, but I found a tutor who could get me started with it, otherwise I'd've probably found it much tougher going. I've worked through on of the Japanese for Busy People books, but I prefer Minna. I've never seen Genki so I can't comment. Don't forget that there are plenty of internet resources like Lang-8 so you can practice writing and have it corrected by native speakers. Even though you can't find a local tutor (I only found one by accident), there are plenty of places on the internet that will sell tuition sessions. I'd be wary of signing up for too much up front. In fact at the beginning I'd be strongly tempted to learn hiragana and katakana and the rudiments of pronunciation from the web and work through some simple grammar and probably the audio courses UI mentioned above. Then at least you aren't paying lesson rates for something that you can trivially do for yourself. Speaking of grammar, I nearly forgot to mention Tae Kim's site: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/; it's a reasonably good start and, best of all, it's free. Good luck! 8 persons have voted this message useful | |
| kurtisayr Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4015 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English* | Message 3 of 7 08 December 2013 at 1:47am | IP Logged |
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Thank you for a response, I shall check these out and see how it goes from there.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4894 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 4 of 7 08 December 2013 at 2:27am | IP Logged |
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I just spent four months working on Japanese,spending between a half hour and hour per
day. I could have used more! My experiences: Pimsleur I - Great for getting a feel for the language Michel Thomas I - Great for learning the general structure. Caution: Pimsleur and MT use slightly different levels of politeness, and that is hella confusing at the beginning. Living Language - I wish I had started this sooner, and spent more time with it. It's an excellent beginner course. Three books, one kana book, and 9 cds for $40. Add $10 for an smartphone app with games, flashcards, and drills. There is a premium package for $100+, but I wasn't tempted by that. Pimsleur II - Too hard. I did the first half three times, and it was better the third round. A lot of time I felt like I was just repeating sounds, without really comprehending them. I would still use this as part of any long-term strategy, but not at the beginning. MT II - Easy to get through, but it taught structures I never even approached needing as a tourist. I'd recommend it still, though. Japanese the Manga Way - Seems like a very cool book, but it was designed for people who already have a grasp of the language. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4849 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 5 of 7 08 December 2013 at 12:36pm | IP Logged |
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I like Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese. It comes in two volumes plus two workbooks and each of these is accompanied by an MP3-CD, so you get plenty of audio. It explains the grammar very thoroughly and there are lots of exercises. Unfortunately, it's quite expensive and you should probably know at least hiragana before starting it.
I also tried Colloquial Japanese, but it has a very steep learning curve, so I gave it up. The first five or so lessons were excellent though. The best part is that it introduces the kana gradually, so you can learn them more naturally instead of memorizing all of them at once. There has been a new edition by a different author though, which I haven't tried. There is also an Assimil course, but I have never tried it. So I can't recommend it. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| kurtisayr Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4015 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 7 08 December 2013 at 1:08pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you guys for your replies. I shall look into these and which one will fit my needs
best. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| doubleUelle Bilingual Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 4040 days ago 67 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English*, Russian*, French, Japanese Studies: Spanish, Thai | Message 7 of 7 23 December 2013 at 2:37am | IP Logged |
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alljapaneseallthetime.com
Best thing that I ever came across in my Japanese-learning journey. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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