Japan/Chinese [USE English] (Advice Center) Language Learning Forum

Japan/Chinese [USE English]
Tags: Phrasebook \| Textbooks \| Beginner \| Mandarin \| Japanese
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14 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

AlexTG
Diglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 4637 days ago
178 posts - 354 votes

Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Latin, German, Spanish, Japanese

Message 9 of 14

30 August 2014 at 6:00pm | IP Logged

Well if you do go to China, there are similar learners TV shows for Mandarin, and
there's a Chinese equivalent of Remembering the Kanji called Remembering the Hanzi by
the same author.

Tae Kim and Memrise are free internet resources. Assimil is quite expensive but the
others are decently priced.

After getting through all of these you'll be at a point where the best way to learn
will be using the language. Reading books and comics, watching TV and movies(you'll
still need subtitles to help you along), and talking to Japanese people(or Chinese).
It'll be a challenge, all of these things will seem very hard at first after the safety
of learners resources, but if you push yourself through and keep reading, watching,
talking, you'll keep improving.

Lots of other resources exist which you might want to use at some point, but these
really depend on what you end up having difficulties with, no point thinking about them
now.

To get an idea of how long it's going to take you: the Foreign Service Institute, who
train American diplomats, estimate it takes more than 2200 hours to learn Japanese to a
proficient level, and Mandarin is the same.
1 person has voted this message useful

Gen
Newbie
United States
Joined 3743 days ago
8 posts - 8 votes

Message 10 of 14

30 August 2014 at 7:25pm | IP Logged

AlexTG wrote:

Well if you do go to China, there are similar learners TV shows for
Mandarin, and
there's a Chinese equivalent of Remembering the Kanji called Remembering the Hanzi by
the same author.

Tae Kim and Memrise are free internet resources. Assimil is quite expensive but the
others are decently priced.

After getting through all of these you'll be at a point where the best way to learn
will be using the language. Reading books and comics, watching TV and movies(you'll
still need subtitles to help you along), and talking to Japanese people(or Chinese).
It'll be a challenge, all of these things will seem very hard at first after the safety
of learners resources, but if you push yourself through and keep reading, watching,
talking, you'll keep improving.

Lots of other resources exist which you might want to use at some point, but these
really depend on what you end up having difficulties with, no point thinking about them
now.

To get an idea of how long it's going to take you: the Foreign Service Institute, who
train American diplomats, estimate it takes more than 2200 hours to learn Japanese to a
proficient level, and Mandarin is the same.

I see, i promise to do my best!
1 person has voted this message useful

Gen
Newbie
United States
Joined 3743 days ago
8 posts - 8 votes

Message 11 of 14

31 August 2014 at 7:52pm | IP Logged

AlexTG wrote:

Well if you do go to China, there are similar learners TV shows for
Mandarin, and
there's a Chinese equivalent of Remembering the Kanji called Remembering the Hanzi by
the same author.

Tae Kim and Memrise are free internet resources. Assimil is quite expensive but the
others are decently priced.

After getting through all of these you'll be at a point where the best way to learn
will be using the language. Reading books and comics, watching TV and movies(you'll
still need subtitles to help you along), and talking to Japanese people(or Chinese).
It'll be a challenge, all of these things will seem very hard at first after the safety
of learners resources, but if you push yourself through and keep reading, watching,
talking, you'll keep improving.

Lots of other resources exist which you might want to use at some point, but these
really depend on what you end up having difficulties with, no point thinking about them
now.

To get an idea of how long it's going to take you: the Foreign Service Institute, who
train American diplomats, estimate it takes more than 2200 hours to learn Japanese to a
proficient level, and Mandarin is the same.

And umm, do you have any other tips to make learning easier? :D
1 person has voted this message useful

Xenops
Senior Member
United States
thexenops.deviantart
Joined 3824 days ago
112 posts - 158 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Japanese

Message 12 of 14

01 September 2014 at 9:09am | IP Logged

If you are determined to learn Japanese (or Chinese), prepare to work hard. When I think of the languages I want to be fluent in, I think of the marriage model: it's a long-term relationship, and you are going to be learning for a lifetime.

For Japanese specifically:

1. Learn the Hiragana and Katakana writing systems first. Write by hand.

2. Work with language exercises every day.

3. Learn Kanji by radicals. Radicals are the "alphabet" of Kanji. One book I like is: "Let's Learn Kanji: An Introduction to Radicals, Components and 250 Very Basic Kanji" by Mitamura.

4. Learn Kanji as you learn relevant vocabulary. Practice by writing.
1 person has voted this message useful

Gen
Newbie
United States
Joined 3743 days ago
8 posts - 8 votes

Message 13 of 14

04 September 2014 at 1:30am | IP Logged

Xenops wrote:

If you are determined to learn Japanese (or Chinese), prepare to work
hard. When I think of the languages I want to be fluent in, I think of the marriage
model: it's a long-term relationship, and you are going to be learning for a lifetime.

For Japanese specifically:

1. Learn the Hiragana and Katakana writing systems first. Write by hand.

2. Work with language exercises every day.

3. Learn Kanji by radicals. Radicals are the "alphabet" of Kanji. One book I like is:
"Let's Learn Kanji: An Introduction to Radicals, Components and 250 Very Basic Kanji"
by Mitamura.

4. Learn Kanji as you learn relevant vocabulary. Practice by writing.

Thank you sensei!
1 person has voted this message useful

dampingwire
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4664 days ago
1185 posts - 1513 votes

Speaks: English*, Italian*, French
Studies: Japanese

Message 14 of 14

06 September 2014 at 12:11am | IP Logged

Gen wrote:

Thank you so much for replying and what do you think should I do to fully
understand
Japanese without any troubles, mistakes

You almost certainly can't learn Japanese (or any other language, or perhaps even
anything at all that isn't trivial) without making mistakes. To learn a language you'll
almost certainly make lots and lots of mistakes, repeatedly. That's OK. Learn from
them. The worst thing you can do is not do anything because of a fear of mistakes. be
prepared for a slow process: that's perfectly normal.

Gen wrote:

I tried learning japanese all of a sudden like
I went to this site called "Japanesepod101" and, it just got me really rushed, i didnt
know what romaji, kanji, was, till i researched a bit. thanks for replying again
Cheers!

It's a great website and a fantastic resource, although they will spam you. Don't treat
it as a podcast that you have to keep up with every week. Just save all the (free)
lessons and work through them at your own pace.

As a self-learner you're going to have to do quite a bit of research on your own.
Certainly learning the hiragana is a very good first step as it will give you an
insight into Japanese pronunciation.

1 person has voted this message useful

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