Starting to Learn the Way of the Japanese

[Choice195]

I've been a fan of the Japanese people for many years, Yet I don't know anything about their culture and tradition. Would anyone mind helping me learn how to speak Japanese and Japan's customs and culture? Something like getting certain books or DVDs or something would be very helpful!

[Freeza Heika]

The Japanese people live in Japan (or "Nihon", for the more advanced). They speak Japanese ("Nihongo"). They Eat KFC on Christmas and think cats are super "kawaii".

[Choice195]

The Japanese people live in Japan (or "Nihon", for the more advanced). They speak Japanese ("Nihongo"). They Eat KFC on Christmas and think cats are super "kawaii".

KFC, Mmmm who doesn't like some MSG.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

One word: Wikipedia.

It may suck when it comes to Dragon Ball stuff, but when it comes to things like languages, cultures, history, and the like, it's a pretty good source.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

If you're looking to learn Japanese as a second language, my honest advice to you would be: don't. Learn Spanish. It's spoken in over ten countries, as opposed to Japanese's one. It would be much more useful to in the real word. Plus, it's easier. Mostly due to the sheer amount of cognates between English and Spanish. If Spanish isn't your cup of tea, try Chinese or French. A similar thing applies.

[Freeza Heika]

If you're looking to learn Japanese as a second language, my honest advice to you would be: don't. Learn Spanish. It's spoken in over ten countries, as opposed to Japanese's one. It would be much more useful to in the real word. Plus, it's easier. Mostly due to the sheer amount of cognates between English and Spanish. If Spanish isn't your cup of tea, try Chinese or French. A similar thing applies.

I study both Spanish and Japanese (as well as others). Usability is fine and dandy, but studying something you have no passion for is rarely a successful pursuit.

[Choice195]

I'm currently studying Spanish too, I started 2 years ago.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I'm currently studying Spanish too, I started 2 years ago.

Then may I suggest only starting learning Japanese until you feel confortable with studying two languages at once (like myself and Freeza Heika). It's not an easy thing.

[NeoKING]

I've been a fan of the Japanese people for many years, Yet I don't know anything about their culture and tradition. Would anyone mind helping me learn how to speak Japanese and Japan's customs and culture? Something like getting certain books or DVDs or something would be very helpful!

Well, I'd assume that naturally you want to become more in-tune with the Japanese Dragon Ball spirit and stuff(just saying that to make this thread Dragon Ball-relevant). My advice to you would be learning it yourself using guidebooks. I can't recommend any(I never used any), but there are some good ones that give you a good idea of the basics. Japanese is pretty easy compared to other languages and if you stick to it you'll find yourself improving quite frequently.

On the subject of Spanish, now that's a language you want to learn. Assuming you live in the U.S.(I know, horrible assumption to make but go with me here) having proficient knowledge in Spanish is bound to help you in the job market in addition to enhancing your Dragon Ball experience, as the Spanish dub of the series(the Mexican dub specifically) is excellent and on par with the original Japanese version. Not to mention it's easier than even Japanese.

I'd also suggest Chinese, but it's pretty damn hard and kinda hard to find Dragon Ball episodes in Chinese.(Not to mention that it seems there was only a Cantonese dub and not a Mandarin one, and that makes things even harder as Cantonese and Mandarin are LCJXAKSGAYCXLACNCXSBXBN different.)

But yeah, learning languages requires dedication but it's fun and-OH! One more thing: once you learn the Hiragana and Katakana(two basic alphabets of the Japanese language) do not think that you're fluent in Japanese. Nearly everyone who thinks that because they've got Kana(the collective term for both alphabets) down that they're experts at the language automatically. Kana is nothing, Kanji is where it counts. Other than that, you should be fine. Have fun with it.

[Freeza Heika]

Oh, and if you want something to study from, I recommend textfugu.com. I use it. It is very concise.

[Great Saiyaman I]

I actually start lessons this Saturday. I hope Manumi (my tutor) is nice.

[Naughty Kinto Un]

I actually start lessons this Saturday. I hope Manumi (my tutor) is nice.

You forgot the most important part: is s/he hot?

[Vision]

First of all, dont even start unless you KNOW you want to be fluent. It isn't worth it to start a hard language like Japanese and then decide you don't really want to learn it after all. Know it is always going to be harder than you imagine it to be. Also, you absolutely have to want to visit, and possibly live in Japan, otherwise learning Japanese isn't worth it. You can't study for less than two years in American and hope to even be conversational in Japanese, unless you study in Japan. But if the drive is there, then it is better to go after something you are passionate about learning, think of it as getting a black belt.

Here is my advice:

1) Genki is probably the best series of text books
2) Denshijisho.org is your best friend
3) Get Heisig's Learning The Kanji, and start on it as soon as you get Hiragana and Katakana down pat. You can spend years arguing about the best way to learn japanese, but the best way is just to shut the hell up and do it, trust me.
4) Ajatt.com is your next best friend to keeping motivated, and giving you a do-it-yourself attitude, and a lot of insight into the language.
5) Don't be a weeabo. Japanese people think they are weird. And don't say you want to learn Japanese because you want to watch Dragonball, the tutor might not take you seriously.

[Godo]

I'm currently studying Spanish too, I started 2 years ago.

Then may I suggest only starting learning Japanese until you feel confortable with studying two languages at once (like myself and Freeza Heika). It's not an easy thing.

Some people have it easy to learn languages, though. I speak 6 languages now, as an example. It's up to the individual. If he wants to learn Japanese and Spanish at the same time, I bet he is ready.

Myself, I am also interested in learning Japanese, but right now I am studying so I don't have time to learn another language (since I'm abroad too, I am for the moment learning a language already).
But the time will certainly come when I start to learn it.

[obiwan23s]

I would really not recommend trying to teach Japanese to yourself. You will do much better learning from a teacher in a classical learning environment. If your high school or college offers it, you should go about it that way. Every college requires a foreign language component for any degree, so it's not like you will be wasting money on something you don't need. I tried to teach myself Japanese from a book, but learning it in school was much easier. If you are super passionate about it, you'll do really well in a class. It's kind of like learning an instrument, you're going to go a lot further with a teacher than by yourself. You'll also learn some Japanese cultural facts in your Japanese class, so it'll be like killing two birds with one stone.

As for the language itself, when you start learning it what's most important is grammar. Once you've got down, drill the tenses and positive/negative conjugations. After you have all that memorized, it's just a matter of getting your vocabulary up. You can use Japanese dubbed anime as practice for vocabulary but that's about it. Anime characters do not speak in formal Japanese all the time. Sometimes they can be incredibly informal (or overly proper) and/or speak in a local dialect is slightly different-sounding than formal speech. You will probably find watching Dragon Ball Z with the subtitles off a little strange because many characters, most importantly Goku, speak in one of those local dialects I mentioned. As for writing, in a class you will use katakana and hiragana for everything in the beginning, so those will become automatic very quickly. Kanji is more difficult especially after you get past the easy kiddie stuff like numbers, days of the week, etc. Just practice them all the time. Write in Japanese when you are bored. I recommend keeping a journal and doing it in Japanese. It's fun and great kanji retention practice. It has been about two years since I stopped actively communicating in Japanese each day, and I have trouble reading Japanese websites now.

Obviously you can learn the language however you want, these are just the tips I have to offer. Leaning Japanese in a class from a native Japanese teacher was a good experience for me. If that is not available to you then that's just how it is, but if you can take it in a class setting, I think it will ultimately be easier for you than trying to teach yourself. Maybe someone who taught themselves on here has some advice for you if you can't take a class.

[Ashy-kun]

Obiwan-san is right (I'm using -san here, since then I don't have to worry about using the wrong gender, Mr or Ms). It's never a good idea to learn on your own, unless you have really good skills in picking up languages, like... Umm... Well, me, for example. But then I'm just special in that way. I suck at nearly everything else.

Trust me, I've seen the results of people learning it on their own. In fact, I had to take over from one of these guys. (Didn't help he had one bad temper and was so proud of his work, even though it was completely drivel at times.)

And, yes, once you get the basics down, it really does get easier from there. This is coming from someone who is self-taught in Japanese, and has a few years worth of experience in teaching myself it. But it doesn't work that way for everyone. Tread carefully, please.

[NeoKING]

Obiwan-san is right (I'm using -san here, since then I don't have to worry about using the wrong gender, Mr or Ms). It's never a good idea to learn on your own, unless you have really good skills in picking up languages, like... Umm... Well, me, for example. But then I'm just special in that way. I suck at nearly everything else.

Trust me, I've seen the results of people learning it on their own. In fact, I had to take over from one of these guys. (Didn't help he had one bad temper and was so proud of his work, even though it was completely drivel at times.)

And, yes, once you get the basics down, it really does get easier from there. This is coming from someone who is self-taught in Japanese, and has a few years worth of experience in teaching myself it. But it doesn't work that way for everyone. Tread carefully, please.

I have to respectfully disagree. In my experience, being self-taught in Japanese is much better than learning it from someone else. Some studies even show that learning languages on one's own actually gives them a more effective and faster understanding than the language. Three friends of mine learned months of class room Japanese(including grammar, everyday vocabulary, formalities, writing, and reading) in about one month and two weeks. These same people also learned more Kanji than their associates at school who were taking classes(one of them was probably about, 3rd level on the JPLT while they, the ones who took JP courses, were only on the 5th, five months into taking the class). One doesn't have to be "special" to learn Japanese on their own. The language itself is as easy as/requires as much thought as geometry and trigonometry.

Japanese is one of the more easier languages to learn and you ought to try and learn it yourself. Think of it as a "hobby" language if you're not aiming to use it for practical purposes(which is why I agree that you shouldn't find a tutor or a class to learn it from, as it could be learned on a whim by yourself - It's very embarrassing when there are a lot of people in a class who say or tells their tutor that the only reason they're learning Japanese is so that they can watch animu). As for Spanish, that is even easier and it's much better for general practical purposes(looks really good on a resume, tend to be more Spanish-speakers in the world, etc.). If you're looking for... "advanced practical" language, I'd suggest Chinese but like I said before, it's super-hard. Though, it's really beneficial if you aim to have a career involving business or some sort.

Tl;dr, think about it this way:

- Japanese is about as hard as geometry and trig.
- Spanish is about as hard as algebra.
- Chinese is about as hard as calculus, and gets harder from there.

[Eire]

So where on that scale would you put Polish?

I don't understand what you mean as "self taught". From the very beginning from book? How then you are able to notice your mistakes?
Good language schools and tutors offer wide choose of ways and pacing of learning. Of course, you won't learn anything if you don't work on your own, but you must have someone who would show you the way. And what's the purpose of learning language if you don't want to use it?

[NeoKING]

So where on that scale would you put Polish?

I honestly don't know anything about Polish but, why should I exactly? Where'd Polish come from?

I don't understand what you mean as "self taught". From the very beginning from book? How then you are able to notice your mistakes?

"Self-taught" as in you use all the resources at your disposal to learn the language instead of going to a school or taking a class to learn from someone else. For example, you can learn Kana and Kanji on the web, grammar from books, etc. Whenever I needed help with something I didn't understand I'd just ask someone who was better in Japanese to explain to me. Who were these people? Actual Japanese friends of mine. I'd put the language into practice whenever I learned something new and if I ever made mistakes I'd be corrected. Note that they corrected me. I didn't learn the entire language from them, and didn't need to. It was more effective for me to learn on my own, in addition to being easy on my pockets.

Good language schools and tutors offer wide choose of ways and pacing of learning. Of course, you won't learn anything if you don't work on your own, but you must have someone who would show you the way. And what's the purpose of learning language if you don't want to use it?

You don't have to have someone who can show you the way. Is it that hard to believe that many of the polyglots(people who speak more than one language proficiently and are not "special") learned how to be as proficient as they are through learning on their own? If a person can learn how to speak 3+ languages proficiently by learning on their own, why is it that it's "impossible" for someone to learn an easy language like Japanese on their own? Also, shouldn't "my/your/one's own pace" be one of the first things that come to mind when you think of "self-learning?"

And I said thinking of Japanese as a "hobby language" if you're not aiming to use it for practical purposes. When I say "practical purposes" I mean things other than "With the power of Japanese I can enjoy all the anime and manga I want with perfect comprehensive ability!" Not that that's a bad thing, I just don't see how a reason like that could earn you money or improve your skill set by a huge amount(though it can earn you happiness/entertainment) unless you aim to be a professional translator or the like.

[Eire]

You propose playing with corpses instead of reading "Gray's anatomy". From some reason universities prefer students to play with flesh after reading a book. (Besides: why can't everyone learn that freakin' textbook by heart? It's so easy )

You think that going to class exclude using every possible way of improving language? Sittin in class and thinking that money you paid give you knowledge is stupid, but I don't know anyone who learn language like this. It seems you have very little knowledge about modern ways of teaching. How many real polyglots do you know to say how they learn?


I personally hate halfway. If I had learnt English as you propose I wouldn't have been here. Self-learning is constantly loosing way, coming back to change bad habits. After 4 years of self learning German I'm still not proud of myself: I can read nad understand practically everything, but that's not still the level that I could get if I got chance.