What would you recommend for learning japanese?

[.Sev]

I want to get rosetta stone, since it:s supposed to be good, but what would you recommend I use/do?

[polaris 北極星]

i took 4 years of spanish in school.but i learned more spanish in the first 6 months of living in miami than i did in those 4 years.

so my recommendation would be to move to japan. if thats unrealistic, then do the rosetta stone thing. ive heard it works pretty good. and for what they charge you for it...it outta be!

[Seta Souji]

Take a class, watch a lot of anime and repeat what they're saying. The more u try speaking it, the faster you'll learn.

[Legend of the Twilight]

I, personally, plan to take Japanese at my university with a very skilled (and sexy) Japanese teacher named Junko Tezuka. >.<

[SeraphimAriaRhapsody]

Take a class, watch a lot of anime and repeat what they're saying. The more u try speaking it, the faster you'll learn.

Children's books are also helpful learning supplements learning the language.

If the thread opener only learns the language just to watch anime or manga, chase after japanese tail, and not take it seriously, they shouldn't even bother with learning the language. Many native Japanese teachers will ignore/refuse to answer stupid anime, manga, and freak question.

A freak with the yellow plague, or ignorant shallow love for japan in any form are creeps who really don't know anything about Japan.

The natives attending any school, from their native land, and attend out going venues, they are going to constantly talk behind their back for being a idiot, ignorant racist,and etc.

I know this because I am Japanese and have native Japanese/Chinese/Korean friends that tell me these kind of things.

[Shinigami_55]

i know a site that got 24 japanese classes for those that really want to learn.
And its free!!
i haven´t tried it yet cuz i don´t have time whit all my schoolwork!
but i intent to learn jp not because of anime and manga but because i like it and probably me and a friend will travel to there!

[ELR]

Well, it all depends on how you learn, if you learn by writing things and pronouncing things by paper then do classes online, if you need a sound pronouncer there with you try getting CD's for the computer or for a cd player, and if you need someone there to help pronounce then you should search for an instructor to help you out. That is just my own opinion though. Do what you think your heart would tell you.

[AF SUCKS]

I've heard mixed reviews about Rosetta Stone in general, that it's terribly expensive and not all that effective. It claims to be an "immersion" program, yet true immersion would involve actual native speakers in an environment suited to learn faster. In other words study overseas.

Or you can always try my method, go to a Japanese bar, get drunk and start BSing with the others. Works for me.

Sumimasen, mou ippai onegaishimasu.

[Chibi Angel-chan]

I agree with noobee, that site is very effective with me. Rosetta Stone is expensive, I'm not sure I'd want to take the chance of it not being very good. :P I also like the "My Japanese Coach" game for the DS, but there are some mistakes in it.

[_-Anonymous-_]

Move to Japan .
according to me the best way to learn .

[Tori-chan23]

I want to get rosetta stone, since it:s supposed to be good, but what would you recommend I use/do?

I used (or still am using really) a game called "My Japanese Coach" for the nintendo DS. It has over 250 lessons and teaches you everything from basic number's to complex kanji sybols, with games to practise! Yay ^_^ I reccomned that!

[Tsundere Works]

Get Kanji flash cards, listen to Japanese music, buy audio CD's, attend classes. Anime may help, but the subtitles are never literal translations, it's good for getting you used to the sounds, though.

DS Games? Nintendo's going in a great direction with this.

I don't like software programs. They aren't very personalized, and for somebody who likes everything free, I think Rosetta Stone is one huge rip-off.

The ultimate solution would be to just move to Japan. By forcing yourself to learn a language that you'll just have to use in everyday life, you'll learn much faster.

[DeMoNoFtHeFaLl666]

I used (or still am using really) a game called "My Japanese Coach" for the nintendo DS. It has over 250 lessons and teaches you everything from basic number's to complex kanji sybols, with games to practise! Yay ^_^ I reccomned that!

that sounds tempting

[FULLMETAL TIGRESS]

In NHK website they have japanese lessons, you can dowload a textbook and the converstions in mp3, I'm listening the anime songs and J-pop videos that usually Animax LA put in the screen but they put more often american pop or latin pop if they are an anime channel they have to pass more japanese rock, pop videos so i can learn a little more... for now i only know some phrases, but i need more Katana and hiragana alphabet where i get it on the internet? and kanji as well could you help me please??

[Anyaaa]

If the thread opener only learns the language just to watch anime or manga, chase after japanese tail, and not take it seriously, they shouldn't even bother with learning the language. Many native Japanese teachers will ignore/refuse to answer stupid anime, manga, and freak question.

Just because the majority of non-committed Japanese learners begin because of anime or manga, doesn't mean that it's a completely negative media. Is it not an effective way to introduce young people to Japan and Japanese, in providing an insight into culture and language basics?

As for the thread poster - I don't know anything about Rosetta Stone so I can't give you an opinion on that. What I'd recommend are:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/ (Tae Kim's guide to grammar)
http://japanese.about.com/ (the grammar explanations are somewhat brief but it does have a wealth of information)
http://www.japanesepod101.com/ (I only found this earlier this morning and I've been on it all day! Really good for listening practice)
http://jisho.org/ (This is the dictionary I normally use. I don't think it's as good as http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html but it's quicker and less confusing for a beginner)

As for books, I haven't really found many that I was impressed by. I'd suggest avoiding books that use 'romaji'. I was looking at "Japanese for Busy People" a while back and that didn't seem so bad. Just remember to get the 'kana' version. When you start to reach higher levels, I would also recommend the "Read Real Japanese" series. I have the essays book and it seems very entertaining

As for watching anime... you really have to be careful about that as you could end up using language that is inappropriate for certain situations.

Good luck!

[Roofie]

The most effect method would be to move to Japan and simply immerse yourself in the language altogether.
But, even doing it that way, it'd still take years of practice to get fluent, if not even a little.
Since most people don't have the resources to go all the way to Japan (I wish I did. .__.), taking actual classes does help.
It's not as fast- depending on the teacher, sometimes- , and it doesn't exactly teach you fluency, you'll get the basics down in a way suited to your brain, because that's the way you've been taught things all your life.

Using Rosetta Stone for Japanese is difficult, from what I've seen.
It does something like, shows you a picture, gives you a list of Japanese words to choose from, and expects you to point out the correct word, without any reason or definition of said word. So, it's teaching is based off of pure word-to-picture memorization. I don't believe it does much to achieve any grammar skills, and I'm pretty positive you won't get even the least bit fluent with it...
If Rosetta Stone is your method, though, it's nice to have a translator dictionary.
Also, Rosetta Stone is pretty pricey. o-o

[isaacsol]

A book that I would recommend to anyone who is going to learn Kanji is the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary. It is quick to find the Kanji, as it teaches you how to identify them with a SKIP (System of Kanji Indexing by Patterns) system, which gives groups of kanji a special 3 section number (i.e. 明 is 1-4-4). SKIP is kinda like the Alphabet indexing for this dictionary. The dictionary also teaches you how to say it, irregular readings, name readings, how to write the Kanji, and common words that use it.