How did you learn Japanese?

[Vagrere]

The major reason why learning Chinese isn't like learning Japanese is the same reason why learning Chinese isn't like learning any other language:

Chinese doesn't have grammar. Period. I love the language, it's my mother's mother tongue, but it just doesn't have any grammar, which is why it's so difficult to learn for people who haven't been brought up with it to some degree; if you were brought up speaking anything else, you're used to there being rules for how words work. Those rules don't apply in Chinese. No rules do. You've got an adjective? Hey, it's a verb now. And still an adjective. And it might even be a noun. All in the same word. All in the same sentence. I'm glad I understand how it works, but I have no idea whatever how to try explaining it.

Japanese, on the other hand, does have grammar. It has grammar hard-style. The primary reason, I think, why westerners have a hard time with Japanese is that its grammar is (a) non-Indo-European, and (b) makes so much more sense than any Indo-European grammar I've ever been exposed to. Okay, so I haven't been exposed to Esperanto, but since that was made by Indo-European speakers, I can only assume that it makes even more sense than that.

I have a talent for languages, and so my story for learning Japanese reads something like this:

Oh, hey, there's this internet thing here. Oh, wait, there's this Japanese hentai on this internet thing here. Well that stuff's kinda weird. Huh. But I do sorta wanna know what they're saying. I'll get a Japanese dictionary and a simple Japanese grammar book.

Oh, wait, that didn't actually help at all.

Oh, hey, there's this anime-stuff over here. I think I'll watch some and become a Japan-obsessed nerd. Doo-de-doo-de-doo... Okay, I think I'll watch it in Japanese now. And try to translate the songs every now and then.

A few years later...

Holy crap I understand what these people are actually saying, not just random individual words. Well, that came completely out of nowhere. Huh. I guess I'll use this skill to better the world. (-starts translating hentai-)

[Ericgamer1]

I've been self teaching for about 4 months now. I just went to the bookstore one day, and said "Hm, maybe I should learn Japanese. Why not? I like anime and stuff." So I got a japanese dictionary and just started memorizing, A lot. I have a really easy time remembering a extremely large amount of information (I dunno, maybe it's because I'm autistic).

Anyways, I don't even need to really work on the grammar to much because I've learned so many individual words, that the the grammar just seems to fall into place. I still got a ways to go, but as far as I can tell, I should be fluently speaking by sometime next year at the rate I'm going.

[Backley]

Hi,
I'm not taking a Japanese language class right now, so I'm trying to keep my skills from deteriorating too much by using LangLearner through their podcasts. Tools like this can be a great supplement to language learning, but there's nothing like an in-person tutor.
I think it has a lot of helpful link, and I hope it helps you.

[Alias-Revolution]

Well, I got so messed up one night that I accepted stolen money from a trans-sexual stripper, obtained a mysterious and powerful device thats mystery is exceeded only by it's power known as the Continuam Transfunctioner, got a snazzy new suit ordered, got a new car, a tattoo, and a lifetime supply of pudding, then obtained my degree in Japanese... all in one crazy night.

For the record, I know no Japanese. I hope someone got a kick out of this. xD

[ShizuNee]

For me it was my Dad making sure I learned at a young age. I'm a Japanese American and he wanted to make sure I had some part of Japan in my identity. I can speak and understand the language rather fluently. My problem is I learned to speak it but barely learned how to write 300 kanji before he died and because of that I really don't know alot of kanji in comparison to my verbal knowledge. I'm working on fixing that on my own with self study, and doing song translations is a good way to do that.

[HiNa.-*]

It's easy and interesting for me. When school's holiday I watched anime like crazy from 10 AM to 2 AM in my laptop and I can finish 48 episodes in one day

So I learned it naturally, how to use the words and eventually I can write hiragana and katakana at first. For learning kanji, just play a lot of visual novel with japanese language, not english :P
Understand it by hearing and estimate what the meaning. Something like that work for me

[Kohgi]

I'm just starting to learn it with online resources. Hiragana took me a little while and Katakana just looks daunting, not to mention the Kanji D:

I've found a program that I really like called Human Japanese and I frequent JapaneseClass.jp

Since I'm not in school and I work at home, I manage to get a lot of studying in!

[小美ドクロchan]

Four years of high school classes and self-study. =) I can't get enough! I translate things...FOR FUN.

[akuNoHikari]

Originally Posted by 小美ドクロchan

Four years of high school classes and self-study. =) I can't get enough! I translate things...FOR FUN.

I understand that. I love the Japanese language very much, and I used to translate things for fun, too! But sadly, I'm not having free time these days and I'm not learning or translating anything new. ._. (in Japanese)

[小美ドクロchan]

Originally Posted by akuNoHikari

I understand that. I love the Japanese language very much, and I used to translate things for fun, too! But sadly, I'm not having free time these days and I'm not learning or translating anything new. ._. (in Japanese)

Aw, bummer. D: Maybe you could set aside a little time each day/week just for studying and translate a bit here and there? A friend of mine and I are doing this. Just don't take on a whole big project at once. ^^; There are also a lot of fun kanji games on the web that help you learn a lot.

[WillemStyle]

learning japanese is quite hard, i always use Byki or freejapaneselessons.org, but still waiting for some excellent japanese learning software.

[nakichika]

I began studying Japanese 2 years ago. First I learned the basics of grammar and hiragana/katakana and then began to translate songs using a dictionary. It helped me to memorize lots of words and about 200 kanji

My school doesn't offer Chinese or Japanese courses so I began the "Japanese for Beginners" course at Correspondence School and now I'm receiving lessons and CDs every month (by post). I'm planning to study Japanese at the university after I finish school

But the main thing is PRACTICE. Every day. And kanji... lots of kanji. I love writing them though
As for watching anime... well, I think it is useful only when you have already learned some basics. Without it, you'll only memorize "baka", "kawaii" and "itadakimasu"!

And Chinese seemed too difficult for me, especially pronunciation! The resemblance of kanji doesn't help at all! I tried to learn it, but soon I thought that I'd better wait and try one more time.. sometime in the future...

p.s. sorry for my English I guess I made lots of mistakes here...