Is it possible to be self-taught in Japanese?

[globetrotter36]

Originally Posted by NanteNa

I never said that.. But as soon as you get help from others - to me, though - it's not really 'self-taught' anymore.

I disagree; being self-taught does not mean you will not have to ask somebody something at some point. This forum is an excellent example since there is always something in the world that books don't answer and you educate by yourself asking others.

You have said it yourself; Talking to natives of the language you wanna learn, gives you FEEDBACK and thereby boosts your learning. . Should you mean fluency then that is a different story.

[yuriyuri]

Originally Posted by NanteNa

I never said that.. But as soon as you get help from others - to me, though - it's not really 'self-taught' anymore. Obviously therefore you can never be a good self-taught in ANY language in my opinion. You will always require some certain amount of help - unless you have crazy flair. Talking to natives of the language you wanna learn, gives you FEEDBACK and thereby boosts your learning.

I was pointing out that most natives wouldn't actually be able to give you a legit reason for why a verb changes in what direction depending on tense etc., while a teacher will be able to show you and explain to you EXACTLY why a word is used the way it is.

I never said that. lol. At what point did I say that I'd only comment on what you'd written?

Actually, you said "if you talk to natives of the language, it's not actually self-teaching", which is why I thought you were saying that as soon as you want to practise, it's no longer self study.
So just out of interest, in your opinion, if someone wanted to be self-taught, how would they practise having conversations?

Unless we mis-understood each other yet again...
I was talking about just regular conversations with natives of the target language; Not actually asking them for explanations on particular grammar points etc in their language.

Also, in your post you quoted me, hence my assumption you would be making relative comments on what I had written...

[evanny]

yuriyri...well if you practice with natives then whats the damn difference if you practice with your teacher? none. so...if there isnt a difference then you really cant say - im self thought, now cant you?

[globetrotter36]

Originally Posted by evanny

yuriyri...well if you practice with natives then whats the damn difference if you practice with your teacher? none. so...if there isnt a difference then you really cant say - im self thought, now cant you?

Sorry but I find this a bit of strange statement. Nobody was talking about practising with a teacher. Irrespective of whether you attend classes or pratice with a teacher you are a lot of the time learning alone in which case a lot of learning is self-taught be it a language or any other subject.

However, it seems that this thread has become a debate trying to define what self-study is which is not the OP asked, which was would he be able to learn without the aid of a teacher.

[yuriyuri]

Originally Posted by evanny

yuriyri...well if you practice with natives then whats the damn difference if you practice with your teacher? none. so...if there isnt a difference then you really cant say - im self thought, now cant you?

If you are just practising and not being taught anything then how can you not say you are self-taught?

[evanny]

Originally Posted by yuriyuri

If you are just practising and not being taught anything then how can you not say you are self-taught?

practising and being thought is the same thing..only difference is that on one instance it is teacher and on the other a friend/native/McDonalds employee or someone else...
lets say you do not attend clasees. you read at home (tho if you do attend you also read - everyone (hopefully) does) and you have a friend with whom you practice, lets say, 1 hr a week. at that point he becomes your sensei and there goes your "im totally and only self-thought" !!!

you can say that you are self thought if you get lost in the jungle and survive for 6 month until you are found - then you can say that you are self-thought survival expert, because you had noone else but yourself to learn from.

[cranks]

It sounds odd that one become non self-taught the moment he/she actually uses the language. I don't think there is anybody who are self-taught according to that definition. Being self-taught generally means not taking classes or having a tutor, at least in English. Now, having a language partner is a gray area. But usually these partners don't have any knowledge in "teaching" their native language, so I say it still doesn't tarnish the purity of self-teaching most of the time.

[vithvicious]

Rosetta Stone....done and done......

[RKitagawa]

Originally Posted by vithvicious

Rosetta Stone....done and done......

rosetta stone isn't all that great. It's enough to pick up a bunch of the basics. but it won't get you anywhere near fluent.

...also, whats with the giant picture that has nothing to do with anything?

[vithvicious]

You obviously haven't seen the latest edition of Rosetta Stone.

It's 3 Editions long, takes about 4 years to complete AND has a hot sexy voice lady that helps you learn. 4 years of hot sexy voice is enough for anybody to pick up Japanese.

The picture is me trying to fit in my signature but because I'm a total noob to JF it won't let me permanently add it to the signature section of every post so I have to do it manually.