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What Do You Think of This Study Plan? (Not Really a Request for Help) -
04-21-2009, 06:53 PM
So, I am trying to learn Japanese (obviously) and I don't have money for any learning materials or fancy classes (which they don't offer here anyways), so, I made a plan for me and my friends to follow which hopefully eliminates romaji.
The first part is to learn both Hiragana and Katakana fully (I know people say you should lean kanji too, but I have enough stress with those alone) Then when we ave those memorized completely, start to learn how to speak it (I have 2 text books with written kana words and sentences) and start learning kanji a little later with Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary. What do you think? Also, do you think that writing each kana out everyday and using flashcards is enough to memorize them? (sorry if this is in the wrong place or there is already a thread like this!)  
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04-21-2009, 08:18 PM
I think if it works for you it's a great idea
 Don't be so hard on yourself though. Learning the kana isn't at all hard. Stick to memorising and practising a couple of columns (i.e. 10 characters) per day and you should have it all in your head within two weeks. Don't forget to practice what you learned on day 1 on day 2, and what you learned on days 1 and 2 on day 3, etc. I learned katakana before hiragana, because you get the instant gratification of being able to read japanised loanwords (nekutai, nooto, hoteru, roketto, and such forth) after only a week's study. It's very encouraging. Once you've done those two weeks, practice your kana every day. Until they become second nature to you they're very easy to forget - much like cramming for an exam instead of genuinely knowing the subject. Sure you "should" learn Kanji too, but I find it a LOT easier to learn Kanji once I know the word(s). I'm really not a fan of this idea of learning Kanji by the English meanings - that just seems like duplication of effort to me. So don't worry about Kanji until you feel ready to tackle them. If they scare you, you'll not look forward to studying, and when studying becomes a chore you learn far less. If your computer's up to the task, I recommend JapanesePod101.com. You can sign up to their basic podcast for free, and get to hear native Japanese speaking the language and explain how they use it. It's a lot friendlier than some dry textbook and can help remind you why you're putting yourself through this madness  .Write, repeat, write, repeat is how most people learn Kanji. If it works for you, it works. If it doesn't you can try alternative methods. I do strongly suggest you find a source where you can listen to the pronunciation of Kana and words, as it's very easy to get things wrong if you've never heard it spoken. About.com has a good Japanese language resource section, including the facility to sign up for a vocabulary-building Word of the Day email, with links to appropriate soundfiles. Finally I think if you're dedicated, you can do it, no matter what materials you have immediately to hand. Good luck!
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04-21-2009, 08:50 PM
Kanji-A-Day.com - Learn Japanese Free
Since you don't have much material, the above website is a must. There are many many sites on the internet that explains the grammar, you just have to look for them yourself. Here are a few links from me: Wiktionary, the free dictionary Japanese language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Japanese grammar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Japanese counter word - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hiragana and katakana drill, learn kana fast and easy! Yamasa Online Kanji Dictionary Kana is pretty simple to master, you should do it with a few days of hard work. Don't be too hatsh on yourself, and remember that learning takes time. Also try to find japanese media, you will pick up and remember alot from there, also useful to see practical use of grammar and stuff, makes you remember it better!
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04-23-2009, 12:57 PM
1. a VERY good site to start learning japanese sentence structure is: Tae Kim's Japanese guide to Japanese grammar
the above is a VERY good grammar site, teaching you step by step. in english with proper japanese examples. you can go to page on, and as u learned it continue page to etc... 2. this is a very helpful kanji dictionary:Kanji details - Denshi Jisho just put in the kanji and it will come up with all readings and popular conjunctions, as well as all the meanings of it. 3. because you do not have proper classes, it will be hard for you to pick up how japanese people correctly speak and pronounce words. so i would recommend for you to watch japanese drama or anime with english subtitles. one good site i know is: Watch Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese Drama and Movie online! you can have a look at the new releases drama, and find good ones. there are different sites as well, you can find in google. GOOD LUCK! please try your best!
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04-24-2009, 02:40 PM
I didn't see the point in making a new thread, but I have a question/request-
What is Japanese grammar? Can you guys tell me about it, I've been searching the wiki and everything, but noting helpful has come up. 
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04-24-2009, 03:10 PM
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04-25-2009, 06:08 AM
I too am a new student to Japanese.
I've always loved Japanese Anime and Japanese Movies. I even found a few cool TV shows on usenet. I did learn some common phrases, but I didn't understand the language until I more recently started learning it. I made myself some flash cards with Hiragana (with stroke order and direction) and simply focused on memorizing them first. I've bought a few books, but the same resources can be found online. I first book (before I began studying the alphabets) was Barron's Japanese Grammar. It has a chart of the kana in the front (without stroke order), and a decent Japanese-English vocabulary at the back with all the grammar you would need to know inbetween all displayed in romanji and english. The one thing I do like about this book, is they show the literal translation of each part of the sentence as well as an english translation, arranged coherently. After that, i realized I needed to learn the Kana and stop relying on Romanji. So I bought a book to learn Kana and Kanji, Tuttle's Kanji & Kana (Revised Ed.) This book is awesome for leaning about kanji and understanding the structure, which leads to easier memorization of the characters and the radicals and how to read the kanji. It outlines full stroke order and direction of all the Kanji (1,945 kanji) and the Hiragana and Katakana Alphabets. I also got a book of Verbs (including the root kanji and all possible conjugations). Although, I've found it helpful to memorize the rules over the list of conjugations. Finally I came across this forum =D. I've barley had a look around and see tons of potential. This thread gave me tons of links. I love the hiragana and katakana drills website linked above. I had neglected memorizing katakana until today. I've already got it down solid. It will take a lot of dedication. Don't expect to learn it overnight. Don't give up and practice, practice, practice.
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