Will this method help me learn japanese?

[BakaCrisis]

Hey there, I am in the process of learning japanese as the language. Both speaking and reading.

My question is... will this method work?

I have downloaded at least 10 gigs of raw japanese manga.

I would like to know if this would work.

1. Reading.. or more basically, looking at the kanji.
2. Writing out the kanji (That I do not know )
3. writing it multiple times.

I mean... I wont learn what the kanji means would I?

But what if I fill up a WHOLE intire composition book of 240 sheets of paper.. Im bound to know something right?

Anything?

I mean if someone writes 40,000 english sentences.. they are bound to understand it right? Would the same concept work for this? practically writing manga phrases over and over again? Would I eventually get it if I fill up the whole book?

What if I am as bold and as brave enough to just go ahead and do such a task? I am on page 3 of literally filling up this whole notebook in japanese kanji that I dont even know... Would I eventually get it? Please let me know.

Here is a sample of my first page.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/4490/pict0031vy.jpg

[ozkai]

Every little bit helps..

By the way, happy new year.

[yuriyuri]

Sensible answer:
You could just look up grammar explanations to save yourself a lot of time.

Answer your more likely to want to hear:
I don't know if it will work.
In fact wait, scratch that.
It will work (kind of) but, since you (as far as I know) don't have anyone to interact with in the language (someone who will correct your mistakes) there is a high chance that you could teach yourself the wrong things and get into bad habits.

All I can say is:
Try it.
And be prepared to spend a loooooong time doing it.
Also be prepared to have a few bad habits that you're going to have to get rid of.

Just be careful to not speak like a manga character.
You won't get very far addressing everyone as お前 or 貴様 for example.

Dramas are nice resources too.
If your feeling confident in this method then find some drama and get the scripts here:
http://www.dramanote.com/

[SceptileMaster]

First before you can get anything from more advanced reading materials (in other words material written for Japanese people) you need at least an elementary study of the language. This is because you could indeed write out 40,000 sentences memorize them and your mind would chain the grammar together (like in ajatt) but who's to say that you going to pick up differences in politeness levels in things like that (also, unfortunately things don't translate literally into English from Japanese). Also, that's a lot of sentences. Unfortunately there is no easy way, you're just going to have to get study hard to learn a language.

Reading is indeed a good way of remembering Kanji though as learning in context is always a good idea. Let me put it like this. If I'm watching a Japanese drama/film/cartoon or whatever it still isn't a fantastic source for me to pick up stuff from, however the more Japanese I learn, the better a resource it becomes. When I first started learning the language I got nothing apart from an idea of pronunciation (which is a good thing though) from watching these. I didn't get any idea of vocabulary and grammar in context. However now if I'm watching them, it's still not too good a resource but it's getting better all the time and I'm starting to get an idea of vocabulary and grammar in context. However there are so many conjugations I don't know (and so many that don't translate literally into the same meaning in English) that I can currently only get so much from them. This is why I think an elementary understanding would make reading and listening materials a lot more useful.

Go ahead and try it but you’re going to have to have patience, a good grammar dictionary, a good kanji dictionary (to help with stroke orders and meanings which you can't always get from the readings) and a good Japanese dictionary with example sentences for context. I'm sure you'd indeed learn but you're bound to pick up some bad habits and real people don't talk like people in manga.

[NTREEG]

Just writing the kanji over and over is not going to force the meaning into your head. You need a good Japanese to English dictionary. Look up every word you don't know. Writing the kanji along with the meaning next to it over and over will help you learn some vocabulary.

Just knowing the meaning of each kanji by itself doesn't mean you'll understand the sentence. You need to know the grammar too. So while you're at it, pick up a grammar dictionary as well.

Dictionaries: White

Personally, I think you'd get a lot farther by working through a good Japanese textbook instead. But if manga is your preferred study method, go for it. At least you'll be doing something.

[MMM]

If you have studied Japanese seriously for a few years this can be an excellent way to supplement your knowledge and fill in the gaps with some more modern/slangy Japanese and kanji you wouldn't normally see in a textbook.

However, if you do now have a strong foundation to start with, you are really just reinventing the wheel, and doing it the hard way. You will be trying to break a code that has already been broken many times before. Also, without the foundation of Japanese study, you won't know what is slang, what is Kansai-dialect, etc.

[yuriyuri]

Originally Posted by NTREEG

Dictionaries: White

The first 3 dictionaries on that list are the only learners resource books I ever use now... Well, actually they are the only ones I have ever really properly used.

The way I studied was through
-copying native speakers (After a month or so of learning I found friends on skype)
-Reading a little bit of shounen manga (not much)
-Reading blogs
-Watching dramas and movies
-Asking questions on forums

All of this combined with Rikaichan in firefox, those 3 grammar dictionaries and http://www.alc.co.jp/ has got me where I am today.
(I have spent about 14-15 months total learning Japanese)

I basically did what I think bakacrisis is trying to do, but I used some English explanations (For grammar) along the way to speed things up.
...And I didn't use only manga.

So the reason I think it will work is based on my own experience.
But like everyone has said, you will probably fall into bad habits, and it will take a long time.

[PockyMePink]

I'm not an expert, but I know that this will not help you one bit.

I mean if someone writes 40,000 english sentences.. they are bound to understand it right?

No, actually. Copying something doesn't mean you learn it.

It's like tracing something...it doesn't make you an artist, no matter how many times you can trace it. After the two hundreth time of tracing it, sure, you might be able to draw it from habit, but that's all you can do. It doesn't mean you know what makes that piece of art what it is (ex. if it's a person, tracing it doesn't mean you know anything about body porportions and the human figure), nor does it mean you can draw anything else other than that.

Writing a sentence doesn't mean you know what each word means, the grammar structure, etc. It just means you can write a sentence - not understand or comprehend it, but just write it, in its exact form.

Writing the entire compesition of a notebook full of kanji will not magically help you learn anything. Sure, you might get used to the writing style, but even then, if all you're doing is copying from manga, you'll probably end up writing very sloppy and picking up bad habits (ex. bad stroke order).

This is not a bold and brave task. This is lazy work, and it's a no brainer. It's pointless unless you have something else helping you....but I have the feeling that you don't.