Rosetta Stone: Japanese?

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Carano

Lol, I see your point, but if I only used a book, there's no way I'd get the correct pronunciation.

I live in the UK anyway, so the power of the £ over the $ is almost half, so it doesn't seem too bad.

You can absolutely learn 99% of Japanese pronunciation with a book. The 1% is basically pitch, which is important, but not knowing it will not render your pronunciation gibberish.

[Carano]

Fair enough, if people are saying that books would be more beneficial, any ideas on which ones I should pick up? I'm willing to give books a go if it's going to be better than Rosetta Stone.

I should be able to find them on eBay or something.

Thanks.

[myk]

Originally Posted by Carano

Fair enough, if people are saying that books would be more beneficial, any ideas on which ones I should pick up? I'm willing to give books a go if it's going to be better than Rosetta Stone.

I should be able to find them on eBay or something.

Thanks.

lame as it may sound, i found "japanese for dummies" really helpful. it was a great starting place, if that's where you are in your studies. the only drawback to it is it doesn't show you the kanji or kana; everything is in romaji. but if you're looking to pick up some conversational japanese it's a great book to start with.

[godwine]

Originally Posted by myk

lame as it may sound, i found "japanese for dummies" really helpful. it was a great starting place, if that's where you are in your studies. the only drawback to it is it doesn't show you the kanji or kana; everything is in romaji. but if you're looking to pick up some conversational japanese it's a great book to start with.

School here uses "Japanese for Busy People", that seem to work quite well for a lot of beginners too

To me, Rosetta is more like a review exercise... which i haven't touch for ages

[myk]

Originally Posted by godwine

School here uses "Japanese for Busy People", that seem to work quite well for a lot of beginners too

To me, Rosetta is more like a review exercise... which i haven't touch for ages

does it incorporate written japanese as well? or is it focused just on speech?

[RobinMask]

Originally Posted by myk

does it incorporate written japanese as well? or is it focused just on speech?

The books are entirely in kana/kanji (aside from explanations/questions), so it incorporates and teaches reading/writing skills well. It's rather immersive in terms of teaching the kana. They also come with CD's, so there's the chance to practise listening too.

[Carano]

Thanks for the recommendations.

Before continuing with anything, I'd like to fully learn Hiragana and Katakana, as I probably should have done before I began Rosetta Stone anyway.

So I was wondering if anybody has used this book, or think it would be beneficial?

Remembering the Kana

[godwine]

What worked for me was:

1. Learn all Hiragana and Katakana as you have suggested
2. Learn some basic Kanji
3. Have a good dictionary handy and start reading children Manga, note I said Children, something like Doraemon, because a lot of its Kanji is accompanied with Hiragana to suggest its pronounciation
4. Move on to children novel after and then subsequently, pop-magazine (i went with car magazine, like "Option"

[RobinMask]

Originally Posted by Carano

Thanks for the recommendations.

Before continuing with anything, I'd like to fully learn Hiragana and Katakana, as I probably should have done before I began Rosetta Stone anyway.

So I was wondering if anybody has used this book, or think it would be beneficial?

Remembering the Kana

That looks to be a good book, although I haven't personally used it. My method was to use the book "Beginner's Japanese Script" by Helen Gilhooly, which I found to be useful in learning both kana and memorising a few basic kanji. I also printed off both the kana charts, because I found that if you're looking at them every day, even if you just run your eyes over them for a few seconds going in and out a room, that it really helps speed up learning, because you're constantly going over it.

Once you've got the kana down and a few kanji there's some amazing books and courses you can do I think Godwine's approach is a very good one, I can't say it'd work for me personally, but if you really want to learn reading fluently it's a great way, it'll fully immerse you in the writing system and build your understanding gradually, lots of practise too.

[Carano]

Thanks alot for the tips guys!

I ordered that 'Remembering the Kana' book today. But I have to pick it up next week. I'll also be buying a few more books over the next few weeks.

Do you think I should wait til I receive that, and learn the Kana before carrying on with language programs?

Also, where would I purchase some children manga as suggested, like 'Doraemon' ? ...Obviously I'm not in a hurry for these yet, but just so I know where to look, for when I do.

Thanks!