Wanted: Japanese Teacher
 

I live in America...as u may hav guessed, but I absolutely love Japan and all there is to it. I mean more than just Anime and Manga, im in :rheart: wit Japanese culture. One problem, I have trouble with Japanese. I am extrmly bad @ it no matter how hard I try.

Will somone please help me???

What have you tried already? If you're really trying hard you shouldn't be having these problems.

Oh, and can you actually write proper English? Because if not, you're going to have a hell of a time learning how to write proper Japanese.

I've tried Japanese in Mangaland series, Japanese for dummies, Japanese in 10 minutes a day...lots of stuff. Yes i can write propper english...i just don't always spell things right.

Learn Japanese in 10 seconds! Here's how:
R becomes L
L becomes W
U goes in random-ass places everywhere, mostly before and after consonants

I've never bought into those "learn Japanese in 10 minutes" books. The only REAL way to learn is to actually study from a book, listen to tapes, or use a voice chat program to talk with someone who knows fluent Japanese.

Being a little harsh, don't you think? What's worked for you or me may not work for the OP.

Akane, how much Japanese have you learned so far? Have you got hiragana and katakana down yet? If not, you've got to learn those or you'll be dead in the water. About.com has some lessons on the kana here.

After that, it's really up to you how you want to start building up your language base. There are plenty of free online resources available (just check the thread here).

You can bounce questions/ideas off the other posters here, but someone to teach you Japanese via an online forum is sorta like asking someone to teach you capoeira over the phone...

Anyway, good luck. :ywave:

thnx, i've learned Hiragana, but i'm scared 2 learn Katakana because i think i might confuse them. Thanks 4 the tips

Scarier than mixing them up is not being able to read them at all.

You can learn Japanese, but only if you feel confident you can. Who knows how many people have done it successfully? Millions? More?

You can do it, but the first step is self-confidence. Those "10 minutes a day" books aren't worth the paper they are printed on. Get a real school text book (YOUKOSO or something like that) and get started.

First thing's first; forget everything you know about Romaji. It's useless. It was created so foreigners would have an easier time in Japan - NOT for a serious student, which I hope you are. Do you know what Romaji is? I hope not, cause I told you to forget everything you know about it.

Buy Genki I.

Read it aloud, practice everything out loud. I can't stress that enough. It's one thing to imagine japanese, it's another to hear it spoken to you.

Make flashcards. Anki is a good program.

Find a penpal. My girlfriend learned perfect english from doing nothing but chatting to me and penpals when she was younger.

Why do you want to learn Japanese? I try not to judge people, but those who learn it to "read manga" or "cause Japanese culture is sooo cool" usually don't get very far. There's no need and no drive to learn a 2nd language unless you plan to apply it to your life.