Ah yes, so many people learning Japanese...

Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:19 am

I am really interested in learning Japanese, and Ive already started on it. I bought a book on how to learn Katakana, and Im about half way through and can read most katakana stuff (not knowing what it means most of the time, but I can still read it

) and I just used a website, I think it was japanese.about.com or something, to learn hiragana and Im... working on that right now. I havent learned any kanji, yet.

What my point was here, is if anyone knows the name of elementary-level books on how to write sentences and stuff, PLEASE tell me! I need to start small, and work my way up... thanks!

Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:56 am

I don't know any book names... sorry for that. My post is about Katakana, it is used with new words, mainly from english. An example is: コンピュタ- which stand for "computer" While reading it, just say it out loud and repeat it twisting some of the letters and you'll find the meaning. Good luck!

Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:26 am

At my school in Australia, Japanese is a mandatory subject in year 7 and 8 and then it becomes an elective in the later years (eg. Year 9, 10, 11 and 12). I don't remember much but I know some of the basic words and phrases and know about 10 katakana symbols and 10 hiragana ones.

Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:51 pm

I memorized hiragana in about 3 days just yesterday

although I still need practice to be fluent in reading or writing and not to try to recall the aiueo order all the time... :oops:

I'm now learning katakana, though I don't think I can find it as useful since I can just write the English words. Kanji is a nightmare since a lot of characters have different meanings from Mandarin... :roll:

Mon Mar 13, 2006 3:18 pm

I've started watching an anime in Japanese (with English sub-titles) and I can't believe how anyone could understand it. They seem to talk to fast and everything. Plus, you've got those symbols and it would take me a lifetime to be able to master those, so I don't think I'd be brave enough to try and learn the language just yet

Mon Mar 13, 2006 4:42 pm

I'm learning through a business version of Rosetta Stone.

Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:48 pm

If there's one thing you get from reading Lina Darkstar's thread on FF6, it's that Japanese is incredibly nuanced. I'd love to learn it, but considering how halting I am after four years of French...

Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:32 am

Ginger Harp Seal Pup wrote:I've started watching an anime in Japanese (with English sub-titles) and I can't believe how anyone could understand it. They seem to talk to fast and everything. Plus, you've got those symbols and it would take me a lifetime to be able to master those, so I don't think I'd be brave enough to try and learn the language just yet

If by 'those symbols' you mean hiragana, it's really easy. It's like the alphabets, except there are 51 of them