[LucyA]

??????

Everybody loves Japanese

Please post if you:
-Speak Japanese
-Are Japanese
-Live in Japan
-Love Japan
-Love the culture of Japan
etc. etc!

Resources
The Japanese page - I found this very good for learning kana, it also has some grammar
Kanji dictionary - excellent
Japanese dictionary
LRNJ - small program/game for learning kana
The Kanji Site - a very good site for learning, well, kanji

To join, please check out this page

?????

[frogout]

Oh I really love Japan! However, I don't speak any Japanese beyond 私はKimですand such like. I'm going to evening classes to learn it soon though!

[LucyA]

Me too I'm hoping to go to Japan for a gap year (a long way away yet. Kinda) and I'm teaching myself Japanese at the moment. It's a really interesting language, and easier than people think once you get past the alphabets

[frogout]

Wow! A gap year in Japan, you must be rich!

Actually, I'm thinking about doing languages at university, and it could be Japanese, so I'll be spending a year there too in my year abroad!

Which book are you using to teach yourself from?

[LucyA]

I haven't got a book yet, I don't know which one to get :P As I'm just learning the alphabets and basic grammar at the mo I'm using the internet, but once I've got hiragana (practically done) and katakana(erm...) down I'm gonna go all out and get some books. Perhaps a grammar book, and a kanji book? I did start a few months ago but it's been a bit irregular because of exams and my problems with procrastination The holidays are a god-send for language learning, I think. I'm trying to do 30 mins a day. (Although my Latin teacher said (for Latin, but still :P) that 10 mins a day is enough)

But hey, I can now say things like:

わたし　は　にほんご　が　すこし　わかります、でも　じょうぞ　じ ゃ　ありません！

Hehe.

No, I'm not rich, that's the problem Well, hopefully I can fundraise or get a company to sponsor me. Some companies like ProjectTrust offer bursaries if you prove you've tried to fundraise and you still can't afford it.

Do you have any idea what kind of gap you want to do? I really want to teach, and it would be great if I could find a paid job, no matter how badly paid it is ProjectTrust looks good (and expensive!) and so does RealGap (which is cheaper, but doesn't have everything included like PT).

[frogout]

Oh, there's this amazing game for learning katakana and hiragana (and kanji too, although it doesn't tell you how
to pronounce them) it's at http://lrnj.com/ it's how I learnt katakana.. all previous attempts at learning
katakana had failed because... they just look so damn similar don't they?! But that really helped.

Hmm teaching would be good but they all seem to want people with university degrees don't they. I've always thought
it would be so hard to do a gap year in Japan, because people always go to places like Thailand or Africa to
help poverty and well... =P, there's not really that much of it in Japan. Anyway, I'm not sure whether I should
do a gap year (in a language degree you have the 3rd year abroad, that's what I was talking about ). Sure,
a gap year'd be great, but it sounds expensive! How much do you actually have to pay?

I so hope I can do the evening course though (they don't seem to be responding to my application!). I will
get to learn an amazing 40 Kanji.

[LucyA]

Oh, I've got that game. I got frustrated with it because I didn't actually know the katakana at all and I couldn't progress until I did, basically

Yeah, year out, I knew that I'm not sure what I want to do at uni so I might not be able to do that.

It varies. PT is 4500 or something, but that's got everything included. RG is about 800, but flights aren't included, amongst many things

Wow, 40 Kanji. That's more than I know. I know how to write 'Japan' and 'person'

[PoisonGirL]

i luv japan and culture of japan but sadly i dont speak japanese i wanna learn it but i thnk it's a difficult language isnt it ?

[LucyA]

(Original post by PoisonGirL)
i luv japan and culture of japan but sadly i dont speak japanese i wanna learn it but i thnk it's a difficult language isnt it ?

Hiya PoisonGirL

It depends. Unless you've done a language that is vaguely similar (Korean, Chinese, or even Latin) you can't really say how you'll find it as it's so different to Spanish/French/German.

Some points make the language easier, i.e
- No words for 'a' or 'the'
- No gender or number for verbs, so you don't have to learn "I, you, he, she..", just one for everything.
- Pronunciation is fairly easy, a bit like Spanish

However,
- You do have to learn new alphabets
- And get used to the word order

If I were you, I'd give it a go. There's tons of resources on the net, and if you need any help, just PM me or post a message here and I'll and I'm sure others will be happy to help

[frogout]

Yeah it's a hard language but it'd be worth it in the end... imagine being able to speak fluent Japanese!

I know one more Kanji than you then lucyA... 私 (わたし... guess you know what that means right ). I am glad that I'm gonna learn 40 Kanji... but really, don't you need to know 2000 or something just to read a newspaper?

Btw O_O at the price of project trust? That's... a LOT. But I suppose it's quite good for a whole year, and since you'd have to find your own accomadation for the other one, so I suppose that could be more expensive. I definately wouldn't go on that RealGap thing if I were you, personally, because loadsa things aren't guaranteed... including accomidation - imagine being homeless in Japan!

Come to think of it... I remeber seeing on some websites on Japanese universitys/colleges that they have language courses for like the summer or 6 months etc and it was quite cheap... I think. But then you wouldn't be teaching so, yeah.

[LucyA]

I do know that one, I just don't know how to write it off the top of my head.


Hmm... yeah. Although I don't think RealGap will ABANDON you, as it says they'll help you find accommodation, but it will probably end up more expensive in the long run.

I'm gonna look around. I'll report back if I find anything of interest

[LucyA]

Oh, does anyone have any tips for Japanese pronunciation? My family say I sound like I'm speaking Spanish

[frogout]

Haha I do think it sounds quite spanishy though. I remember I was once in the post office and some people were speaking Japanese and it took me a while to figure out that it wasn't spanish!

Well, I'd recommend watching some Japanese dramas (or anime... if that's what you're into) on youtube or something, I heard watching stuff in a language kinda gets your ear used to it.. which improves your pronounciation, even if you don't neccessarily understand it. And you could also pick up some words. If you do watch a drama I'd definately recommend 'One litre of tears' it's reaaaally good. But a very sad, you *will* cry .

Apart from that... I don't know.

[swifty]

皆さん、こんにちは！　　わたしはswiftyです。　　北アイルラ ンド人です。　　日本語が好きです。　　日本に行きたい ！
　　

[LucyA]

こんいちわ Swifty。おげんき です か？

I'll look that drama up Kim, thanks

[swifty]

はい、元気です！

I've noticed you have mispelled konnichiwa.

Instead of わ　it should be は, the topic marker.

[LucyA]

(Original post by swifty)
はい、元気です！

I've noticed you have mispelled konnichiwa.

Instead of わ　it should be は, the topic marker.

ありがとう for correcting me, I didn't realise that.

I noticed that you have misspelled misspelled.

P.S Would anyone find a list of resources in the first post useful? We may know ones that others don't and vice versa

[frogout]

(Original post by LucyA)
ありがとう for correcting me, I didn't realise that.

I noticed that you have misspelled misspelled.

P.S Would anyone find a list of resources in the first post useful? We may know ones that others don't and vice versa

Oh yeah, resources! =D

I don't really know that many resources... apart from jdorama.com which is just a big database of japanese dramas... but I dunno if that really counts as a resource.

But yes . I would definately find a list of resources useful!

[LucyA]

I will get to work on it straig....very very soon.

Feel free to post any others you may have come across (Or even learning techniques, that would be useful too )

[Excalibur]

みなさん、こんにちは！私は　Excalibur で、日本人です。わからないことがあったら、聞いてくだ さい！

So yeah, I'm Japanese and Japanese is my first language. It's fantastic that people are wanting to learn it - there is so much depth to the language/culture, imo. (though of course I am biased ) I haven't lived in Japan since I was six and only go back there sparingly, so my knowledge is probably a little out of date - and I am absolutely crap at grammar so don't ask me grammatical questions lol. But I do have a lot of Japanese friends, read a lot of Japanese books & go to Japanese school on Saturdays so I like to keep in touch with my country.