whitehexe wrote:

For those beginning, how do you study atm?

I just load up whatever Japanese show / film I can get my hands on (with JP subtitles), watch a bit, pause and find a word I don't know, look it up and learn what it means, and repeat. I'm looking to get my hands on a textbook to study in a more proper way.

dreamsinpink wrote:

Why is everyone interested in or studying Japanese?

I've been interested in Japan since I was a kid (the moment I learned that my favorite games/cartoons were from there). Nowadays, my main motivations are making friends from the country and exploring Japanese entertainment without having to rely on fan translations. I've also just always wanted to know a second language, and Japanese seemed to be the best choice since I already had an interest in it!

Quote :

I would suggest to install the memrise app on your phone if you have a smartphone,

Dang, this makes me wish I had a smartphone.

Artemis wrote:

I am wnting to learn Japanese because I want to teach English in Japan, hopefully next year.

Ahh, fair enough! I taught there for five years. I actually just moved back to Canada this past May.

And Lyricalias, that's great Having a outside motivation, like wanting to understand and communicate, really helps push you.

If you are planning on teaching children in Japan this is one you have to know:

おしっこしたい！　(Oshikko shitai) 

I'm not even joking.

Artemis wrote:

aww i dont have a smart phone, but maybe I could look into getting vocabulary flashcards or something. I want to definitley be able to pronounce the characters and learn Hiranga.


I am wnting to learn Japanese because I want to teach English in Japan, hopefully next year.

awe dang  well, memrise also works on web browser (http://www.memrise.com), and you could make old fashion cards as well!! Thats how I originally learned my hiragana and katakana!! It works just like any fancy app

I'm hopefully moving to Japan this summer to teach. I've wanted to go forever, and now that I have my degree and TESL I can finally go

whitehexe wrote:

I'm hopefully moving to Japan this summer to teach. I've wanted to go forever, and now that I have my degree and TESL I can finally go

I'm so glad that you got your TESL! I find it really frustrating that there are so many "language teachers" there who have no idea how to teach language.

dreamsinpink wrote:

whitehexe wrote:

I'm hopefully moving to Japan this summer to teach. I've wanted to go forever, and now that I have my degree and TESL I can finally go

I'm so glad that you got your TESL! I find it really frustrating that there are so many "language teachers" there who have no idea how to teach language.

I wasn't going to, but last year after I finished my BA I got on the alternate list for the JET Programme, and never got bumped up. I didn't want to waste my year so I took the program at my university. I'm sooooo happy I did though, it was really such an amazing and helpful experience. I honestly am not sure how I would have figured it out on the spot... I most definitely wouldn't be as prepared.

whitehexe wrote:

Artemis wrote:

aww i dont have a smart phone, but maybe I could look into getting vocabulary flashcards or something. I want to definitley be able to pronounce the characters and learn Hiranga.


I am wnting to learn Japanese because I want to teach English in Japan, hopefully next year.

awe dang  well, memrise also works on web browser (http://www.memrise.com), and you could make old fashion cards as well!! Thats how I originally learned my hiragana and katakana!! It works just like any fancy app

I'm hopefully moving to Japan this summer to teach. I've wanted to go forever, and now that I have my degree and TESL I can finally go

did you get your TESL online or in an actual program- I am wanting to get that certificate once I finish school.

I hope you can move to Japan this summer for teaching.

Yeah, having something like TESL is a huge help. I'm an EFL / ESL teacher, so I did the TESL certification along with a degree in applied linguistics. Definitely a huge help.

More and more schools are looking for that too. If you're looking for any help or advice about finding a job, let me know. I found mine from Canada, and stayed at the same school for five years, so it was pretty great.

@artemis I did a program through the university I got my degree at, which is accredited through TESL Canada. I really suggest doing it in person rather than online. Yeah some of it is technical and book/reading oriented... but SO MUCH of it you really need hands on learning for. One of my friends who went to teach in korea did an online program (not sure which) and she said it did nothing to prepare her for actual teaching. My practicum was both the hardest and most useful of my courses... hands down.

@dreamsinpink If JET doesn't pan out, I'm determined to get to Japan to teach, so I will contact you if I need help/tips!

What areas did you request?

southern Japan. I only put regions as requests, no cities or specific prefectures. I did mention that my city has a sister city relationship with Uji city though, and that I have been highly involved in the sister city relationship (my boyfriend is the son of the mayor of my city, so I get to go to a lot of official things, in addition to being invited to a lot of events and socials through other activities I take part in). As much as I love Uji (so beautiful) I wouldn't be torn at all if I didn't get placed even near there.

That definitely makes things easier, I think!

So we got super off track here, haha. I was thinking, maybe if there's anything anyone wants to know we could post a few "lessons" or pointers?

dreamsinpink wrote:

So we got super off track here, haha. I was thinking, maybe if there's anything anyone wants to know we could post a few "lessons" or pointers?

I was thinking the same thing! I always find that explaining something to someone is a great way for me to practice/remember/review, and if it helps someone else too - even better!!

誰も興味がなさそうね；

I would really like to learn a bit of Japanese. Mostly as a hobby - I have no "big" plans for it liek you guys who're going to live and teach in Japan. I have the Pimsleur approach and the PC version of Human Japanese. And I downloaded some books that say they teach you the hiragana and katanaka each in just 3 hours. So far I've worked through the first day of that book and it is good but not spectacular - it works with mnemonics and while some of them are indeed memorable, others are so far-fetched you wind up scratching your head more than learning the symbols  . But I wonder if anyone can recommend any other methods that I can find online or that won't cost me an arm and a leg.

I'll be honest - I don't want my mother knowing I'm working on this (she knows I would like to try it, but not that I've actually started playing around with it!) so there should be minimum spending on it for right now. I will soon have to work on my University diploma, and she seems to think it's fine to waste my time watching anime, reading books, surfing the web - but that any activity that requires more concentration and memory will somehow damage my Uni work. 

Yes I am 24 (going on 25) and my biggest problem is my mother's approval. Please don't judge too harshly 

As far as practicing hiragana or katakana goes, it's really just repetition, repetition repetition. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I when I first was learning to read and write the alphabets, I would just write things over and over and over. I wrote the names of the Sailor Moon characters, I wrote the colours or greetings that I knew. It helped because I knew what I was writing, so it was easier to read them. 

This is a good site that allows you to practice the characters one at a time in a flashcard type format: http://www.realkana.com/

And then this one has the characters with their pronunciation: https://coscom.co.jp/hiragana-katakana/index.html

For speaking and listening, I did some research to see what I could come up with, and I found this guy who has some pretty good lessons: https://www.youtube.com/user/yesjapan

If anyone has any questions, or if I can help in any way let me know! I'm happy to do whatever I can.

Ooooh, thank you very much for those links! 

I had only come across Human Japanese, JapanesePod101 and something like a Rosetta Stone online course, but all of those required payment sooner or later and I decided to go with Human Japanese because I liked the option of having it on my PC as well. I'd also gotten the actual PC Rosetta Stone but I had trouble installing it. It just wouldn't load. So then I looked up some reviews to see if it was worth the time trying to make it work and people were not very happy with the method.

Honestly I can't wait to look at Japanese writing and for it to make at least SOME sense

No problem! I hope they help!

Yeah, it seems like a lot of the time to get beyond the basics (like greetings, and colours) they want your money. :/ 

Haha, it will! Don't worry. It's kind of like doing a puzzle at first, and at least the sounds will never really change!

Yeah, exactly! I learned the Russian alphabet a few years back (and the Greek alphabet when I spent a week in Greece, haha) and it was exactly like a puzzle  . Though this one is a more difficult one

At least it's good exercise for your brain? Haha

Absolutely. Foreign languages always are...

I'm having trouble translating this sentence here (in Romaji): kono shinbun wa gakusei ni yatte shimatte, mou nai. Can anyone help me, please? Thanks!

'kono' = this
'shinbun' = newspaper
'wa' = particle (newspaper is the subject of the sentence)
'gakusei' = student(s)
'ni' = particle (indicates direction of action, in this case, the students did ___ to the newspaper)
'yatte' = 'yaru' to do
'shimatte' = 'shimaru' to shut down/lock up/to close (this is most common meaning anyway)
'mou' nai' = doesn't exist / is gone

use of yatte is weird to me (@dreamsinpink would you use yatte here?) but I'm translating it as:

"this newspaper (was) closed by students, its gone"

My boyfriend (speaks Japanese really well) said he thinks it might be "The students are not involved in this newspaper"

he said that its kinda an odd sentence, and its hard to translate if in romaji, as there are so many meanings that 'shimatte' could be, in this case.

The construction was odd to me too, and I asked a friend who felt the same way. That would be my best guess of the meaning.

I need help translating this sentence:

Nihongo de ichiban tokui na koto wa nan desu ka?

Juliko wrote:

I need help translating this sentence:

Nihongo de ichiban tokui na koto wa nan desu ka?

Literal: What's your strongest point in Japanese?
(Basically, "What are you best at when it comes to Japanese?")

Thanks! I'm also having trouble with this one

Anata no nihongo no uryoku o (the kanji here is for sei, as in sensei, but I don't know how to translate it) kashite nani ga shitai desu ka?

Juliko wrote:

Thanks! I'm also having trouble with this one

Anata no nihongo no uryoku o (the kanji here is for sei, as in sensei, but I don't know how to translate it) kashite nani ga shitai desu ka?

Could you provide the Japanese?
It would make things easier