Should i bother trying to learn Japanese?

[heroizumi]

I personally think you should go for it. I've been formally learning Japanese for about 3 years now and I'm able to watch stuff without subs most of the time. At least dramas and such. (No way I can handle the news, haha). Before I started formal studies I'd been watching subtitled anime, toku, dramas, etc probably for 6-7 years. Through that I was able to catch some vocabulary and work on pronunciation.

The best way to work on your Japanese is practice, practice, practice. And also try to speak with native speakers. It might be a bit nerve wracking but it really helps. ^__^

 

[Miaka975]

10 years? We're talking 2 if you study regularly.

man.. that makes me one of the stupid ones........ it's taken me 10 years so far ((( and......... u should see the massive amount of comics i've read in that time XD ....... at least now it's slowly becoming a pile of novels and i do mean slowly XD

 

[MetalSymphony]

Thanks for the advice peoples, while i may not to ready to make a decision yet (i have to look around at some vectors for it), i now am armed with information.

And i would gladly and quickly take a proper Adult education course......if one for Japanese was offered out here. They DO have ones for French (it is my country's official second language), Tagalog (like i said, this town has a Large Filipino population, most of them are landed immigrants from the Manila area it seems) and First Nation's (Cree i think).

Anyway, ill poke around and see. Any suggestions on book's or etc that would be a good place to start learning?

 

[FangireQueen]

It's definitely more difficult to learn the older you get however it's not impossible.

It took me around a year and a half to learn. That's because I didn't do the conventional route of text books and "Lesson one: How to say hello!" I learned conversation versus reading and writing. If you intend to travel there, speaking and understanding should be your FIRST priority. As far as reading goes, just learn Katakana and Hiragana first and you'll be set. I learned my Japanese for travelling in Tokyo and visiting friends and Tokyo is SO foreigner friendly. Everything is in English mostly and Kana and Hira secondly.

The easiest route IMO is start with phrase books. It keeps things exciting and you'll be learning Japanese you'll actually USE. First Japanese phrase I learned? "Do you have a map in English?" Which then lead to learning how to replace map with menu/train schedule/anything I could possibly need in English. I didn't need to learn "Where is the train station?" Because well... the signs are everywhere. Also what will help with translating is as you're learning phrases, what tokus and repeat what they say. (Tokus are written for children so it's the easiest Japanese to get a hold of)

The best thing about learning Japanese is that once you learn how each sound is pronounced then it's CAKE from there. Because Japanese is always pronounced exactly as it's written. And knowing that, it's a lot easier to hear a phrase, write it down, and learn it. Phrase learning is a lot faster and you won't be easily bored out of learning.

The major key is to RETAIN the information. When learning a language when you're older it's easy to lose the information when you don't constantly use it. So make sure you're constantly practicing and everything will be easy. It just takes a LOT of hard work, but if definitely pays off in the end.


EDIT: A great starter book I recommend is "Making Out in Japanese" and "Making Out in Japanese 2". Avoid the curses and vulgar words lol cuz those will get you in trouble. But there's EXTREMELY useful daily phrases in there and even though I speak it well, I still carry around those books for refreshers.

 

[MetalSymphony]

Lot's o text

Sounds like the path i would take, so thats the one i go with then :thumbs:.
i'll look around for some phrase book's next time i'm near a bookstore.

 

[Sage Shinigami]

I can't believe that. I've known plenty of people who thought they could do it after two years, but those are the same people who get hired by **** sub groups and create **** subs.

(Granted, it depends on how you define "grok". I'm talking about understanding every line you come across and sub/interpret yourself on a single watchthrough, not being able to roughly follow the action.)

I can't believe ten years either. Unless you learn one kanji a day or something.

 

[Kivat]

Use Rosetta Stone if you have the money. I've heard it's remarkable.

NOPE!! That's what I thought, but it's not as great as it seems. I've done my research it is a rip-off. There are better ways to learn then shelling out all that money.

 

[Bigdog]

NOPE!! That's what I thought, but it's not as great as it seems. I've done my research it is a rip-off. There are better ways to learn then shelling out all that money.

I want to learn Japanese also because i wondered if it was worth all that money.

In fact Japanese is in my top 5 languages to be learned list along with Spanish ,French, Arabic, and Indian with Chinese barely behind Indian as those two might be most likely the two new superpowers of the world in a few years.

 

[Aoiblue]

NOPE!! That's what I thought, but it's not as great as it seems. I've done my research it is a rip-off. There are better ways to learn then shelling out all that money.

you have it?

 

[Kivat]

you have it?

Nah..I did my research and saw it wasn't enough help, it wasn't worth it.

I had the torrents, but i think I deleted them as soon as I heard what I heard.