People to learn, and speak, Japanese with.

Aranthos Faroth

Hi folks,
I know I might aswell be shooting in the wind for the likelyhood of something stemming from this, but I'm gonna give it a go anyway.

For the past 2 years I have been himming and hamming about learning Japanese.
So, I eventually plucked up the time to read over a few books, and browse the internet.
Unfortunately though, I have an odd feeling that I might aswell have not learned anything.

I can only imagine a foreign speaker, trying to learn English, from text alone.
Some words just aren't made to be spoken like they are written.

Anyway! Enough of my shpeal.

I live in Letterkeny during the week, and Sligo on the weekends.
I was wondering if there is anyone that I could learn this language from?

Now, sure.. I could pay you. (If you are a teacher) But I would really be looking for someone to have kinda constant contact with, to have conversations with now and then.. etc..

Honest to god.. I really do think I'm shooting in the wind here.
Thanks for reading!:D

FruitLover

It's important to hear native Japanese being spoken to learn natural vocabulary and pronunciation (more important than speaking).

If you end up not being able to meet up with native Japanese speakers in your area (or via skype, etc), try to watch as many Japanese movies and TV programs as you can (be careful with anime, as there's a risk of picking up weird phrases that aren't used by normal people). A lot of Japanese TV dramas etc aren't copyrighted outside of Japan, so it may be perfectly legal to download them using bittorrent, etc (not going to give any links just in case though). These are often subtitled by fans, so you won't feel like you're in over your head.

just-joe

Most Japanese words are easy to pronounce, due to the small set of sounds that the language uses. And funnily enough, in contrast to what you said, most if not all Japanese words are spoken exactly as they are written. Thats just English being weird.

Obviously you're better hearing native Japanese to pick up accent and phrases which aren't in books. But I mean to say, a cd/podcast/youtube would do grand until you find someone.

And you can learn a ton of useful stuff by yourself. So its worth going through the books and knowing whats there. If you were to find a teacher/conversation partner, you'd be better off having studied by yourself first. The more the better.


Out of interest, why Japanese?

Just Like Heaven

Which podcasts would you reccomend?

bocka

Hi! I studied Japanese language for over 4 years in college and now 5 years after graduation and not using it, it's all rusty...
I'm Croatian so it was hard to learn it. I highly recommend to talk as much as you can with Japanese native and grammar - which is not very complicated, and writing you can do at home.
I decided to try to refresh my knowledge so I'm looking for Japanese private tuitions or good intense course in Dublin.
More for conversation than anything else.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

FruitLover

bocka wrote: »

I'm Croatian so it was hard to learn it

Is it supposed to be easier for Irish people to learn?

irelandsfuture

Hi,

If you're serious about learning there are a ton of free resources you can draw from.

(all the below are free)
The best place to start for podcasts is japanesepop101.com. Loads of great dialogues, all free! And for every level, from absolute beginner to upper advanced.

If you want some great tips on technique, go to www.alljapaneseallthetime.com, some love it , some hate, I personally find it to be right on the money. It's worked for me so far (no-where near fluent but certainly well on with comprehension).

If you want some interaction in learning, sign up to www.lingq.com. Takes a bit of knowledge to start, but is good.

If you're feeling adventurous, set itunes to japanese and you can subscribe to any and all free native japanese podcasts (including video ones) without a problem.

For dubbed JP drama, go to www.d-addicts.com. You'll need a torrent client but this site has almost all japanese shows ever released (within the last decade). Most are fansubbed and they are not copy righted outside of japan.

If you don't want to download the dramas from above, www.dramacrazy.net hosts many fansubbed shows for free, another excellent resource.

If you can get through those you'll be well fluent

finally, If you do like Japanese and want to keep it on, get a small book on the kana (the basic Japanese alphabet) early(ideally from the very start), you can learn all 50 of them them in 2-5 hours, and they make the experience way more fun. When reddy take on the kanji (the more complex Chinese characters - approx 2,000+)

Best of luck with it!