So how many are active here?

The_Nipper_One

Just wondering how many people are active here and what your levels are.

Noticed a lot of even the first few threads are quite old!

Konata

Aye, it's a quiet wee forum (post moaaaar! >_>).

Not sure where exactly my level lies as I haven't had a chance to take a JLPT exam yet but I'm studying Japanese in college atm and just finished 2nd year. Heading off to Tokyo now in September for a year so hoping to improve a fair bit over there (particularly with spoken Japanese as my written is definitely miles ahead of my speaking at the moment!).

How about yourself?

The_Nipper_One

Ahh sounds nice, be sure to keep up the posting on boards so we can know how you're doing.

This is the first week I've been learning, so I'm scoping out a few different places I might be able to post to interact with a few other learners. I'm purely spending this week learning the Hira/katakana, and once I have those beaten into my head I'll start on the Kanji. After I have a few of those down I'll begin learning grammar while slowly progressing through the Kanji.

From what I gather there are about 3 main ways people go about learning them:

1. Follow the Japanese school route (seems to be generally discouraged for non native speakers.)
2. Learn how to write the Kanji and then go back over them again to learn the meanings/readings.
3. Learn the Kanji from most simple to draw, with readings, to the most complex.

I think I'll probably end up taking a mix of 2 and 3, I might memorize how to draw 20 - 30 and then go back to learn the meanings and work through the 2500~ most common that way. I'll probably order them from simplest to most complex in terms of strokes.

FWVT

I would highly recommend this app to anyone wanting to learn Japanese properly. It's amazing and it's free! It has everything you will ever need plus a step-by-step lesson in usage. Within 1 week I have mastered the JLPT5 kanji as there are several tests on recognition and writing.

I have been studying Japanese on and off for a couple of years now but badly need some conversational practice. My written and reading though has come on so far since discovering the app and has me hooked again!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Obenkyo

Celebrindal

I rarely use boards.ie, so I'd only check this forum about once every two months or so. I studied Japanese for the Leaving Cert. Then forgot about it for a few years. Got back into studying it properly, passed the N4 last July, the N3 in December. Since it's all self-study, I've no confidence in speaking it, but I'd like to think I'm alright at reading and listening, haha.

baron von something

i seem to be going a whole different route than most people on here.i'm starting with basic tourist conversational stuff rather than written first.it was recommended to me to use the mp3 format first and recognise the pronunciations and meanings first before moving on to the cd rom which uses visuals/flashcards etc.i have the accompanying script for the mp3 files so that makes it easier with the prononciations.i just started it yesterday but i like it so far

The_Nipper_One

baron von something wrote: »

i seem to be going a whole different route than most people on here.i'm starting with basic tourist conversational stuff rather than written first.it was recommended to me to use the mp3 format first and recognise the pronunciations and meanings first before moving on to the cd rom which uses visuals/flashcards etc.i have the accompanying script for the mp3 files so that makes it easier with the prononciations.i just started it yesterday but i like it so far

Different strokes for different folks

I'm learning it the way I am because I'm a stickler for structure. If I was learning it the way you are, I would feel like I was getting nowhere, though I know a hell of alot of people say that it's the best way to become conversational in a language fast!

The funny thing is I would feel like I was getting nowhere if I learned the touristy phrases and vocab, yet I'm perfectly content to spend the rest of this year learning nothing but grammar and the writing system :pac:

I'm hoping that getting all the structered stuff out of the way first will mean that when it comes to vocab things will sit into place more easily, or at least if I come across a new word I will be able to say "Well an adjective usually goes here so this new word must be describing X and usually X is Y so this probably means this"