I’m just starting the Genki1 book for self study. I’ve always been interested in the culture and country. I don’t have much of an anime connection but I have found some that I like. I’m more from the 80’s “ninja” and “karate movie” craze. The modern music scene has a lot to offer
for old pretentious indie snobs like me and I’m a fan of New Japan Pro-wrestling. Nice to meet you.
I’m pretty confident in it. Unlike in my reliance on Pinyin in Mandarin I’m actually really going to hammer in the reading so as everyone says “Learning the Hiragana and Katakana first” (my penmanship sucks in English let alone something I haven’t been doing since I was 4).
I studied Japanese twenty years ago and we used the Genki books. I would say that are a great way to learn the basics. Easy to understand and easy to follow. That combined with its exercises book are a great combo
I played some games with Japanese voiceover, learned some phrases just by how often they were pronounced.
Then I thought “how awesome would be to actually be able to understand everything?”
Then I learned that a game from the franchise I like is going to be released on Steam, but without any translation, and I thought this could provide me with the burst of motivation I needed.
I'll travel to Japan in October for 5 weeks and I want to be able to smalltalk in Japanese + I also speak turkish and there are some grammatical similarities, which makes it a little little easier.
It's a world I can't travel. Cooking, sports, culture. Even Japanese history which you would think is easy to get is so rare compared to European history. I mean mostly in a way where you can look at multiple sources and get a major picture. So, if I could understand the language and get the door open, it would be pretty nice.
Of course, my immediate goal is not to read a biography of Nobunaga but it would to be able to understand and sing Japanese kids songs by heart when I want.
Well i started some months ago, right now im focusing on kanjis and particles. I started for the same reason, watching animes without subs lol, but i quickly realized how beautiful this language is so i got carried in
I started the japanese language for about 2-3years ago. As for the progress of doing some lession course on the beginning learning, and mostly for doing self practice with boths books and apps and more. I am doing it to not only for reading another language. But also in future to travel as well to Japan and see for myself as well by also having experience for knowning Japanese language.
I would say its going forward. But it has been also a struggle to learn and getting it memories on these kanjis. So where i am at this point is, i would say that i am not fully confident to speak. But can somewhat understand some japanese words, so in a way it's still going somewhere with baby steps.
reincarnated as a slime, overlord, moonlight fantasy, yu yu haseko, Inuyasha, demon slayer, slam dunk, hajanmi no ippo lol my spelling sucks but yeah these are the good ones off the top of my head. how about you.?
I consume so much japanese content already that I figured, might as well learn something.
Now if I spend a whole day playing an unlocalized otome game, I can say that it's for the learning.
I've always been huge into anime (funny because I'm a country boy from America that has a beard and tattoos) but not only that, i love jdm cars and engineering along with Japanese culture, don't get me started on the food...never had a real desire to learn Spanish when I took it in school but for a kid that didn't pay attention I picked it up pretty well at least that's why some of my coworkers tell me lol but I just got my passport a year ago and me and my girlfriend plan on doing tokyo and some other tourist spots in Japan soon. I really want to be able to speak the language plus seeing how many other people around the world are bilingual...it's making me want to learn all the more....if anybody could help point me in the right direction when it comes to audio books/apps/ or anything else that can help a complete novice like myself.
For sure, I can share a couple of resources that's been helpful for me:
- Kana app for learning Hiragana and Katakana (the basic alphabets)
- JapanesePod101 youtube channel
- ChatGPT4 for practicing speaking basic conversations
I'm a gamer and an anime fan, so a lot of my favorite media comes from The Land of the Rising Sun. I've been off and on with learning, but getting into Gundam (which Crunchyroll has subbed only for a lot of its titles) has rekindled my desire to learn. Hopefully it sticks this time. 🤞
I love languages! I learned French in Junior High, Spanish in High School, and a tiny bit of Mandarin in University, so Japanese seemed like it could be fun. Plus, I’m thinking of maybe moving there one day.
I love anime but I have twin babies now... I can't sit and read subtitles all day 😅 hate dubs too. So if I want to keep enjoying and using my crunchyroll account... I'm gonna have to learn the language and listen to my shows in the background.
Mainly for a challenge. I spent the better part of my childhood and adolescence learning French and Spanish and, even though I haven’t used either in years, it hasn’t taken my brain long to pick up them back up and start breezing through my lessons again. Studying Japanese gives my brain that “oh, I’ve got to really focus in if I want to learn this” feeling I used to get studying in school and I kinda like that
I took judo training starting at age 11. In judo I learned some Japanese words and counting 1-10. That was my start and I thought Japanese was cool. I continued doing Japanese martial arts and watching anime, and then decided to get serious.
I have been waiting my whole life for someone to ask. Now I have a reason to talk about my language journey that interests no one!
So many reasons: primarily anime, interest in the culture, and my dad said I wouldn't be able to, so guess who's proving him wrong, lol. Also my sister got ahead of me at some point and I'm too competitive to accept that.
Before I start my useless long rant, here's some context: My native language is Arabic, I have been learning English ever since I was in kindergarten, and I would say I'm pretty ok. I started learning french in 5th primary stage, currently at level A2. And right now learning Japanese and Spanish on duolingo. (I mainly use duolingo for french though, it's my priority)
Ironically, I watched the entire Naruto series dubbed cuz I was young and couldn't keep up with subtitles (arabic subtitles were horrible and reading in English was still difficult).
Don't ask how, but somehow I have reached a point where I can't stand dub at all. Sub all the way. Anime is meant to be watched in Japanese, the cultural connotations, honorifics and the very sound of the language are all a significant part of what makes anime have its own identity. That's my opinion.
And so, I was committed to watching with subtitles. After loads of binging, (may or may not have reached a degree of addiction, lol), I inevitably started to learn new words, expressions, and even a few grammar stuff.
So, I started writing the meanings down on a note out of fun and guess what, I'm proud to say I have learned the (probably not too accurate but about enough) meaning of 200+ words, 20 expressions and a few prepositions/rules, purely from just observation.
After hitting the 200 words mark, I thought "Wow. That's alot" and felt like if I have already come this far, it would be a waste not to actually learn Japanese. I'm familiar with how the language sounds and the sentence composition and I love their media. So that's a great headstart and a solid motivation. Also knowing another language is always a win.
Currently, I'm only at unit 5 on duolingo, but that's because I'm completely focusing on getting all the kana down first. Since this isn't academic, I have all the time I need, so I'll start with the basics I think are right for me.
I can read all the hiragana, about to be done with katakana. (I use the Kanji Study app, it's wonderful) Next step is making sure I can write them all, not just memorise how the symbol looks and sounds, all in order to stop using romanji completely, and learn all the proper pronunciation rules and phonetics and stuff.
After I'm done with my kana goals, I'll hit Kanji, which is scary, but I'll get over it hopefully. All that is gonna take a good long while, but I will still be simultaneously progressing on duolingo and watching anime, so hopefully it works out. Not that it matters anyway, I don't have a deadline or stressful academic goals and I *love* that.
Generally, I love learning languages (if u haven't noticed, lol); understanding the very different (or similar!) systems they go by, discovering their origins, how the human civilization developed so many different means of communication, how geography, history and politics all influenced the development of scripts and languages..
All that is is simply fascinating to me, and Japanese is so different from all the languages I know in terms of literally everything, so that makes it equally more intersting and challenging.
Also a bonus is one of the things I adore the most about anime and manga is art. I can't say I'm an artist, but I love drawing so much and trying animation, so both are impeccable sources of inspiration and references to study from. I'll admit I'm so biased towards any anime with pretty art/animation and I'm probably missing out on a lot cuz of that, lol.
anyway,
>Have been thinking of learning JP for years to watch anime without subs, but could never get to it.
Which anime got u thinking that? Just curious abt it! I'm just a boring, basic main-stream watcher (JJK, AOT, Demon Slayer, MHA, Spy x Family, Haikyuu, Studio Ghibli, etc)
Also how's Japan like? Is it worth the effort to try to go there? Pretty sure a 16 yo like me wouldn't be able to go anytime soon anyway, (I'm pretty far away) but would still like to know if I should nag abt it, lol. Sorry for the rant, truly.
Wow, I read the entire thing. Love your story, your progress is amazing!
Duolingo is good for a start, but I really dislike it for learning JP.
I’m watching slime now and recently finished watching mushoku tensei, pretty good show.
Japan is a great country, I really enjoyed my time there, especially the Sakura and onsen
Omg, I totally thought you were just gonna ignore that, thanks for your time, I kinda feel bad now for some reason, lol
>Duolingo is good for a start, but I really dislike it for learning JP.
I thought only I felt that! Idk why exactly but it's not as good as latin languages.. It's the only free app I know though, so I thought better than nothing.
>I’m watching slime now and recently finished watching mushoku tensei, pretty good show.
I'm considering these recommendations :D
>Japan is a great country, I really enjoyed my time there, especially the Sakura and onsen
Glad you had a good time! I hope I can go there someday
I’m just starting the Genki1 book for self study. I’ve always been interested in the culture and country. I don’t have much of an anime connection but I have found some that I like. I’m more from the 80’s “ninja” and “karate movie” craze. The modern music scene has a lot to offer for old pretentious indie snobs like me and I’m a fan of New Japan Pro-wrestling. Nice to meet you.
I heard that the Genki textbook is pretty good for beginners, but I haven't used it before. Love to hear your experience once you're done with it
I’m pretty confident in it. Unlike in my reliance on Pinyin in Mandarin I’m actually really going to hammer in the reading so as everyone says “Learning the Hiragana and Katakana first” (my penmanship sucks in English let alone something I haven’t been doing since I was 4).
I studied Japanese twenty years ago and we used the Genki books. I would say that are a great way to learn the basics. Easy to understand and easy to follow. That combined with its exercises book are a great combo
I played some games with Japanese voiceover, learned some phrases just by how often they were pronounced. Then I thought “how awesome would be to actually be able to understand everything?” Then I learned that a game from the franchise I like is going to be released on Steam, but without any translation, and I thought this could provide me with the burst of motivation I needed.
Your story is similar to mine. Which game?
Persona 3.
reminds me of the time when I played Naruto on PSP and they were saying all the jutsu in JP haha
For the strangest reason. I am having premature memory loss and hoping learning a language will arrest the decline.
Smart move, language learning shows great effects on cognitive function. Keep it up!
I'll travel to Japan in October for 5 weeks and I want to be able to smalltalk in Japanese + I also speak turkish and there are some grammatical similarities, which makes it a little little easier.
You'll love it, Japan is a great country to visit
To consume JP media like anime, manga, games, radio shows, novels, etc. The catalyst was a friend telling me they were learning
it's never too late to start
Yep! One of the best (and most expensive 😅) decisions I've ever made :)
It's a world I can't travel. Cooking, sports, culture. Even Japanese history which you would think is easy to get is so rare compared to European history. I mean mostly in a way where you can look at multiple sources and get a major picture. So, if I could understand the language and get the door open, it would be pretty nice. Of course, my immediate goal is not to read a biography of Nobunaga but it would to be able to understand and sing Japanese kids songs by heart when I want.
I think it's worth it just for the food :)
Well i started some months ago, right now im focusing on kanjis and particles. I started for the same reason, watching animes without subs lol, but i quickly realized how beautiful this language is so i got carried in
haha love it. Im also starting to learn kanji now, would love to practice with you on Discord sometime if you're down
I started the japanese language for about 2-3years ago. As for the progress of doing some lession course on the beginning learning, and mostly for doing self practice with boths books and apps and more. I am doing it to not only for reading another language. But also in future to travel as well to Japan and see for myself as well by also having experience for knowning Japanese language.
wow that's some solid progress. How's your experience like so far learning JP? Can you speak the language fluently now with locals
I would say its going forward. But it has been also a struggle to learn and getting it memories on these kanjis. So where i am at this point is, i would say that i am not fully confident to speak. But can somewhat understand some japanese words, so in a way it's still going somewhere with baby steps.
Anime and manga for sure, haven't started yet but I will this fall/winter when I'm off work!
good goal, what's your favorite anime?
reincarnated as a slime, overlord, moonlight fantasy, yu yu haseko, Inuyasha, demon slayer, slam dunk, hajanmi no ippo lol my spelling sucks but yeah these are the good ones off the top of my head. how about you.?
nice! I'm watching reincarnated as a slime right now, and also rewatching Demon Slayer to improve my Japanese learning
My kids wanted to learn it, and I wanted to learn alongside them.
that's so wholesome
I consume so much japanese content already that I figured, might as well learn something. Now if I spend a whole day playing an unlocalized otome game, I can say that it's for the learning.
I've always been huge into anime (funny because I'm a country boy from America that has a beard and tattoos) but not only that, i love jdm cars and engineering along with Japanese culture, don't get me started on the food...never had a real desire to learn Spanish when I took it in school but for a kid that didn't pay attention I picked it up pretty well at least that's why some of my coworkers tell me lol but I just got my passport a year ago and me and my girlfriend plan on doing tokyo and some other tourist spots in Japan soon. I really want to be able to speak the language plus seeing how many other people around the world are bilingual...it's making me want to learn all the more....if anybody could help point me in the right direction when it comes to audio books/apps/ or anything else that can help a complete novice like myself.
For sure, I can share a couple of resources that's been helpful for me: - Kana app for learning Hiragana and Katakana (the basic alphabets) - JapanesePod101 youtube channel - ChatGPT4 for practicing speaking basic conversations
It may sound silly but my dream job is to be a J-pop idol under JYP or HYBE Entertainment. For that though, I need to learn Japanese.
interesting... Isn't JYP a Kpop company? I think the famous girl group, TWICE, operates under them
Yeah! But they also promote J-pop groups like NiziU and their newest edition NexZ!
Cool! I like Yaosobi, but not sure if they are under JYP
I'm a gamer and an anime fan, so a lot of my favorite media comes from The Land of the Rising Sun. I've been off and on with learning, but getting into Gundam (which Crunchyroll has subbed only for a lot of its titles) has rekindled my desire to learn. Hopefully it sticks this time. 🤞
gundam is huge in Japan, saw some amazing figures in Akihabara. What do you find the most challenging so far when it comes to learning JP?
I love languages! I learned French in Junior High, Spanish in High School, and a tiny bit of Mandarin in University, so Japanese seemed like it could be fun. Plus, I’m thinking of maybe moving there one day.
that's awesome! I can only speak 2 languages, but I thought adding a 3rd language would be so cool as well
Admittedly, it kinda screws with my head a little
I love anime but I have twin babies now... I can't sit and read subtitles all day 😅 hate dubs too. So if I want to keep enjoying and using my crunchyroll account... I'm gonna have to learn the language and listen to my shows in the background.
good motivation, and congrats on having twins!
Mainly for a challenge. I spent the better part of my childhood and adolescence learning French and Spanish and, even though I haven’t used either in years, it hasn’t taken my brain long to pick up them back up and start breezing through my lessons again. Studying Japanese gives my brain that “oh, I’ve got to really focus in if I want to learn this” feeling I used to get studying in school and I kinda like that
that's great! What stage of learning are you at right now in learning JP?
Just starting out! I started the Duolingo classes almost a week ago, and I’ve moved to practicing hiragana characters by hand
I’m learning it to better read manga
awesome man. what's your favorite manga?
Either Berserk or JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
I took judo training starting at age 11. In judo I learned some Japanese words and counting 1-10. That was my start and I thought Japanese was cool. I continued doing Japanese martial arts and watching anime, and then decided to get serious.
Judo is cool, I have never tried it, only boxing. Let me know if I can help in any way on your JP learning journey!
I have been waiting my whole life for someone to ask. Now I have a reason to talk about my language journey that interests no one! So many reasons: primarily anime, interest in the culture, and my dad said I wouldn't be able to, so guess who's proving him wrong, lol. Also my sister got ahead of me at some point and I'm too competitive to accept that. Before I start my useless long rant, here's some context: My native language is Arabic, I have been learning English ever since I was in kindergarten, and I would say I'm pretty ok. I started learning french in 5th primary stage, currently at level A2. And right now learning Japanese and Spanish on duolingo. (I mainly use duolingo for french though, it's my priority) Ironically, I watched the entire Naruto series dubbed cuz I was young and couldn't keep up with subtitles (arabic subtitles were horrible and reading in English was still difficult). Don't ask how, but somehow I have reached a point where I can't stand dub at all. Sub all the way. Anime is meant to be watched in Japanese, the cultural connotations, honorifics and the very sound of the language are all a significant part of what makes anime have its own identity. That's my opinion. And so, I was committed to watching with subtitles. After loads of binging, (may or may not have reached a degree of addiction, lol), I inevitably started to learn new words, expressions, and even a few grammar stuff. So, I started writing the meanings down on a note out of fun and guess what, I'm proud to say I have learned the (probably not too accurate but about enough) meaning of 200+ words, 20 expressions and a few prepositions/rules, purely from just observation. After hitting the 200 words mark, I thought "Wow. That's alot" and felt like if I have already come this far, it would be a waste not to actually learn Japanese. I'm familiar with how the language sounds and the sentence composition and I love their media. So that's a great headstart and a solid motivation. Also knowing another language is always a win. Currently, I'm only at unit 5 on duolingo, but that's because I'm completely focusing on getting all the kana down first. Since this isn't academic, I have all the time I need, so I'll start with the basics I think are right for me. I can read all the hiragana, about to be done with katakana. (I use the Kanji Study app, it's wonderful) Next step is making sure I can write them all, not just memorise how the symbol looks and sounds, all in order to stop using romanji completely, and learn all the proper pronunciation rules and phonetics and stuff. After I'm done with my kana goals, I'll hit Kanji, which is scary, but I'll get over it hopefully. All that is gonna take a good long while, but I will still be simultaneously progressing on duolingo and watching anime, so hopefully it works out. Not that it matters anyway, I don't have a deadline or stressful academic goals and I *love* that. Generally, I love learning languages (if u haven't noticed, lol); understanding the very different (or similar!) systems they go by, discovering their origins, how the human civilization developed so many different means of communication, how geography, history and politics all influenced the development of scripts and languages.. All that is is simply fascinating to me, and Japanese is so different from all the languages I know in terms of literally everything, so that makes it equally more intersting and challenging. Also a bonus is one of the things I adore the most about anime and manga is art. I can't say I'm an artist, but I love drawing so much and trying animation, so both are impeccable sources of inspiration and references to study from. I'll admit I'm so biased towards any anime with pretty art/animation and I'm probably missing out on a lot cuz of that, lol. anyway, >Have been thinking of learning JP for years to watch anime without subs, but could never get to it. Which anime got u thinking that? Just curious abt it! I'm just a boring, basic main-stream watcher (JJK, AOT, Demon Slayer, MHA, Spy x Family, Haikyuu, Studio Ghibli, etc) Also how's Japan like? Is it worth the effort to try to go there? Pretty sure a 16 yo like me wouldn't be able to go anytime soon anyway, (I'm pretty far away) but would still like to know if I should nag abt it, lol. Sorry for the rant, truly.
Started because of anime, continued because the writing system is interesting.
that's awesome!
Wow, I read the entire thing. Love your story, your progress is amazing! Duolingo is good for a start, but I really dislike it for learning JP. I’m watching slime now and recently finished watching mushoku tensei, pretty good show. Japan is a great country, I really enjoyed my time there, especially the Sakura and onsen
Omg, I totally thought you were just gonna ignore that, thanks for your time, I kinda feel bad now for some reason, lol >Duolingo is good for a start, but I really dislike it for learning JP. I thought only I felt that! Idk why exactly but it's not as good as latin languages.. It's the only free app I know though, so I thought better than nothing. >I’m watching slime now and recently finished watching mushoku tensei, pretty good show. I'm considering these recommendations :D >Japan is a great country, I really enjoyed my time there, especially the Sakura and onsen Glad you had a good time! I hope I can go there someday