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Oh, you, Asia help

Recently I've been getting more motivated to learn japanese. I noticed I've picked up single words over the years (maybe a dozen ) that I notice when listening to songs or reading romaji.

Now, Last time I tried to learn Japanese I started off with learning Hiragana/Katakana. I managed to recall them all plus 10 kanji but when it came down to learn grammar and all (and I only had a book for it) I got bored quickly. I forgot most of it by now of course (it's probably been far over 6 years by now)

Do any of you have experience learning japanese - or any kind of asian language, really?

I'm not so sure on how to strategically approach it.
What to learn first? Vocabulary? Writing? Grammar?
And when it's about the vocabulary do I learn the Kanji along with the romaji or should I first learn the romaji+meaning and the Kanji afterwards? ; A ; so frustrating!
I can't really see myself mess with Kanji right away but I'm not sure if it'll mess up if I add them afterwards. Would suck if all I learned would go poof on my ass cause of fighting with how to write it.
And when to learn Hiragana/Katakana (which is comparably easy but only needed to read original texts... )?

Questions over questions!

Also, has anyone been to japan for vacation yet? Did you know how to speak japanese or did you get through with English? (doubt that English will do much over there )
I'd really love to visit Japan sometime (though I'm sure I'll stand out.... 5'8.5 white girl dammit) or maybe even retire there but there are still so many uncertainties~~

Thanks ya'll for your response and have a great day~!

May 10, 2013

9 Comments • Newest first

Nashi

@bloodIsShed: Hiragana and Katakana is comparably easy, I was able to recall all of them at one point in the past. I'm just intimidated by the Kanji...
I like japanese culture and foods and I just wanna learn more about them and visit the area and try to find some very traditional/old fashioned places there with lovely nature and such. I wanna travel the world in general but japan has always fascinated me the most though I'm also intimidated by their mentality and all.
Gonna have to see. It just seems like the most appealing language aside from maybe Russian.

Reply June 10, 2013
bloodIsShed

why do you want to learn the language? what is your goal? you should know how to answer these questions before even attempting to learn the language.

i'd say you should learn vocabulary and grammar at the same time, they complement each other. don't worry too much with kanji stroke orders. instead, try and memorize how the kanji looks like, and when it is used / how to read it. most of the time, you'll just type out the kanji instead of writing it, so stroke order is not that important
(though you should at least be able to write hiragana and katakana)

Reply June 9, 2013
Nashi

@TehRaygunicorn: Thank you so much for your long reply! I'm sorry I haven't found the time/nerve to respond to my threads much (and most of the time I just forgot about it... *sob*)

Don't know if I'd wanna go to Tokyo (I do but...), I'd love to see some more "natural"/traditional areas with lots of nature but also cities/districts with a lot of anime/manga merchandising.
I hope I'll be able to learn at least understandable japanese until I go there to visit.

Japan is pretty expensive in general actually I heard that for some stuff (e.g. multimedia things) it's twice as expensive as Germany whereas Germany is twice as expensive as America ... (yay.)

I'd loveeeee to eat Ramen > w< have you eaten Sushi in japan too? is it expensive? about how much does Ramen cost? o:
and have you never seen snow before? or not much? o.o it's so cute/funny when people are happy about seeing snow lol

I'm not so much interested in sightseeing but into the culture/foods/people/nature over there... I've never enjoyed sightseeing overly much, I'm just not a big fan of staring at buildings of any sort lol..

also, thank you so much for the pro tip! <3 and the other tips in general xD hehe

Reply June 9, 2013
TehRaygunicorn

@Nashi
I can't help you with the Japanese language, but I stayed in Tokyo with my best friends for 10 days
We explored as much of the city as we could and even managed to make our way up to Hakone
Absolutely amazing vacation, but it did set me back well over $3,000
So many memories were made on that trip, and it was super easy to get around despite not knowing any Japanese
I can only imagine how much more fulfilling the trip must be if you speak at least a bit..
I just knew a few phrases that would make people cheer up hahaha like saying oishi whenever I finished slurping a bowl of ramen
Oh and the karaoke bars were amazing places to become best friends for the night with some local Japs;
we stayed near the Golden Gai which was BAR HEAVEN for me haha
And it was certainly interesting being a 6' white hispanic.. people thought I was straight up white
I didn't feel tall though; I actually felt short. Tokyians are freaking huge (not mass wise, however haha)
Food is also insanely expensive. Be prepared to throw down $50+ for a meal.. although the exchange rate was 72 yen/$1 when I was there, I'm under the impression food is expensive to begin with in Tokyo. SO our plan was:
1. pork buns at 7-11 in the morning for $1
2. fancy lunch sets ($30-$80 that would cost at least double for the same meal at dinner time- the dinner and lunch menus were identical)
3. back to 7-11 or ramen/soba shops. I ate so much ramen that I didn't eat salt for a month after arriving in the Philippines

Tokyo is super safe so we literally just backpacked throughout the city. I was fascinated by trains, museums, arcades, and the weather.. it was actually freezing and we got to witness snow which was super lovely

Don't go to the Tokyo tower because you have to pay; The government municipal building has a better view and it's free~

Here's a pro-tip

Never fly directly to Tokyo. Instead, make Tokyo you're layover flight on the way to another destination. Here's why:
My flight to the Philippines was $1,400 with a layover in Tokyo (flying non-stop from Washington D.C.). I read something interesting online, so I decided to try it out.. I adjusted my flight and made my layover from Tokyo leave 10 days after landing there from D.C. Guess what? The ticket cost was still $1,400!
So Tokyo doesn't charge for multiple day layovers which is amazing if you plan on visiting another great spot!

Oh yeah and make sure you get the Frommers travel book, that thing's a life saver

Reply May 10, 2013
Nashi

@Icycles: Good. English is much easier than German so if Japanese is easier than that I'll manage thank you!<3

Reply May 10, 2013
Icycles

@Nashi: Japanese is definitely easier to learn than English. English is very strange.
Stuff happened and I then I decided not to go, but I regret it now

Reply May 10, 2013
Nashi

@Icycles: aww thanks! xD Guess I'll try to learn it all at once then. Though I did hear that japanese grammar is pretty easy, is that true? O.o
e.g. you only add a -ka at the end of a sentence and it's a question. Things like that.
I hope it won't be all that hard cause i'm horrible at learning grammar.
I'd try to learn japanese the way i learned English but I can't recall with what we started with (probably with "My name is..." and "I like ...." xD urgh!)
I may not dare to go to japanese before I'm at least a bit fluent in it. Though not even that may help me
I'm nervous about going to America with my current English too and I can at least make people understand me xD bah!

Will you have another chance to go to Japan? Why didn't you go D: go and tell me how it was! rawr!
Edit: Arrrghhh do not want to fix grammatical errors I'm about to head to work!

Reply May 10, 2013 - edited
Icycles

@mrkungpow
TL;DR I want to learn Japanese, how should I do it?

Reply May 10, 2013 - edited
Icycles

Realistically, you gotta learn them all at the same time.
If you're trying to learn it systematically, try vocab first, and then grammar (sentence structures etc.) and then move onto writing and stuff. Reading and listening will help you with your writing and your speaking.
Kanji can help you remember what that vocab means, but if it all looks the same to you (haha) then them try to remember the vocab with romaji first.
You should learn Hiragana and Katakana first, before getting into anything else, its the alphabet of Japanese.

I could've went on a Japanese exchange last year for school, but I didn't (TOTALLY REGRET IT), but I heard that even those with not that good Japanese, only knowing basics and stuff would do fine. Just have a translator handy.
Hope I helped

Reply May 10, 2013 - edited