Just wanted to say thanks for the video. I can’t promise myself I’ll finish it all (it’s 1:22AM and I should try to get some more sleep before work time), but I want to try to get myself motivated to learn. I’ve wanted to learn one (or both) of these languages for a long time now. But I’m not going to lie, it’s one of the TOP subjects that intimidates me most.
Let me ask you guys this. How good is R. Stone as a tool for learning Japanese?
We can get on skype or any instant messenger, and I can show you there’s a way.
Correct.
kippu is never used for airplane tickets unless you are 80. kippu is for trains/buses, etc.
koukuuken = airplane ticket. You wouldn’t reaaaalllly use this word though, the people at the airport would use it. Chiketto is, as you know, “katakana japanese” (loan word). Japanese actually does have words for all the things said in katakana japanese and koukuuken is one of them. People say chiketto because it’s easy/common.
Hikouki no kippu is grammatically correct but it just sounds a bit old/weird. Like saying things are “groovy”.
‘‘Sora no tobi’’ means nothing. Wrong use of the particle. Sora WO tobU = I fly.
Sora no tobi means “Sky’s fly”.
Hikouki no kippu wo katta isn’t wrong but it sounds like something grandpa would say.
Hikouki no kippu wo youyaku shita means “i summarized a plane ticket”
youyaku = summarize
yoyaku = book/reserve
Hikouki no chiketto wo yoyaku shita = I reserved a plane ticket.
???
Hope that helps!
Thanks a lot for your contributions.
Keigo is used when meeting people for the first time, speaking to those of higher rank/position and to people who are older than you.
Kuge kotoba ??? is used for speaking with the Royal family. Keigo is used to talk ABOUT them.
Cool man. Thanks for explaining that.
I’ve been seeing a lot of people thinking that learning a new language is too hard. It’s not and anyone can learn Japanese/Chinese if they really want to. It’s not a big secret either, I’ll tell you how you can do it.
Most people can learn most languages if they work on it regularly, reasonably and sensibly. Yes, there are some people that are just bad at learning languages, but this is actually the exception rather than the rule. More often people are just discouraged by a couple bad experiences and think if they can’t speak fluently after studying for years then they are not “gifted” enough. You don’t have to be gifted (oops! sorry language snobs, I gave away your secret). I’d say that most people can learn a new language if they go about it the right way. No special skills/talent to learn new languages, just a good method and motivation.
Basically to learn a language with 75-80% of “common” words with your mother tongue is going to take you 3-6 months if you’re efficient and don’t fuck around. Other languages roughly 2-3 years to be fluent. Believe it or not, you’ll learn faster if you do it on your own than taking a class or going to school. The difference between someone who is “okaaaaay” in the language and someone who is at native-level isn’t determined by how long you study but rather where you decide to stop studying. You’ll never stop learning a language and there will always be room for improvement. The trick is you have to have it in your mind that you want to improve your skills every time you can and never be satisfied with “close enough, they know what I want to say”. You don’t have to work CONSTANTLY but rather the trick is in having an open attitude about it, that you can always approve. Aim high.
So, to clarify you need 2 things to learn a language:
- Want to learn the language, not just wish. If you speak spanish/french, you can learn italian in roughly 200 hours but those are working hours. If you don’t have the willpower, you’ll stop after 30-40 hours, go back, stop again, never finish, etc. etc.
- Work smarter not harder.
Vocabulary: Best learned in context. Don’t be afraid to ask what a given word means. Look it up in the dictionary when you read it. Try to guess its meaning. Forget these “systems/methods” or huge word lists - they don’t work. You can’t used the words you learn in lists since they don’t come to your mind fast enough. Waste of time.
Grammar: Best learned by seeing examples and imitating (infering the rule) until you naturally recognize what sounds right and what does not. Not by reading boring shit like “My Top 100 Favourite Verb Conjugations”
If you’re going to use books with audio CDs/mp3s then study an hour and a half a day and keep at it. Don’t stop for long periods of time. Most people stop for a few days, even a few months or years. If you are one of those people and you want to get back into it again, grab that book and start from the last lesson you did. Look at it and test yourself. If you didn’t get 100% then go back to the lesson before it continuing until you get 100% on a lesson. Redo every lesson you failed. (yes 99.9% is a fail). Believe me it’s better to suck up some repetition than continue where you left off and find out that you have zero confidence because you forget some of the most basic stuff and end up quit again.
The trick is to immerse yourself in the language and you don’t have to wait until you can move to Japan to do it. Get books, newspapers, download/stream TV and movies, listen to music all in your target language. Get stuck in!
Every time you read a word you don’t understand, write it on a flash card and then look it up in the dictionary. Not a word list, flash cards. Don’t worry about grammar, learn vocabulary first then let the grammar points sink in later after you start to read more and more.
Again, don’t be satisfied with just being understood. You want mad props? Your passable Japanese sounds like their 4 year old cousin and it’s cute. Learn your pronunciation from anime if that keeps you motivated and immersed. Japanese DOES have intonations, it’s not exactly monotone. When you make a mistake, make sure you are corrected, don’t feel stupid for making mistakes. Make your environment “target-language friendly” and the opportunities to improve will come. Set your audio/subtitle settings on your DVD/Blu-ray/video games to default to Japanese, watch Japanese TV shows, etc. Get a Japanese girlfriend (and don’t let her speak English all the time haha).
Don’t know where to start? Master these first then:
- I don’t speak _____ well. (But I’m learning)
- Sorry, I didn’t understand the word ___
- Could you please write/spell ___ for me?
- How do you say ___ in [target language]?
- How do you say ___ in English?
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes or sound “stupid” in front of a native speaker. Laugh them off and learn from them.
DYSLEXIC BLUE KICK!
This is so true. I’ve been trying to tell everyone this for the past few years. People will wake up sooner or later.
This is probably the most motivating thing I’ve ever read. It’s all so true, it’s not even funny. You’re awesome, man.
Hows Rosetta Stone for learning Japanese and Chinese? 
It’s ok, but you can’t learn a language with just Rosetta Stone.
(jwillennium had asked this as well so this reply is to you too man)
It all depends on your personal learning method. I say that but I hate those kinds of answers that seem so generic that it’s not even an answer. Let me explain further:
My personal opinion is that it’s good for developing a foundation for learning the language but that’s about it. You’ll need more than one product to cover every aspect of learning a language. I’m sure you’ve done some basic research on it so you know how it works so I won’t waste your time, I’ll just get to my impressions of it.
The thing with Rosetta Stone is that even if you had have no idea what the answer is you can pick the correct one by guessing, visual clues or process of elimination. The excercises start to get repetitive and boring after a while that’s dangerous because you’ll get lazy with it and lose your focus to merely guessing. You could say that’s still learning but I worry that it will become a huge motivation killer. Because they try to teach you “as you learned your native language as a child”, it’s going to take a while to have something you can actually “use” which might discourage people from continuing on until they get into the “good stuff”.
So, depending on your attitude to study going into it you can either get a good foundation and confidence to get more advanced or you’re going to be bored as hell and forget it.
If it works for you great, but don’t force yourself to do it - find what works for you and keeps you interested, focused and builds your confidence.
old bump
So I’m using Japaneseflashcards and japanesepod101 to learn to speak essentially, but does anyone have an recommendations for learning to write, for free or at least just not an expensive book
namasensei
Well, in Japan these kanji paper pads are very common. They’re like regular lined sheets of papers but instead of being lined, they are diced. Just a paper with a lot of small boxes. Inside those boxes you draw your kanji.
Of course you dont need diced paper, it’s just good because it teaches you to write kanji in the correct dimensions.
Anyway, make sure you know the stroke order for what ever kanji you are trying to write. After that, on your paper just write that one kanji 100s of times. Start the writing slow and than pick up the pace until you’re writing the kanji really fast. Again, I can’t stress correct “stroke order” enough. Drilling a kanji but writing it in the wrong way will set you back long long time, particularly if a native J-person ever has to read it. In fact, try to find some kind of guide on proper stroke writing before you start if you haven’t been taught the basics.
Anyway, go through those flashcards and do writing drills with the ones you are working on. Your flashcard practice will probably go slower now but my reading ability SKYROCKETED when I started taking writing seriously.
So someone asked about the Rosetta Stone for Chinese (I assume Mandarin) and it’s ok. The 'rents bought it for me to help with my studies and I think it’s a great supplement as long as you have prior knowledge. I was going through the pronunciation parts and noticed you don’t need to say the correct tone to get it right. As long as it recognizes your voice, not the tone, you will pass. Just a heads up.
A cynical self-perspective, a strict teacher and a strict language partner are the best tools. Luckily I have/had all 3. Also to note, in my limited experience I find the Chinese girls are really nice and my not be AS strict about YOUR tone pronunciation as the Taiwanese I’ve met. I’m still a scrub at this shit tho’, so this more of a heads to people looking to get into Mandarin.
EDIT: Damn. A year old. Old Mouse still post here?
not sure if Khatzumoto has been mentioned in this thread, but if not it seems a lot of people use his method:
AJATT: All Japanese All The Time
I’ve been applying his method to Chinese, though I’ve had formal chinese classes for the past 2 years too, while I can handle myself in a short conversation, I really want to up my literacy, so going to focus hardcore on characters once I get back from China. Hopefully by the end of the year I’ll be at a comfortable enough level that I can start Japanese while continuing Chinese. I want to finish out my other languages with Spanish which I haven’t taken since high school
oh shit, thanks alot dude!