Yoroshiku...

[angelsarc]

Heh, two things. First, it's どうも and not ども (really easy to mess up, I know from experience). Second, you turned the ど into kanji (土) by accident. =o

[Faliandra]

Originally Posted by angelsarc

Heh, two things. First, it's どうも and not ども (really easy to mess up, I know from experience). Second, you turned the ど into kanji (土) by accident. =o

oh yeah, doumo....true....i know about the kanji one tho, i tried to change it back to hiragana a few times but somehow it always converted back to kanji...and i did NOT press spacebar, and it still happened...so i just didnt bother lol

but yeah,im still very new to this...so,i probably will mess up here and there but thanks

[Kanojo]

If you're serious about learning Japanese, I'd pick up these books once you know how to read at least the kana and you'd probably want to know a few Kanji also.

Grammar book:

Link

Link
Link Link

Workbook:

Link

Link
Link Link

And these are English notes to go along with the first book, as it is entirely written in Japanese:

Link

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Link Link

They're pretty cheap, the most expensive one is only ￥ 2,600 or so.

[Falsetto]

Is Rosetta Stone really that good for learning Japanese? I mean... I've heard of it actually being used by the army and navy but.. I honestly think that's just a way of commercialism. Anyone here actually used it find it more useful than a book? I took like 1 class in College missed just one day and I got screwed over. :x

[Faliandra]

@falsetto this guy here below actually has sent me a pm before, telling me about rosettostone and how good it is. and he also mentioned, that...he didnt pay much for it (*cough cough*) XD...so yeah, id suppose he did use it and found it to be good....maybe ill get it too...and that youtube link leads to some fked up drunk guy whos living in japan and works there as a japanese/english teacher or something....and baleur is right, i already learned all the hiragana in about a week, just dont rush it too much. memorizing them is one thing....reading them fluently is another one. i think it's even good to start by learning hiragana before starting with grammar.....

Originally Posted by Baleur

1. Rosetta Stone --> Learn Japanese with the world's #1 language learning software | Rosetta Stone
2. Drunken youtube teacher (actually how i learnt hiragana & katakana, he's nyerked up but it keeps it interesting instead of boring) --> YouTube - Namasensei's Japanese Lessons - Lesson 4 Adjectives Part 2

[Murdock]

Learning Hiragana and Katakana early on is definitely a good idea. It means you can get down to practising them a lot once you move on to other aspects of the language.

[Riku]

All you need are the books by Eiji Yoshikawa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashi_(novel) 6 book series.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Toyotomi_Hideyoshi

J/K you will need more than this but they are very good reads.

[Kyuzo]

Actually, if you're really serious about learning, and not just being one of those people who can read hiragana and say like 10 words, then I highly suggest you enroll in a class, otherwise you'll find becoming proficient past a beginner level very difficult.

It's a pain, but a class atmosphere forces you to use Japanese all the time, lets you speak to others, and you have teachers to correct your pronounciation and mistakes, whereas without other people, you'll have no idea what you're doing wrong.

[Kanojo]

Originally Posted by bott

PacketiX.NET Secure Internet Service - VPN Client Installation

Download and install that. Once it's installed, click "create new VPN connection". It'll ask you to create an adapter, create one. Once that's done, click the "create new VPN connection" again and it'll give you some options. Use these:
host name: public.softether.com
port number: 8888
virtual hub name: PUBLIC

auth type: anonymous authentication
user name: PUBLIC

Hit okay and complete it. Right click your new connection and click "connect", wait a few seconds, then hit the long gray box (accept its terms or whatever), wait a few more seconds and it should connect. Now all of your applications should be running under this Japanese proxy. Launch Aion and you should load through just fine.

Remember to turn this off when you close Aion.

I don't need this to play Aion, but I do need a vpn service for other things, and since this one is free I thought I'd try it out. However, every time I try to make a virtual adapter the installation bar fills to 100%, the client freezes for about 2-3 minutes, and then says the adapter failed to install. Any ideas on how to fix this?

[Nakorox]

Originally Posted by Falsetto

Is Rosetta Stone really that good for learning Japanese? I mean... I've heard of it actually being used by the army and navy but.. I honestly think that's just a way of commercialism. Anyone here actually used it find it more useful than a book? I took like 1 class in College missed just one day and I got screwed over. :x

If you are self motivated and have the time then Rosetta stone is great. It has helped me, when I have had the time to use it.

[Anakte]

I found the biggest problem to be keeping up with it after a certain point. I was doing really well on my own getting into kanji and vocabulary, but once I got busy and stopped practicing everyday I lost it very quickly. I'm trying to find time in my schedule to practice it every day now so that I can get back to what I learned. DON'T STOP!

[Faliandra]

well, personally i watch quite a lot of animes and sometimes japanese dramas, so i suppose if i were to do it on my own with the help of programs (e.g. rosettastone) and i keep watching my animes, i would assume this is a great way to make sure it doesnt get lost, even though i suppose i would still have to take my time to keep practising how to write it....but once you know all the basics+ some advanced stuff, i guess you could just try to find some japanese friends to chat with or something....

[angelsarc]

Anime is not a good way to learn. In fact, it's probably detrimental to try and learn Japanese from anime. Drama is much better for conversation, if it comes down to that. I can't help you on the writing (by hand) aspect, since I never focused too much on that. It doesn't help me play games, you see. =p

[Kanojo]

Well, watching Anime CAN be somewhat helpful, in the sense that you get to hear actual Japanese people talking and it can help to get the pronunciation of syllables correct (which is often very tough for most people when they start out).

[J0K3R 3D]

I would say once you finish a good Japanese learning program/class/book and get fairly fluent in the language then anime's would be a great way to keep fresh with it. Say if you live in the US where its pretty much all English or Spanish. Maybe you can even learn a few words and slang once you get the structure behind it.

But no I wouldnt actually try learning Japanese from the anime/subtitles. Its a lot tougher plus a lot of the times the fansubs arent 100% accurate in their translations.