Want to learn japanese

[XgenAdam]

 I've been watching subbed anime and reading scanlated manga for a while now, but I would like to be able to actually learn to speak and read japanese. i don't know where any classes are in my area so i thought I'd actually ask those that can speak it for advice.

 and also my other questions are:
1) is it worth getting rosseta stone software?
2) are there any good books that teach it?

I've picked up a few words from subbed anime but I can't get a grasp on the sentence structure at all so any advice would be appreciated.

cheers

[Lord_Mew]

I can't really say, I was tought by a japanese , but there are simple books that can teach you, just buy a phrase book and a dictionary(romaji), with that you should be able to grasp the grammatical structure and then the rest is a piece of cake(it actually depends on your native language).

[Crossover]

It is one thing to learn to speak the language, but learning the kanji is considerably harder, though it's nothing like trying to deal with the chinese symbols. I guess to start off on that is to go with hirigana and katakana (sorry if misspelled but kind of rush typing.)

For learning any language (spoken in this case) try to remember that different dialects can be a bit confusing, especially when using what you learned for some anime when they have akward characters.

[StrikeFlo]

It is one thing to learn to speak the language, but learning the kanji is considerably harder, though it's nothing like trying to deal with the chinese symbols. I guess to start off on that is to go with hirigana and katakana (sorry if misspelled but kind of rush typing.)

For learning any language (spoken in this case) try to remember that different dialects can be a bit confusing, especially when using what you learned for some anime when they have akward characters.

true. so if you don't feel like spending hours and just want to understand japanese anime for ex, do like me, skip kanjis and focus on grammar first. 
of course getting enough vocabulary will take a lot of time too...

[ChiSon]

reading "raw" before/after sub do help your understands what's you level to it
and you will realise more about japanese this way...(for me)
and while watch film/anime will give enteriment as well as a better listening skill


you do needs at least one guide-book and a dictionary alway ready around you,
at the ends ,is all up to your interest and hard works ...

i'm not sure about where to learn a course...so...

[XgenAdam]

 I've managed to get hold of rosetta stone Japanese version so hopefully that should be helpful.
 as soon as it has finished dling I am going to start it up

thx for the replies

[Crossover]

To be honest, reading japanese raw manga and then the trans will not get most people anywhere. You have to be a genious/scholar to be able to consistently look for such patterns on your own, that and the translations are usually variations. In actual spoken language it is ok to listen and read subtitles, but this will never be the case for written languages that you are not even close to knowledgable of.

Nothing can take the place of an actual teacher or book to learn from, when it comes to kanji you can probably get an idea of some words by seeing the parts made from it. Considering the time and effort it will take for that, I suggest you stick with learning Japanese in the spoken language. Even then, remember that how much you work on it will reflect your manuerisms, grammar, dialect etc; so try to go all or none.

[StrikeFlo]

To be honest, reading japanese raw manga and then the trans will not get most people anywhere. You have to be a genious/scholar to be able to consistently look for such patterns on your own, that and the translations are usually variations. In actual spoken language it is ok to listen and read subtitles, but this will never be the case for written languages that you are not even close to knowledgable of.

Nothing can take the place of an actual teacher or book to learn from, when it comes to kanji you can probably get an idea of some words by seeing the parts made from it. Considering the time and effort it will take for that, I suggest you stick with learning Japanese in the spoken language. Even then, remember that how much you work on it will reflect your manuerisms, grammar, dialect etc; so try to go all or none.

Actually, if you already have some basic knowledge, I think that can help.
But of course, if you start this way without knowing anything of japanese, that'll be... hard.

[Crossover]

Yeah, I meant for if it was without knowledge. For it to be helpfull, knowing the basics, at least lets say elementary school at the least  (for European and Japanese, I think it was "primary school" but its been a while since I studied Asian cultures.)

However, watching anime and comparing the audio with the subtitles you can probably catch word and phrase definitions quite easily, but again spoken is far different than written. Unless its Finnish then the auditory is just as hellish to learn 0.o

[park]

once you've learned the basics! get urself a japanese friend who can speak english. if they dont mind try to casually speak japanese with them on a day to day basis. it will help with ur listening and pronunciation skills along with sentence structure. note that in casual conversation lyk english, sentence structure doesnt always apply.
lyk most ppl hav said. carry around a small japanese/english pocket dictionary as you can look up words you dont understand, build your vocabulary.

ways of finding japanese friend:

  *hang out at the exchange students room
  *apply as a host family for japanese students
  *through forums, chatrooms, online games (be careful who u meet up with)

[ChiSon]

is soo lucky to have a japanese friends.w. to play around new langangs with...
i never saw one around me.w.

good luck...XgenAdam
ps:you can also register on some learning-japanese forum/commuity to get a fews more helplines...but...so often...the forum will be dead
becasue is very hard to starts and starts again teaching different people once adn against for free online

[Crossover]

One of the faster ways to truly get yourself used to any second language (this comment is only for intermediate to advanced knowledge) is to actually live at the area for a while. I remember a friend of mine who went as an exchange student (during college) for a year or two in France. She ended up getting the lifestyle and dialects living with her host family and after a while you end up speaking the language in your dreams even, lol.

[park]

One of the faster ways to truly get yourself used to any second language (this comment is only for intermediate to advanced knowledge) is to actually live at the area for a while. I remember a friend of mine who went as an exchange student (during college) for a year or two in France. She ended up getting the lifestyle and dialects living with her host family and after a while you end up speaking the language in your dreams even, lol.

that's a good idea and thinking logically it would work wonders =]

although... japan is well known for treating foreigners like 2nd class citizens.
this even goes for japanese people born abroad, or japanese people who have grown up abroad.

BUT if you're going there as a tourist then they will give you the 1st class treatment =D

[Crossover]

One of the faster ways to truly get yourself used to any second language (this comment is only for intermediate to advanced knowledge) is to actually live at the area for a while. I remember a friend of mine who went as an exchange student (during college) for a year or two in France. She ended up getting the lifestyle and dialects living with her host family and after a while you end up speaking the language in your dreams even, lol.

that's a good idea and thinking logically it would work wonders =]

although... japan is well known for treating foreigners like 2nd class citizens.
this even goes for japanese people born abroad, or japanese people who have grown up abroad.

BUT if you're going there as a tourist then they will give you the 1st class treatment =D

Lol, thinking about it (stereotypes aside) that is the exact opposite of treatment the french give you. If you are a tourist you are treated as 2nd class, if you actually live there for a bit, you become part of the family so to speak.

As for the treatment in Japan, that is broad as well, they treat exchange and such a tad bit better but that seems to be more of a social class issue... Oh well, the way I commented does work well though, learning a language works so much better when you are immersed in the culture, just good luck on the kind of problems park brings up.

[encron]

I am learning japanese from a class, but of course books and software aren't as good as a an instructer, but I also have the rossetta software and other language learning things at my house, and I would say you could try that but start off trying online learning things, there are tons of sites that help you learn japanese but not sentence structure, they teach you how to read and and teach you words but you wouldn't be able to make sense out of a sentence without know the sentence structure and how to use verbs ajectives and so on, so I say why not try the language software 

by the way I am Encron.