General advice on learning a new language would be nice. My specific language of interest is Japanese, but some general advice would be good too. Like when to move from just practicing words to trying to read something simple, where to find something simple enough that it can be read with some effort and a dictionary, how to practice, ..

I'm at the point where I'm okay at sentence structure, have a small collection of words I understand, can make sense of verb conjugation if I work at it, .. Where to go from here? I'm really more interested in reading/listening and understanding than writing or speaking, if that matters.

>>22
To this day I still try and target young children's books and manga, obviously that's the stuff mostly targeted at new readers. They also come with furigana, which can help you learn the kanji and allow you to say the sentences aloud.

Practice is just more or less a repetition game with more or less all Asian languages, There's a good web app called Skritter that could help you learn kanji, especially if you have a tablet, but I don't personally use it.

The way I did it was simply taking a chart like the one I attached, took a notebook and practiced writing the kanji itself (to ingrain it in your head) at different sizes (important), as well as writing the definition (ideally you would accompany it with a visual aid, but I'll be fucked if I can draw) and the different pronunciations of the kanji and different forms. Once you get just a few kanji down, try and write short, simple sentences with them. Unfortunately there's no way to test your skills outside of running it through a machine translator, which aren't very good, but if nothing else it will help you get structure down.

Unfortunately, Japanese like any other language has a large amount of nuance associated with it, there are many things that you just can't get in a dictionary that are common sayings or particle nuances that can be frustrating.

The idea is to try and teach yourself the same way children learn the language naturally, there's no perfect way to do it but it's all about getting the individual definitions of the kanji pounded in your head. Even then, it won't be perfect unless you practice semi-frequently.

For speaking, I would suggest Rosetta Stone and watching as much Japanese media as you possibly can and paying close attention to speaking patterns and such. Since songs really highlight the different syllables and make them easy to remember. Try taking lines from a subbed anime and translate it yourself with the help of a dictionary and try to see how the translators came up with the translations they did.

>>26
Oh wow, you wrote me an entire essay.. Thanks!

I'm lucky enough to be studying at a university with a Japanese program. I don't take any of the classes, but they have a club with native speakers that I go to every week. If I can get over the embarrassment of being terrible they'll look at things I write for me.

Can you recommend any simple Japanese books/music/media specifically? I've had a hard time finding much. I like to watch NHK but they speak so fast.. it's a little hard to follow.

>>28
There's a lot more to say about it, trust me.

In any case, I order a lot of different reading material from Japan or from Books Kinokuniya, unfortunately most groups don't scan things like children's books. Doraemon is a very popular children's manga that you can easily get good raws for.

The big this is to make sure it has furigana, whatever it is, so you can learn kanji easier.

I'm going to be studying in Japan for 9 weeks this summer. Of the two, would it be more useful to learn hiragana, or katakana? Or, would I be unable to really read anything (signs, museum placards, etc) without learning both or without having an extensive kanji vocabulary?

I'm trying to get away with just learning one alphabet if I can, and hiragana characters are just easier to discriminate. I hear katakana is more commonly used though?

>>31
Hiragana is much more common than Katakana. However, Katakana are important to learn as they are also used frequently. Hiragana are a good bit easier to learn, as Katakana are quite simple.

However, if you're looking to read a lot of signs, they tend to be in Kanji. If you're going to a really touristy part of Tokyo or something, a lot of signs will be in English but not all.I would suggest if you're looking to actually go to Japan and need to get around you should do Rosetta Stone, they have different lengths for courses, and there's more than one if you're just looking to get a crash-course. Simply learning the kana isn't going to cut it if you're actually looking to understand much. That's like learning Cryllic but not learning any of the Russian language and think you're all set for Moscow. Even most wasei-eigo terms aren't immediately easy to understand.

Or you could do what most foreign students there do and stay in your little hamlets and not go out very often.

>>32

Thanks. I've already gotten started on Rosetta Stone but it only seems to try to seriously teach you hiragana, so I was wonderin'. Listening/speaking is definitely more important to me, though four months is a bit of a stretch for that while I'm not taking actual japanese courses. Hopefully I'll be out every day though, as I'll be in Tokyo! Woo!

>>34
Well, no one really expects a foreigner to be fluent there, especially in an international-class city like Tokyo. 4 months of steady Rosetta Stone should be able to teach you enough to live there temporarily, it's more than what most people attempt.

>>34

You've already been ruined.