Who here can speak Japanese?

[Lethos]

(Reads the disclaimer and chooses to disregard it as a load of bullshit)

Only weaboos or people within a pretty narrow niche of bussiness have any reason to learn japanese.

The Krythe Cure For White Guilt: The hell are you trying to do by fapping over samurai? You had the fucking vikings, who are indisputably the most awesome faction to ever exist on the face of the planet.

The reason why most people ignore this cure: The scandanavians don't produce millions of shitty comic books about how awesome they are, for manga is the ONLY source of information for weaboos.

Random signing out fact: A katana's edge was hardened to the point where it was brittle enough to shatter when it came into contact with metal, therefore you had to akwardly switch to blocking with the back to avoid breaking your own sword. 9/10 weaboos will not know this.

You seem to have missed out a third option. The option where people choose to learn something because they are interested in it. You know, the same reason anyone really chooses to learn anything outside of what is required by school or work.

 

[Yosato]

From watching anime, I know a good few dozen words on their own, but their different sentence structure still eludes me and I figure that I'd need lessons to be able to comprehend it. Although my German teacher once told me that he knew a handful of german people who genuinely learned English purely from watching Friends.

 

[Rednog]

I took a year of it in University, but everyone quit the class half way in, I ended up being the only kid in class and my teacher would always criticize my writing, she would be like "No, no do it more like a brush stoke." It's like lady I'm using a pencil, you don't get brush strokes out of them.
That and I already have English/Polish/Spanish under my belt. Sure a 4th language would be cool, but I don't have the patience for a language I probably wouldn't use.
Though in retrospect, I really wish I would've taken Mandarin in highschool/university since it seems that it will be more useful in the future.

 

[Raven's Nest]

I just recently... acquired... some rather spiffing software to learn Japanese with. I've used it for about 3 hours now and I've got to say I'm really impressed with myself...

By "acquired" I assume you mean "purchased at full price from a reputable retailer", correct?
What software is it, may I ask? Is it the game for DS (can't remember the name)? I may look into it...

Yes purchased... Of course...

Rosetta Stone is the name of the software. It teaches you in a similar way to which a child is exposed to language when growing up. There is no translation, only the use of phrases in association with images. It starts pretty basic and then becomes a little more complex whilst instilling the basics of sentence structure, tensing as you go. It constantly reinforces what you've learned in a clever way so that any and all that you learn is constantly relevant and helps to further your understanding of grammer. It also uses speech recognition technology to asses your pronounciation of words and phrases too. All the speech is read by native speakers and uses a large variety of images. You can choose to view the text in hirigana + katakana, kanji or romajii.

Not necessarily worth the whole RRP but it seems to be a highly effective learning method thus far. You truly absorb the language via intuition as opposed to repeating and trying to remember endless phrases and rules. Exciting stuff.

Random signing out fact: A katana's edge was hardened to the point where it was brittle enough to shatter when it came into contact with metal, therefore you hd to akwardly switch to blocking with the back to avoid breaking your own sword. 9/10 weaboos will not know this.

I'm no weaboo but I did know that... However the trade off was the extreme sharpness found on a quality blade (which can take like 8 months to produce i've heard). Also the nature of the blade combined with good technique meant the user didn't often need to carry a heavy shield to parry blows with... And don't forget, Samurai's didn't have to fight guys with western broadswords either...

 

[voetballeeuw]

I can't. I heard it's damn hard though.

 

[MisterM2402]

(Reads the disclaimer and chooses to disregard it as a load of bullshit)

Only weaboos or people within a pretty narrow niche of bussiness have any reason to learn japanese.

Or, you know, out of interest? For the hell of it? Entertaining the option of moving to Japan (I have no idea yet, but it's always an option)? Getting a taste for their culture? Liking learning other languages? Wanting to further myself, push my academic ability?
If any of those reasons (and a whole lot more I haven't listed) are classed as being an obssessed "weaboo", then show me YOUR definition of the term, please.

The Krythe Cure For White Guilt: The hell are you trying to do by fapping over samurai? You had the fucking vikings, who are indisputably the most awesome faction to ever exist on the face of the planet.

I don't "fap over samurai" (they seem to be ok, I guess). I didn't HAVE the Vikings (if you're talking to me directly); they just invaded. We (the Scots) HAD the Celts and the Picts, which were cool too, though.

The reason why most people ignore this cure: The scandanavians don't produce millions of shitty comic books about how awesome they are, for manga is the ONLY source of information for weaboos.

Like I said, I don't read manga or watch anime... And I think Scandanavians and their culture are cool also... So I don't know WHAT you're getting at :S

Random signing out fact: A katana's edge was hardened to the point where it was brittle enough to shatter when it came into contact with metal, therefore you had to akwardly switch to blocking with the back to avoid breaking your own sword. 9/10 weaboos will not know this.

I knew that already, but what has this got to do with anything?

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

I do not know the language but I know a handful of words and basic grammar. Then again, I can say that about Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Greek, French, Spanish, and Russian.

I want to be conversationally competent in German, Mandarin, and Italian before I start Japanese.

 

[MisterM2402]

-snip-

Now, you see, I have heard really mixed reviews about Rosetta Stone. On one hand, I've heard that the only reason people think it's useful is because they have such a big marketing budget. On the other hand, I've heard many a good testimonial (including yourself). Personally, I wouldn't pay that much for it (like you did... *coughcough*), but if you and other users find it works, then that's awesome - it's all about what you prefer.

It's like lady I'm using a pencil, you don't get brush strokes out of them.

:'D Aw, man...
Yeah, I guess that's the trouble with pen/pencil (you ever heard how they say pencil in Japanese? It's kinda weird how they put so much emphasis on the 'p' in 'enpitsu'... from the audio sources I have heard...)

 

[Naheal]

Learning it right now. I know a smattering of French and basic grammar. I plan to get to fluency in Japanese within the next couple of years when I actually head out there.

 

[GWarface]

Nah, russian is more my style...
But i got some japanese learning ebooks laying on my hdd somewhere if you are interested...

 

[gphjr14]

I'm about to finish my fourth semester of it in college. It can be difficult if you don't have the time to learn the ins and outs of grammar. Conjugation is a ***** and it only gets worse as you have casual and formal ways of carrying on conversations. I've spent all my time focusing on grammar and hope to later on learn more words so I can carry on conversations that don't involve food or basic vocab.

 

[thedoclc]

(Reads the disclaimer and chooses to disregard it as a load of bullshit)

Only weaboos or people within a pretty narrow niche of bussiness have any reason to learn japanese.

The Krythe Cure For White Guilt: The hell are you trying to do by fapping over samurai? You had the fucking vikings, who are indisputably the most awesome faction to ever exist on the face of the planet.

The reason why most people ignore this cure: The scandanavians don't produce millions of shitty comic books about how awesome they are, for manga is the ONLY source of information for weaboos.

Random signing out fact: A katana's edge was hardened to the point where it was brittle enough to shatter when it came into contact with metal, therefore you had to akwardly switch to blocking with the back to avoid breaking your own sword. 9/10 weaboos will not know this.

You seem to have missed out a third option. The option where people choose to learn something because they are interested in it. You know, the same reason anyone really chooses to learn anything outside of what is required by school or work.

Dear Lethos, you are much too polite, failing to point out that 1) Krythe, in addition to failing to consider the idea of education for its own sake or the possibility that there's just some folks who are linguaphiles, 2) manages to reveal his own prejudices in assuming the OP is white, a conclusion which cannot be drawn from his or her post, and 3) butting into a very non-gushy discussion about a language with "waaa, weeaboos suck!" makes you look like an intolerant jerk.

Back OT: to the OP, good luck with your studies! I studied Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish at University and honestly, nothing worked as much for me as an immersion class (outside of, you know, time among the native speakers). I've always felt any text will do if you're willing to drill enough. But that's just my experience, your mileage may vary and all that. Most Japanese I've met are very friendly to foreigners, but tend to have a skewed view of them, perhaps buying a bit more into stereotypes than one might expect. Or maybe that's just my subjective experience. I was lucky enough to study in an environment which encouraged learning for its own sake, and so no one gave me any hard time.

Based on internet jackassery and the GIFT, I'd expect you'll always get people on the web just yelling "weeaboo!" but among any group even half serious about scholarship, or any group of real friends, no one would do anything but encourage you.

Sadly, I'd flunk that test hard right now; I've had no chance to use my Japanese since 2001 and other studies filled my time.

 

[Naheal]

(Reads the disclaimer and chooses to disregard it as a load of bullshit)

Only weaboos or people within a pretty narrow niche of bussiness have any reason to learn japanese.

Oi. I'm a linguist, you jackass. Take your foot out of your mouth and realize that there are people who's entire careers revolve around learning, speaking, and teaching multiple languages.

 

[Hai Ruki Desu]

I studied Japanese part time at uni for two years, and I'm going to be doing a degree in Japanese Language this September. People think it's weird when I say I'm doing Japanese, and it really annoys me. If I said I was doing a European language nobody would question it!

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Spoken? Decent. I can hold a good conversation as long as it remains in the realms of conventional dialogue. Obviously poeytry, old Japanese, dialects or political terminology escape me.

Written? Poor ... I know the gana and kana, I know specific verbs and nouns and the pronouns, but thew complex nature of the usage and combination of the kanji into now (entirely different meaning and sounding) words is confusing at best.

Lived there, naturally picked up the language through self study and observation, further studied 6 months of intensive further familiarisation of the Japanese language in university.

'Not bad, but no scholar' I guess would sum me up o.o

 

[Nexoram]

I studied Japanese in school for 1 and a half years. I know the essential phrases and sayings but not that much more.

 

[Hai Ruki Desu]

i can say "start" and i can count to 10
you get no prizes for guessing where i picked that up from...

Some sort of game show?
I'm really bad with my numbers, I get past 20 and it all just goes balls-up and I mix the order the words are supposed to come in!

 

[ICanBreakTheseCuffs]

I can google translate it.

 

[Naheal]

i can say "start" and i can count to 10
you get no prizes for guessing where i picked that up from...

Some sort of game show?
I'm really bad with my numbers, I get past 20 and it all just goes balls-up and I mix the order the words are supposed to come in!

Counting above 20 is fairly easy. Unless you're talking about counting something specific. Counters are irritating in Japanese.

Example: ni-jyuu-ni/二十二/にじゅうに=22 (Literally, two ten two). san-jyuu-roku/三十六/さんじゅうろく=36 (Literally, three ten six).

Counters suck. Fuck counters.