DeeMarie asked:
I have no Japanese friends, I can’t take Japanese classes, and I’m basically forced to do it all on my own. What would be the best way to practice Japanese alone, other than just reading and memorizing? I was thinking of trying to translate some old writing pieces into Japanese, is that a good idea?
I have no Japanese friends, I can’t take Japanese classes, and I’m basically forced to do it all on my own. What would be the best way to practice Japanese alone, other than just reading and memorizing? I was thinking of trying to translate some old writing pieces into Japanese, is that a good idea?
That sounds good. I started learning by translating Japanese songs. You might also want a Japanese-English dictionary.
I think getting a hold of any kind of media you can is a good start. Like music, books (online manga) and anime on youtube (just dont look at the subtitles so much) and to learn normal vocab that you don’t learn in manga and anime you should get a hold of some kids novels (just import those) and you could search for Japanese soap operas on the internet (they are not hard to find).
Then to beef up kanji you could write a daily ‘diary’ in Japanese for writing practice.
As for speaking practice, you just have to try and think in Japanese. That is very good practice if you are always thinking about how you would say something in Japanese. That keeps new vocab in the forefront of your mind too.
About the translating old writing peices into Japanese – that is good, but only if you have someone to mark them, and only if it is at your level.
I hope this helps (^-*)^
You might try finding native Japanese speakers to practice. A good place is, it’s instant messaging with language translation. You can look for Japanese speakers there.
Some may say that you can’t learn Japanese without taking a class or living in Japan. This may be true to some extent, but self-study is an important part learning any language. You can get a good understanding of the language before starting a course, and once the course is over, personal study becomes even more important.
Here are some tips for personal study.
1. Study everything! Don’t look for one or two resources and expect to learn everything from them. When someone asks which book, CD, computer program, class, or website is best to learn from, I say, All of them! I learned something from every Japanese language-related book I’ve ever read. Study a lot and you’ll learn a lot.
2. Start with the basics. The book Japanese: The Manga Way by Wayne P. Lammers gives a good, fun overview of the language. So does Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese website ( ) which is very detailed. Kim Allen’s Japanese for the Western Brain site ( ) gives an overview while focusing on the differences between Japanese and English, and is very helpful. If you need an online dictionary, jisho.org ( ) is a great site to use.
3. As you continue your study, develop each of the four areas of language learning: Hearing, Speaking, Reading, and Writing
–Hearing: Go to JapanesePod101.com ( ) and sign up for their free podcasts. They range from beginner to advanced and will be a great resource in your study.
–Speaking: Talk to Japanese people every chance you get. Shared Talk ( ) has voice chat through which you can talk to Japanese people and they’re generally very supportive.
–Reading: Memorize the hiragana ( ), then the katakana ( ). After that, you can start memorizing kanji and reading japanese manga (which you can purchase from Amazon — )
–Writing: Start an online blog at Lang-8 ( ). When you post, native speakers will correct your sentences. It’s a great resource.
4. Never give up! Japanese is a really hard language. It requires a lot of memorization and practice. Don’t expect to be fluent even after a few years of study (especially if you’re not studying in Japan). Language learning is a life-long pursuit.
5. HAVE FUN! This is the most important tip I could give you. As long as you’re having fun learning the language, then you will be successful. Always try to find ways of making the learning enjoyable.
これから頑張ってね!
Sounds great. I believe it’ll help you to improve your writing skill. And also all answers above me seem to be great.
Actually, I don’t have English-speaking friends around me now too (Just e-mail exchange. I’m not using Skype). So this is what I’m doing (for speaking skill) — please don’t laugh at me ^^ — role-play!
Mimic a newscaster or play some characters of movie/TV shows and have a conversation with my favorite actors.
Maybe you can do it for your learning too (in Japanese).
Sometimes when I feel tired, I enjoy these lines.
Currently, my favorite is George (Ellen Muth).
And Cameron (Summer Glau).
Yeah, I know I know they are weird and I think I would never use killed and stuffed in the trunk line in my life. But it’s just for a chang =)