Any good Japanese learning software?

I really want to learn to read, write, and speak Japanese fluently. I don't have the time for lessons so I'm looking at self teach stuff and I'm wondering if anyone has had any success with stuff like Rosetta stone and the like. Keep in mind I want to be able to read and write on top of speaking.

Thanks

Be prepared to spend a mint. It's around $1000 just to learn to speak and then hundreds more to learn Kanji in a formal setting.

That said, Rosetta Stone and the Pimsler Method are gonna be your best choices as far as software goes based on the reviews I have read. I too want to learn Japanese but I can't afford either of those (Pimsler is cheaper BTW) so I'll stick to learning what I can from raw anime with subtitles. I learned a lot from DBZ and Inuyasha.

After reading manga, watching anime, for around 7 years, it's gotten pretty easy for my to understand it. But, what helped me read (Romanized much better than Kanji, Hiragana some too) it and speak it (Quite fluently now!) is Live Mocha.

Didn't have to spend a dime, other than on the anime, and this really quite helped!:
http://livemocha.com/

With some corrections a bit from my Japanese friends, I slowly got that hang of it, and now it's quite easy to speak it!

I find anime that's in English, garbage. You want to get a true experience watching anime, watch it raw or with subtitles. The English just ruins it.

I've used and like Rocket Japanese.

Alright thanks guys I guess I'll start speaking before reading and writing. Haha

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Originally Posted by kevinb

Alright thanks guys I guess I'll start speaking before reading and writing. Haha

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For reading and writing a good first step is to just get a Hiragana and Katakana chart and memorize each symbol. Once you are able to write each one from memory you'll have taken a big step and will then be ready to tackle some Kanji.

There are a bunch of Hiragana and Katakana charts available on the app stores so you can practice while you're out and about. I like HiKaChan on the Apple app store.

My kids learned how to speak it from their Judo instructor. It's weird to hear my kids communicating with other people in a different language.

I started watching some anime recently (bravo girls and initial d) since they kept showing up on my netflix suggestion but they arent in Japanese only english.

I don't watch anime off Netflix. I either just buy them, borrow them or watch them online. Trust me, once you watch a few anime, you'll get the gist of it down.

You may be able to find a japanese "pen pal" of sorts using Skype. Maybe somebody else can help me out here, because I forget which website I used that helped people trying to learn different languages by connecting through Skype... I met a few people from Germany trying to better their english, and would call - practicing speaking and listening to each language.

I'm Japanese. I learned how to read and write in a formal class. I knew how to speak a little since childhood from my grandparents. But watching Japanese dramas and anime will help learn the speech patterns, pronunciation, and vocab. Anime like Prince of Tennis repeats a lot of words and phrases and perfect for learning.( lots of general vocab amd grammar)
Japanese dramas will help with modern speech.

For digital media software, I like Pimsler. Rosetta Stone, not so much.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

What DBZ tought me:

Nappa = Cabbage
Gohan = Rice
Chichi = slang for boobs
Radditz = Raddish
Kakaratto = Carrot
Kame = god
Kami = Turtle
Sennin = Elder
Sama = Master or Lord
Ginyu = Milk

I could go on but basically DBZ is a bunch of fruits, nuts, dairy products and underwear. :)

Thanks guys. I would really like to find a Japanese speaking person to be friends with that would be a good asset.

Without being nosy can i ask why you wanna learn it? (just curious, aka nosy lol).

I'm in the same boat, I want to learn but dunno how to start. I've been trying livemocha and it's pretty good, but I really need an actual speaking buddy! Unfortunately like NOONE where I live speaks it...

Also it does help if the majority of the music you listen to is Japanese :D I've been getting sentence structure down and know most of the hiragana alphabet.

I've been listening to Japanese music for years, and it's great! One problem is that not all the songs have perfect grammar. Most of them have loosely worded structures you won't really hear in rl. Other than that, it's great! :D

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Without being nosy can i ask why you wanna learn it? (just curious, aka nosy lol).

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I want to learn because I love everything about Japanese culture. I'm building a Japanese memorabilia collection right now as well. I plan to visit in a few years and would love to be able to actually interact with people in the native tongue over there. I really feel I was japanese in a past life because of my passion for everything japanese, cars, tv, people, food, etc. I just love Japan.

Im a little confused by the writing aspect of it. There is katakana and then hiragana. Are they two separate alphabets?

Hiragana, Katakana, Romaji and Kanji are all different from each other. They are all used differently, sometimes you can express something in one, but you wouldn't be able to express it in the other.

Do you have to fully understand one to move on to another? Like I see most people start by leaning katakana then go to hiragana?

I'm just trying to find the simplest way to learn to read and write, I have downloaded a katakana and hiragana apps on my phone like suggested previosly

Well, it depends. For grammatically correct phrases and such, Kanji isn't used. It all depends if you want to be able to express everything. Oh and Romaji is rarely used now I think, I heard my friend say that before, so I personally won't be taking my time to learn it.

Is kanji slang or something similar?

No, it's just like Hiragana and such. It's just used when you can't express things with Hiragana and Katakana.

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Originally Posted by kevinb

Is kanji slang or something similar?

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Its the Chinese characters used in the Japanese language.
For example, Family names are written in Kanji.

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Originally Posted by kevinb

Do you have to fully understand one to move on to another? Like I see most people start by leaning katakana then go to hiragana?

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Yes. They use all forms in Japan.
Most start off with Hiiragana, then move to Katakana. Last would be Kanji.

Hiiragana is used for the majority of Japanese writing along with Kanji. Katakana is typically used for non Japanese/foreign words.

I.E, America, McDonald's, Foreign names are usually in Katakana.
You may see Katakana used often in anime like Naruto, where the main characters' given names are spelled in Katakana.

I found leaning all the characters easy when writing it down over and over again. Start off with a line each day. Like, a, i, u, e, o. Theb move onto ka, ki,ku, ke, ko, and move onto the next line in the alphabet.

Since you mentioned phone app, the best leaning app is called the Human Japanese by Brak. I find it better than some of the computer softwares out there.(the paid version)

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Kanji- These are the more elaborate characters. Many were initially adopted from China. With Kanji, One character can often represent an entire thought, idea or oe subject. There are over 300 different Kanji characters and most people don't know them all, and use only a few common ones.

Hiragana- This is the basic Japanese alphabet. It contains 110 characters. Each character represents a different phonetic sound. They are used to spell words in everyday life.

Katakana- Katakana are abbreviated forms of the Hiragana. They are used when writing a foreign word, or a word that has been adopted into the Japanese Language.

Romaji- This is nothing more than the Japanese term for the Western or "Roman" alphabet, and when Japanese words are spelled using our alphabet. It is what you are reading now.

I spent 9 years living in Japan. The best way to learn on your own is to get a book or chart with the Hiragana in it. You will find that there are a few basic Hiragana, and that each subsequent group is repesented by one of the basic Hiragana with a slight modification. I used 3' X 5" index cards. I wrote the character on one side and the phonetic pronunciation on the back. I would look at the character, say the pronunciation, and flip the card over to see if I was right. Or, I would look at the pronunciation, write the character, and flip the card over to see if I was right. Once you learn the Hiragana and Katakana, get a book on sentence structure. It's not too hard. Japanese sentence structure is about the same as most European and Latin based languages, such as Spanish, Italian, and French. At that point, it is just a matter of getting a dictionary and learning the vocabulary of what you want to say.

For Conversational Japanese, another person who speaks it will help greatly. Check around for anyone who would be willing to tutor, or just converse with you. You can probably find someone local or online. While I was living there, I met a Japanese guy who taught English to Japanese students at a night school. I volunteered to go in and talk with his students to help them with their conversational English, and the payoff was, they helped me improve my conversational Japanese...

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Originally Posted by kevinb

Do you have to fully understand one to move on to another? Like I see most people start by leaning katakana then go to hiragana?

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Hiragana = Alphabet used for native japanese words.

Katakana = Alphabet used for foreign words, country names, foreign places, and foreign personal names.

For example to say good morning "おはようございます". It's a native phrase so you would spell it with Hiragana.

America is foreign word so Katakana is used. Amerika (アメリカ).

I don't believe it matters which alphabet you learn first. I learned Hiragana first.

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

Kanji- These are the more elaborate characters. Many were initially adopted from China. With Kanji, One character can often represent an entire thought, idea or oe subject. There are over 300 different Kanji characters and most people don't know them all, and use only a few common ones.

I used 3' X 5" index cards. I wrote the character on one side and the phonetic pronunciation on the back. I would look at the character, say the pronunciation, and flip the card over to see if I was right. Or, I would look at the pronunciation, write the character, and flip the card over to see if I was right.

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Flash cards are great. While I was living over there I used these cards: http://shop.whiterabbitjapan.com/jap...lashcards.html

They are laminated and very durable. That White Rabbit website has lots of great learning materials.

That helps a lot! Thanks everyone! I'll have to stop at barnes and noble next time I'm down that way and see what they have for reading and writing.

I really miss being in Japan. I used to have alot of fun singing Japanese songs in the Karaoke bars.

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

I really miss being in Japan. I used to have alot of fun singing Japanese songs in the Karaoke bars.

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I miss Yakiniku and Chu Hi's

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Originally Posted by Adam Chandler

I miss Yakiniku and Chu Hi's

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I miss udon, sukiyaki, and Awamori...

This sounds weird, but I miss their Konbinis.

And I miss all the awesome food places there.

What I don't miss is their humid summers. August is the worst!

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

I miss udon, sukiyaki, and Awamori...

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I had habu awamori once when I was in Okinawa. It was some intense stuff.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

This sounds weird, but I miss their Konbinis.

And I miss all the awesome food places there.

What I don't miss is their humid summers. August is the worst!

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We had summer deployments each year so I never was able to experience summertime in Japan (or climb Mt Fuji ><). But other times of the year in Yokosuka were nice, and not too cold in the winter.

I know what you mean with Konbinis. I used to stop in every day on the way to work and grab a onigiri and a lemon soda. The only store in the states that rocks as hard is Wawa.

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Originally Posted by Adam Chandler

We had summer deployments each year so I never was able to experience summertime in Japan (or climb Mt Fuji ><). But other times of the year in Yokosuka were nice, and not too cold in the winter.

I know what you mean with Konbinis. I used to stop in every day on the way to work and grab a onigiri and a lemon soda. The only store in the states that rocks as hard is Wawa.

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Exactly! Konbinis are awesome!

And some of my family is in Yokosuka! :D

I really can't wait to visit Japan. But it wont be for a few years, so I can be on a nurse salary. ;)