Any good Japanese learning software?

[satomi325]

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.

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[MasonC2K]

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.

[kevinb]

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

[Mike41793]

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

[dragonsong93]

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 I've been getting sentence structure down and know most of the hiragana alphabet.

[Pampho85]

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!

[kevinb]

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

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.

[kevinb]

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

[Pampho85]

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.

[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?