Any good Japanese learning software?

[kevinb]

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

[Pampho85]

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.

[kevinb]

Is kanji slang or something similar?

[Pampho85]

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

[satomi325]

Is kanji slang or something similar?

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

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[satomi325]

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?

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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[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.

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...

[Adam Chandler]

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?

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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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.

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.

[kevinb]

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.

[Vypyrz]

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