subject: Tips For Learning Japanese [print this page] You deserve praise for wanting to learn Japanese! By learning another language, you are opening yourself up to new experiences.
You will be increasing your cultural sophistication and your effectiveness as a communicator. Not all languages are equally simple to learn, of course. The simplest route to take with a new language is to choose one that is somewhat related to their own, or at least uses the same alphabet. Japanese is a great language to study, but you have the added challenge of learning how the alphabet works and how to use its unique rules for reading, writing and speaking! With these suggestions you will be able to make a good start in your Japanese studies.
The best way to learn Japanese is to become immersed in that language. If its practical, travel to Japan and go around on your own, without the help of a translator. You might find that you understand more than you think you do. For people wanting to really immerse themselves, this is probably the single best way to learn a new language. This method literally forces you to use the new language and leave your old one at home. The next best solution, if you can't go to Japan, is to find a Japanese neighborhood where the language is spoken a lot. If you can't find a Japanese neighborhood nearby, you can immerse yourself in the language by watching lot of movies and television in Japanese without the help of subtitles. You'll start to pick up on vocabulary pretty quickly.
Another good habit to get into is reading Manga. These books known as Manga are Japanese graphic novels; many have been translated into English and other languages. If you want to improve your ability read and understand Japanese, this is a good method to use. Japanese writing goes from the back of the book to the front, and from right to left; by reading these books you'll start to become accustomed to this style as well as what all the characters and sentences mean. Follow the text in your own language and you'll start to learn how words are popularly used and current slang and jargon. Things like Manga and Anime can teach you things you won't get from taking a class! Manga are often very adult in theme, something you should keep in mind when buying them!
You will also learn faster if you work with flash cards. You can use a few different kinds of flash cards when learning Japanese. One flash card set can help you remember vocabulary and basic grammar. You will also want a set that helps you learn your characters and alphabet and teaches you how to read in your new language.
You can use one side of the cards for the Japanese writing and on the other side write out how it sounds phonetically, using your own alphabet. Study one set of cards at a time and don't get them confused, or you will make the process a lot harder on yourself!
We couldn't include all of the methods for learning a language because this is an article and not a book. Becoming fluent in a new language can be intimidating and at times hard but if you use these simple tricks and tips you can learn the language in no time flat. Repetition will make you a fluent speaker, but these tips will get you there faster. Can you picture yourself speaking your new language?
