Hi folks,
so right now I've been living in Konstanz for almost 2 months and I finally got an internet connection! :D So I hope I can post more regularly again.
By the way one of the positive side-effects of being a "Zivi" (someone who does "Zivildienst") is, that every course for what-so-ever you want will be paid by the government of Germany :D That's why I'm participating in a beginner's Japanese course in Konstanz. It is lead by a Japanese woman who has been living in Germany for almost 20 years.
Yes, I know 99% of the stuff we learn already, but it has several good things about it:
1. I can talk to a real (I mean REAL) Japanese human being xD
2. I met a lot of interesting co-learners
3. I get some structure in my learning process
4. I get to learn some additional stuff I couldn't learn リークwith the web alone
That said I think it's a good investment (even though I didn't pay anything :D).
Friday, October 24, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Update on my life
Sorry, don't want to intervene in your Japanese learning process, but I got an important change in my life going on: I will live in Konstanz starting tomorrow. It's a small but beautiful city at the Lake of Constance (Bodensee in German) and I will do my "Zivildienst" there for 9 months. Since I only just finished my school, this is the first time living alone and thus a big change for me. Konstanz is directly at the border to Switzerland and more than 200 km from my current home. Here's a map:
View Larger Map
The main thing is ... I won't have internet there, lol. I hope I'll survive without it.
View Larger Map
The main thing is ... I won't have internet there, lol. I hope I'll survive without it.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
How to learn Kana
So up until now I didn't tell you how to learn Kana (Hiragana and Katakana, the syllabic alphabets). In most books you will find a table of all the characters on the first page and you are left alone with it. Lazy people like me can't just learn a table like that by heart, omg! Luckily, there's a fun way of doing it: Power Japanese!
It's an old piece of software which helps you learning the Kana alphabets, some vocabulary and the first pieces of grammar in a fun, entertaining way! This may sound like an ad, but just google it! It has numerous great reviews and is widely used, since it's really really good :)
It's available here.
Everytime you learn a new character, you should write it down at least 10 times, in the correct stroke order of course! Also once you know a bunch, try to read some Japanese text from time to time, you will recognize many of the Kanas! If you're unsure which Kana means what, use the Kanji Converter to translate them to romaji.
Have fun!
It's an old piece of software which helps you learning the Kana alphabets, some vocabulary and the first pieces of grammar in a fun, entertaining way! This may sound like an ad, but just google it! It has numerous great reviews and is widely used, since it's really really good :)
It's available here.
Everytime you learn a new character, you should write it down at least 10 times, in the correct stroke order of course! Also once you know a bunch, try to read some Japanese text from time to time, you will recognize many of the Kanas! If you're unsure which Kana means what, use the Kanji Converter to translate them to romaji.
Have fun!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Optimizing your PC
So I thought I'd share some tips on how to optimize your Japanese learning experience. If you got some more, please share them with us!
Note: My tips are based on a Windows XP system using Firefox.
1. Firefox addons
Browsing Japanese sites, looking up dictionaries etc. can be easier for you with the use of addons.
1.1. Rikaichan:
Rikaichan is a powerful tooltip dictionary for Firefox. With it you can understand many Japanese sites without knowing the kanjis. I recommend using Kanji Convert with it, so that you learn the pronounciation along. Note that Kanji Convert is not always correct, but with rikaichan's help you should get everything right.
Download it and the dictionary you need here.
Note that I have the German dictionary installed ;)
1.2. Hyperwords:
Another good addon would be Hyperwords, though I didn't try it yet. It has some quite cool functionalities, they are shown in this video.
You can download it here.
2. Handling Japanese data
2.1. UNICODE:
On western systems, most tools like archivers, picture viewers etc. come with ASCII-support only. To understand Japanese data (e.g. kanji file names) however, you need UNICODE-support. You can get many tools as UNICODE versions right from their site, so look for them! If there aren't any, read on for tip 2.2. ;)
2.2. AppLocale:
Some time ago, in order to start Japanese software, you had to set your whole system language to Japanese, restart, use your tool, set the language back and restart again. Luckily Microsoft made a little tool called AppLocale. It changes your system language for single programs with no need to reset the whole system.
There is a quick tutorial with additional tips about it here.
So if you want to open for example Japanese-titled pictures, right click on your viewer/shortcut to your viewer and chose "Locale Japanese". Then open your files, et voila!
2.3. Typing in Japanese:
Sometimes you can look up words more precisely by using its kanjis. Also, in order to conversate with native speakers, you won't get far with just romaji or kana. Luckily the Japanese typing system is very intuitive and in most cases it's enough if you just know the pronounciation of words. You can find a guide on how to install the Japanese keyboard here. Also make sure to set hot keys to change fast between your keyboard layouts. For example, I set Alt+Shift+1 to German input and Alt+Shift+2 to Japanese.
Now on how to type in Japanese: Activate the keyboard layout and a little toolbar will appear. Click on the "A"-like button (input mode) and select the first entry from the top (Hiragana). Then just type your words in romaji and hit space after each word. It will then decide which parts of your hiragana needs to be converted to kanji and do so. Unless you use some super seldom expressions, the result will be correct in most cases. Remember to change to katakana when you want to write "Engrish" expressions.
Note: In case you are used to a QWERTZ-keyboard like we Germans, don't forget that Japan (like the rest of the world >.>) has a QUERTY-keyboard. So in order to write for example the kanji ょ (yo) you need to type zo! Don't forget that :)
Note: My tips are based on a Windows XP system using Firefox.
1. Firefox addons
Browsing Japanese sites, looking up dictionaries etc. can be easier for you with the use of addons.
1.1. Rikaichan:
Rikaichan is a powerful tooltip dictionary for Firefox. With it you can understand many Japanese sites without knowing the kanjis. I recommend using Kanji Convert with it, so that you learn the pronounciation along. Note that Kanji Convert is not always correct, but with rikaichan's help you should get everything right.
Download it and the dictionary you need here.
Note that I have the German dictionary installed ;)1.2. Hyperwords:
Another good addon would be Hyperwords, though I didn't try it yet. It has some quite cool functionalities, they are shown in this video.
You can download it here.
2. Handling Japanese data
2.1. UNICODE:
On western systems, most tools like archivers, picture viewers etc. come with ASCII-support only. To understand Japanese data (e.g. kanji file names) however, you need UNICODE-support. You can get many tools as UNICODE versions right from their site, so look for them! If there aren't any, read on for tip 2.2. ;)
2.2. AppLocale:
Some time ago, in order to start Japanese software, you had to set your whole system language to Japanese, restart, use your tool, set the language back and restart again. Luckily Microsoft made a little tool called AppLocale. It changes your system language for single programs with no need to reset the whole system.
There is a quick tutorial with additional tips about it here.
So if you want to open for example Japanese-titled pictures, right click on your viewer/shortcut to your viewer and chose "Locale Japanese". Then open your files, et voila!
2.3. Typing in Japanese:
Sometimes you can look up words more precisely by using its kanjis. Also, in order to conversate with native speakers, you won't get far with just romaji or kana. Luckily the Japanese typing system is very intuitive and in most cases it's enough if you just know the pronounciation of words. You can find a guide on how to install the Japanese keyboard here. Also make sure to set hot keys to change fast between your keyboard layouts. For example, I set Alt+Shift+1 to German input and Alt+Shift+2 to Japanese.
Now on how to type in Japanese: Activate the keyboard layout and a little toolbar will appear. Click on the "A"-like button (input mode) and select the first entry from the top (Hiragana). Then just type your words in romaji and hit space after each word. It will then decide which parts of your hiragana needs to be converted to kanji and do so. Unless you use some super seldom expressions, the result will be correct in most cases. Remember to change to katakana when you want to write "Engrish" expressions.
Note: In case you are used to a QWERTZ-keyboard like we Germans, don't forget that Japan (like the rest of the world >.>) has a QUERTY-keyboard. So in order to write for example the kanji ょ (yo) you need to type zo! Don't forget that :)
Nihongo Dekimasu
Recently I've found a great way to improve my Japanese skills. It's called "Erin ga chôsen! Nihongo Dekimasu" and it's a TV show for young gaijins learning the language. However, it's not for total beginners, since most of the speech is in Japanese without subtitles (the skits have subtitles though).
It consists of several parts: First, there are three anime characters (they look really absurd in the beginning but you'll get used to it ;)) that explain grammar and stuff. One of them is a cute girl, Erin. In every episode, she goes into the "real world" to learn new stuff. This is the best part, since it's like a funny little dorama but easy to understand and new grammar gets explained afterwards. Also there are subtitles during the skits for better understanding. At the end, there is some cultural info on Japan in general and they visit Japan freaks like us in different countries, which is very interesting.
At first it might look kind of... weak... but you'll get to like it the more you watch it. I do one episode everyday and add example sentences of the new grammar I learn to my Mnemosyne. You will also hear some new words you can use. You should buy the DVD I guess, and I will do that too, but you can also get them on Tomsato's blog:
:)
It consists of several parts: First, there are three anime characters (they look really absurd in the beginning but you'll get used to it ;)) that explain grammar and stuff. One of them is a cute girl, Erin. In every episode, she goes into the "real world" to learn new stuff. This is the best part, since it's like a funny little dorama but easy to understand and new grammar gets explained afterwards. Also there are subtitles during the skits for better understanding. At the end, there is some cultural info on Japan in general and they visit Japan freaks like us in different countries, which is very interesting.
At first it might look kind of... weak... but you'll get to like it the more you watch it. I do one episode everyday and add example sentences of the new grammar I learn to my Mnemosyne. You will also hear some new words you can use. You should buy the DVD I guess, and I will do that too, but you can also get them on Tomsato's blog:
:)
Saturday, July 5, 2008
My method of learning Japanese
So now I have to tell you some stuff before:
1. There is no 100% right and perfect way to learn Japanese, even if some people claim to know it.
2. I've seen so many sites and ressources and instructions on how to learn Japanese. I've tried them all at least for a while. My current method is the result of my own experience, and it works perfect for me.
3. I'm a very lazy person, and I can't learn if I don't have a motivation to do so. If you are a person who learns stuff easily by heart and always had the best grades in school, there are maybe more effective ways for you.
4. The main difference between my method and other's is that I refuse to learn all the Kanjis right now. I just don't have the motivation to hack 2000 complex symbols with 10 meanings and 10 readings into my brain. I tried it though :D Right now I'm only trying to learn how to speak and understand the language. Maybe, when I finally made it to Japan, I will catch up with it.
For complete starters
If you are a complete starter, I suggest you start learning Kana (the "easy alphabets") with, for example, Power Japanese, because with just romaji you'll get stuck soon. After that, get the basic grammar and sentence structures into your brain (there are millions of ressources on that). Buy an audio course, the best would be Pimsleur, and do a lesson each day, so you take the pronounciation etc. in.
The main method
So let's start with my actual method. It focuses, as I said, on speaking and listening skills. The things you need right now are:
1. There is no 100% right and perfect way to learn Japanese, even if some people claim to know it.
2. I've seen so many sites and ressources and instructions on how to learn Japanese. I've tried them all at least for a while. My current method is the result of my own experience, and it works perfect for me.
3. I'm a very lazy person, and I can't learn if I don't have a motivation to do so. If you are a person who learns stuff easily by heart and always had the best grades in school, there are maybe more effective ways for you.
4. The main difference between my method and other's is that I refuse to learn all the Kanjis right now. I just don't have the motivation to hack 2000 complex symbols with 10 meanings and 10 readings into my brain. I tried it though :D Right now I'm only trying to learn how to speak and understand the language. Maybe, when I finally made it to Japan, I will catch up with it.
For complete starters
If you are a complete starter, I suggest you start learning Kana (the "easy alphabets") with, for example, Power Japanese, because with just romaji you'll get stuck soon. After that, get the basic grammar and sentence structures into your brain (there are millions of ressources on that). Buy an audio course, the best would be Pimsleur, and do a lesson each day, so you take the pronounciation etc. in.
The main method
So let's start with my actual method. It focuses, as I said, on speaking and listening skills. The things you need right now are:
- Vocabulary
- Example sentences
- Listening skills
- Speaking skills
- Advanced grammar
Vocab and sentences
You can get vocabulary anywhere, or just listen to Japanese stuff and look for single words. There are some blogs with (romaji) example sentences, but denshi jisho combined with Kanji Convert is maybe the best place to look for them.
But how, as lazy persons are we supposed to learn them? Well, the key is spaced repetition. This is meant for long term learning and will send it on a highway into your long-term memory :) Get Mnemosyne (right menu again) and hack your stuff in, as romaji or kana. For the example sentences I include a word to word translation before the actual one. Add between 0 and 15 words or sentences a day and go through it as often as you can.
Listening and speaking skills
Well, listening's easy, just watch anime :D Or better: Watch Nihongo Dekimasu, a Japanese show for gaijins, without subtitles most of the time! It's awesome since they also teach you some stuff! (you can buy it on DVD)
If you don't have a Japanese around, how can you practise to speak Japanese? Well, there is a solution that covers both, listening and speaking in awesome way. Audio courses! The best of them IMO is Pimsleur Japanese, since it also uses the spaced repetition method that rules so much xD
Grammar
If you look through example sentences a lot, you'll come across grammar structures you've not seen before. In most cases, it will have to do with strange verb conjugations. In that case just look for it here: Japanese verb conjugations (Wikipedia) or at Tim's Takamatsu Grammar Guide
If you really want to go through the grammar in a linear way, the best guide would be Tae Kim's (though it doesn't use romaji).
Motivation
If you, for some reason, lose you're motivation during your studies, just take a break and do something else. Remind yourself why you started the whole thing, watch videos about Japan (for example the video logs on youtube), your favorite anime or anything. If it doesn't come back, just let it be. Maybe in some years you'll get back to it again.
You can get vocabulary anywhere, or just listen to Japanese stuff and look for single words. There are some blogs with (romaji) example sentences, but denshi jisho combined with Kanji Convert is maybe the best place to look for them.
But how, as lazy persons are we supposed to learn them? Well, the key is spaced repetition. This is meant for long term learning and will send it on a highway into your long-term memory :) Get Mnemosyne (right menu again) and hack your stuff in, as romaji or kana. For the example sentences I include a word to word translation before the actual one. Add between 0 and 15 words or sentences a day and go through it as often as you can.
Listening and speaking skills
Well, listening's easy, just watch anime :D Or better: Watch Nihongo Dekimasu, a Japanese show for gaijins, without subtitles most of the time! It's awesome since they also teach you some stuff! (you can buy it on DVD)
If you don't have a Japanese around, how can you practise to speak Japanese? Well, there is a solution that covers both, listening and speaking in awesome way. Audio courses! The best of them IMO is Pimsleur Japanese, since it also uses the spaced repetition method that rules so much xD
Grammar
If you look through example sentences a lot, you'll come across grammar structures you've not seen before. In most cases, it will have to do with strange verb conjugations. In that case just look for it here: Japanese verb conjugations (Wikipedia) or at Tim's Takamatsu Grammar Guide
If you really want to go through the grammar in a linear way, the best guide would be Tae Kim's (though it doesn't use romaji).
Motivation
If you, for some reason, lose you're motivation during your studies, just take a break and do something else. Remind yourself why you started the whole thing, watch videos about Japan (for example the video logs on youtube), your favorite anime or anything. If it doesn't come back, just let it be. Maybe in some years you'll get back to it again.
About Me
Hi there,
I'm Max, a 19-year-old German dude, who has been dreaming to go to Japan for years. I'm not (or at least I hope that I'm not) the regular Anime otaku you'll find (at the moment I'm only reading 3 mangas and watching no animes) but rather a real from-the-bottom-of-his-heart Japan lover. For some years now I've been studying Japanese by myself with the help of internet ressources (there are plenty, you just have to look for them!). The last two years however had been very stressful for me since I studied the first two semesters of Computer Science alongside school and did my Abitur (school graduation).
As right now I have lots of time left before Zivildienst ("civil service", you gotta do that here if you don't want to go to the army) I'm learning lots of Japanese and finally make some progress. This site is dedicated to all fellow Japanese learners and dreamers.
Have fun ;)
I'm Max, a 19-year-old German dude, who has been dreaming to go to Japan for years. I'm not (or at least I hope that I'm not) the regular Anime otaku you'll find (at the moment I'm only reading 3 mangas and watching no animes) but rather a real from-the-bottom-of-his-heart Japan lover. For some years now I've been studying Japanese by myself with the help of internet ressources (there are plenty, you just have to look for them!). The last two years however had been very stressful for me since I studied the first two semesters of Computer Science alongside school and did my Abitur (school graduation).
As right now I have lots of time left before Zivildienst ("civil service", you gotta do that here if you don't want to go to the army) I'm learning lots of Japanese and finally make some progress. This site is dedicated to all fellow Japanese learners and dreamers.
Have fun ;)
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