Japanese language study - help?

[bwinter]

A plea for help for the large portion of the flist who have studied Japanese at one point or another

Comments

[awickedman]

When I was about to start to study Japanese by myself (to complement the course I used to do), someone recommended me Minna no Nihongo, telling me it was a simple and yet very useful book to learn, that would make things easier. Due lack of strength, I didn't start it, but you can give it a try. http://nihongo-dekimasu.blogspot.com/2007/12/minna-no-nihongo-1.html (There are also two more books, videos and audios of this course.)

Also: http://nihongo-dekimasu.blogspot.com/ This site is full of books to download. :D

Also: There's a community on LJ: http://learn-japanese.livejournal.com/ There's always someone to help you there. :D

And... That's all I have, I think. :D

[bwinter]

The downloads for Minna no Nihongo are timed out, but I'll keep looking :) Thanks!

[awickedman]

http://aboutnihongo.blogspot.com/2009/07/minna-no-nihongo-i-completo-105.html -> Is this one working? [This blog also has lots of download. It's in Portuguese, I it's my mother language, so any help you need, just ask me. :D)

[isachi]

When I was living/studying in Japan we used a textbook series called Genki (げんき）I like it for grammar ... It's full of examples, lots of dialogues and I think there's a workbook too ^_^;;

Other than that I would recommend BYKI for vocabulary building and Japanese Pod 101 for getting comfortable with on the fly real conversations ^_^

[wottie]

Seconding Genki - they break down grammatical lessons and vocab in a very logical and structured way. Also, it's really easy to go through and look up specific grammatical forms/rules, which I found helpful for when I forgot something or wanted to know about a form I hadn't learned yet. It should come with a workbook and a kanji writing book.

[bwinter]

That sounds very much like what I'm after :) I've got semi-decent comprehension and a lot of vocabulary, but it's the structure that gives me trouble, along with small words/expressions that create a coherent sentence out of a string of vocabulary.

[muffin_song]

I'll third the recommendation for Genki.

Also, I enjoy the podcasts from japanesepod101.com (although that won't help you with kanji)

[bwinter]

I'm afraid I hate flashcards - they never worked for me as a study method. I tend to pick up language by context + reading/writing a lot. That's why I think a formal textbook may be of the most help at this level.

And thanks for the warning on Remembering the Kanji. It does look very confusing re: separate books for meanings and pronunciation (WTH?) and not using the established system of radicals that I'm already fairly proficient with via looking things up in a kanji dictionary.

[esmeraldus_neo]

If you like I could repost on my journal to put you in touch with kdavoli and another friend, who are studying Japanese formally.

[bwinter]

I've got a lot of friends like that :) Hence this post. I even have at least one tutor in Japanese on the flist.

[reynardine]

I agree with the previous poster about Remembering the Kanji. It sucks and is useless

[bwinter]

My kana's thankfully decent - it's one thing that did stick after those two years of semi-formal classes at college. Thanks for the warning on Remembering the Kanji, and it looks like Genki's the consensus!