After years of contemplation, I've finally jumped onto studying Japanese.
Why? Because I'm a weeb Because I feel like it will be very influential. I've been wanting to visit Japan for years, and there are many people I would like to communicate with, as well as books I want to read and shows I want to watch that are left untranslated to rot. Plus, being a content creator, being bilingual can be a very helpful skill/attribute, especially since the cartoon universe in working on is Japan based so it could be a good basis for gags and such. Regarding untranslated media, I believe I want to be a part of the effort to help translate those works. Anyway, reasoning aside, this is how I have started so far.
Firstly, I'm getting my hiragana down. I have a handwritten chart of hiragana (including dakuten and combos).
I have a couple of Japanese children's manga that I try to read out loud to myself. Specifically children's because the stories are more simplistic and there tends to be less dialogue per panel. Of course I don't understand these dialogues, I'm just trying to memorize letters for now. Being a Fujio Akatsuka fan, I have been trying to sing along to this particular AIUEO song, sung by Beramatcha from Let's La Gon, featuring cameos from other characters like Omawari-san, Nyarome, and Gon.
But with memorizing my hiragana, something I've found strangely easier than memorizing hiragana is memorizing words. Memorizing simple nouns, their appearance and pronunciation at the same time, is very helpful. You get to memorize multiple kana at once, and you get to learn words in the process. For example, I know Mo as in Moretsu, Nu as in Tanuki and Nuigurumi, Ku and N as in the Kun honorific and so on.
In addition, Kodansha has published bilingual manga, and I am soon to order a 384 page bilingual edition of Tensai Bakabon by Fujio Akatsuka. Kodansha's bilingual manga have English in the speech bubbles, but Japanese in the margins, making them popular with English speakers studying Japanese and vice versa.

I'm studying it too, actually! How's it going for you?!

The tip on hiragana should be helpful, thanks for posting that!

There was a neat book I got at the library once that taught kanji visually. They'd take the kanji character, show the very first writing of it and what it was based off of, and then how it developed. For example, 木 is tree (pronounced ‘ki’), and it shows the first versions of that. Then, they teach forest, 森. See how it's a bunch of trees? If I can find the book again I'll let you know the title, but my point is see if you can find something that teaches like that. I think it'd be more helpful than brute-force memorization. I actually had a dream about those two characters specifically; they showed up in my dream and I actually recognized what they meant, which is weird because reading in dreams is incredibly hard. So! If that's any indication that it works!

Also - keep an eye on Duolingo. A Japanese course is in the works. Pimsleur CDs might be worth looking into for speaking it.

I have the box set of Living Language Japanese that I should really get back to I think… XD

SonicFan91 wrote:

I'm studying it too, actually! How's it going for you?!

It's going quite okay for me so far. Actually, I decided to put the Japanese keyboards on my phone. One of them is a regular keyboard, but the other one is a very helpful learning tool…you can type romaji and it turns it into Japanese characters! And you can chose between hiragana, katakana, and even some kanji. How long have you been studying?

Pturretdactyl wrote:

The tip on hiragana should be helpful, thanks for posting that!

There was a neat book I got at the library once that taught kanji visually. They'd take the kanji character, show the very first writing of it and what it was based off of, and then how it developed. For example, 木 is tree (pronounced ‘ki’), and it shows the first versions of that. Then, they teach forest, 森. See how it's a bunch of trees? If I can find the book again I'll let you know the title, but my point is see if you can find something that teaches like that. I think it'd be more helpful than brute-force memorization. I actually had a dream about those two characters specifically; they showed up in my dream and I actually recognized what they meant, which is weird because reading in dreams is incredibly hard. So! If that's any indication that it works!

Also - keep an eye on Duolingo. A Japanese course is in the works. Pimsleur CDs might be worth looking into for speaking it.

I have the box set of Living Language Japanese that I should really get back to I think… XD

Sounds helpful, let me know if you find it! Kanji is notoriously hard so I'm not thinking about it too much yet. Also, I've heard Duolingo is a great program! Thanks for letting me know they have a Japanese program in the works, I haven't heard, and it's supposed to be a great program.

ArimoTheReindeer wrote:

SonicFan91 wrote:

I'm studying it too, actually! How's it going for you?!

It's going quite okay for me so far. Actually, I decided to put the Japanese keyboards on my phone. One of them is a regular keyboard, but the other one is a very helpful learning tool…you can type romaji and it turns it into Japanese characters! And you can chose between hiragana, katakana, and even some kanji. How long have you been studying?

Pturretdactyl wrote:

The tip on hiragana should be helpful, thanks for posting that!

There was a neat book I got at the library once that taught kanji visually. They'd take the kanji character, show the very first writing of it and what it was based off of, and then how it developed. For example, 木 is tree (pronounced ‘ki’), and it shows the first versions of that. Then, they teach forest, 森. See how it's a bunch of trees? If I can find the book again I'll let you know the title, but my point is see if you can find something that teaches like that. I think it'd be more helpful than brute-force memorization. I actually had a dream about those two characters specifically; they showed up in my dream and I actually recognized what they meant, which is weird because reading in dreams is incredibly hard. So! If that's any indication that it works!

Also - keep an eye on Duolingo. A Japanese course is in the works. Pimsleur CDs might be worth looking into for speaking it.

I have the box set of Living Language Japanese that I should really get back to I think… XD

Sounds helpful, let me know if you find it! Kanji is notoriously hard so I'm not thinking about it too much yet. Also, I've heard Duolingo is a great program! Thanks for letting me know they have a Japanese program in the works, I haven't heard, and it's supposed to be a great program.

Don't use Duolingo, use Memrise. Japanese stuff on there is amazing.

ArimoTheReindeer wrote:

SonicFan91 wrote:

I'm studying it too, actually! How's it going for you?!

It's going quite okay for me so far. Actually, I decided to put the Japanese keyboards on my phone. One of them is a regular keyboard, but the other one is a very helpful learning tool…you can type romaji and it turns it into Japanese characters! And you can chose between hiragana, katakana, and even some kanji. How long have you been studying?

Hmmm, for probably almost 2 years, but at a pretty slow pace, so, I probably don't know as much about Japanese as I should by now.

I do know my Hiragana pretty well by now, though, and I'm working on the Katakana. Although I can't say I'm looking forward to learning the Kanji!

Anyway, those keyboards sound cool. I might have to check them out!

SonicFan91 wrote:

ArimoTheReindeer wrote:

SonicFan91 wrote:

I'm studying it too, actually! How's it going for you?!

It's going quite okay for me so far. Actually, I decided to put the Japanese keyboards on my phone. One of them is a regular keyboard, but the other one is a very helpful learning tool…you can type romaji and it turns it into Japanese characters! And you can chose between hiragana, katakana, and even some kanji. How long have you been studying?

Hmmm, for probably almost 2 years, but at a pretty slow pace, so, I probably don't know as much about Japanese as I should by now.

I do know my Hiragana pretty well by now, though, and I'm working on the Katakana. Although I can't say I'm looking forward to learning the Kanji!

Anyway, those keyboards sound cool. I might have to check them out!

It comes standard on the iPhone, you don't have to download it or anything. You just have to add it by going to your keyboard settings.

ArimoTheReindeer wrote:

SonicFan91 wrote:

ArimoTheReindeer wrote:

SonicFan91 wrote:

I'm studying it too, actually! How's it going for you?!

It's going quite okay for me so far. Actually, I decided to put the Japanese keyboards on my phone. One of them is a regular keyboard, but the other one is a very helpful learning tool…you can type romaji and it turns it into Japanese characters! And you can chose between hiragana, katakana, and even some kanji. How long have you been studying?

Hmmm, for probably almost 2 years, but at a pretty slow pace, so, I probably don't know as much about Japanese as I should by now.

I do know my Hiragana pretty well by now, though, and I'm working on the Katakana. Although I can't say I'm looking forward to learning the Kanji!

Anyway, those keyboards sound cool. I might have to check them out!

It comes standard on the iPhone, you don't have to download it or anything. You just have to add it by going to your keyboard settings.

Cool… I don't have an iPhone, but I might still be able to get it to work on my phone somehow, even though it's Android.

bybb wrote:

ArimoTheReindeer wrote:

SonicFan91 wrote:

I'm studying it too, actually! How's it going for you?!

It's going quite okay for me so far. Actually, I decided to put the Japanese keyboards on my phone. One of them is a regular keyboard, but the other one is a very helpful learning tool…you can type romaji and it turns it into Japanese characters! And you can chose between hiragana, katakana, and even some kanji. How long have you been studying?

Pturretdactyl wrote:

The tip on hiragana should be helpful, thanks for posting that!

There was a neat book I got at the library once that taught kanji visually. They'd take the kanji character, show the very first writing of it and what it was based off of, and then how it developed. For example, 木 is tree (pronounced ‘ki’), and it shows the first versions of that. Then, they teach forest, 森. See how it's a bunch of trees? If I can find the book again I'll let you know the title, but my point is see if you can find something that teaches like that. I think it'd be more helpful than brute-force memorization. I actually had a dream about those two characters specifically; they showed up in my dream and I actually recognized what they meant, which is weird because reading in dreams is incredibly hard. So! If that's any indication that it works!

Also - keep an eye on Duolingo. A Japanese course is in the works. Pimsleur CDs might be worth looking into for speaking it.

I have the box set of Living Language Japanese that I should really get back to I think… XD

Sounds helpful, let me know if you find it! Kanji is notoriously hard so I'm not thinking about it too much yet. Also, I've heard Duolingo is a great program! Thanks for letting me know they have a Japanese program in the works, I haven't heard, and it's supposed to be a great program.

Don't use Duolingo, use Memrise. Japanese stuff on there is amazing.

Eh, I've tried it and wasn't terribly impressed. Plus, some features require payment. Once the Duolingo course is out, it'll be completely free.

Also I have Duolingo to thank for mixing up my Spanish, German and English (I study Spanish through classes and German's just for fun). During one of my final verbals for Spanish, I accidentally said ‘Nein’ instead of ‘No’. XD

Pturretdactyl wrote:

bybb wrote:

ArimoTheReindeer wrote:

SonicFan91 wrote:

I'm studying it too, actually! How's it going for you?!

It's going quite okay for me so far. Actually, I decided to put the Japanese keyboards on my phone. One of them is a regular keyboard, but the other one is a very helpful learning tool…you can type romaji and it turns it into Japanese characters! And you can chose between hiragana, katakana, and even some kanji. How long have you been studying?

Pturretdactyl wrote:

The tip on hiragana should be helpful, thanks for posting that!

There was a neat book I got at the library once that taught kanji visually. They'd take the kanji character, show the very first writing of it and what it was based off of, and then how it developed. For example, 木 is tree (pronounced ‘ki’), and it shows the first versions of that. Then, they teach forest, 森. See how it's a bunch of trees? If I can find the book again I'll let you know the title, but my point is see if you can find something that teaches like that. I think it'd be more helpful than brute-force memorization. I actually had a dream about those two characters specifically; they showed up in my dream and I actually recognized what they meant, which is weird because reading in dreams is incredibly hard. So! If that's any indication that it works!

Also - keep an eye on Duolingo. A Japanese course is in the works. Pimsleur CDs might be worth looking into for speaking it.

I have the box set of Living Language Japanese that I should really get back to I think… XD

Sounds helpful, let me know if you find it! Kanji is notoriously hard so I'm not thinking about it too much yet. Also, I've heard Duolingo is a great program! Thanks for letting me know they have a Japanese program in the works, I haven't heard, and it's supposed to be a great program.

Don't use Duolingo, use Memrise. Japanese stuff on there is amazing.

Eh, I've tried it and wasn't terribly impressed. Plus, some features require payment. Once the Duolingo course is out, it'll be completely free.

Also I have Duolingo to thank for mixing up my Spanish, German and English (I study Spanish through classes and German's just for fun). During one of my final verbals for Spanish, I accidentally said ‘Nein’ instead of ‘No’. XD

The features you pay for aren't worth the money at all. It's just statistics and some extra stuff that you can do on your own like knowing what you are bad at. The main reason it wasn't so good before is because the official courses were almost non-existent. Now they have really good official courses. They have sections for hiragana and katakana. I wouldn't recommend it for kanji though.

bybb wrote:

Pturretdactyl wrote:

bybb wrote:

ArimoTheReindeer wrote:

SonicFan91 wrote:

I'm studying it too, actually! How's it going for you?!

It's going quite okay for me so far. Actually, I decided to put the Japanese keyboards on my phone. One of them is a regular keyboard, but the other one is a very helpful learning tool…you can type romaji and it turns it into Japanese characters! And you can chose between hiragana, katakana, and even some kanji. How long have you been studying?

Pturretdactyl wrote:

The tip on hiragana should be helpful, thanks for posting that!

There was a neat book I got at the library once that taught kanji visually. They'd take the kanji character, show the very first writing of it and what it was based off of, and then how it developed. For example, 木 is tree (pronounced ‘ki’), and it shows the first versions of that. Then, they teach forest, 森. See how it's a bunch of trees? If I can find the book again I'll let you know the title, but my point is see if you can find something that teaches like that. I think it'd be more helpful than brute-force memorization. I actually had a dream about those two characters specifically; they showed up in my dream and I actually recognized what they meant, which is weird because reading in dreams is incredibly hard. So! If that's any indication that it works!

Also - keep an eye on Duolingo. A Japanese course is in the works. Pimsleur CDs might be worth looking into for speaking it.

I have the box set of Living Language Japanese that I should really get back to I think… XD

Sounds helpful, let me know if you find it! Kanji is notoriously hard so I'm not thinking about it too much yet. Also, I've heard Duolingo is a great program! Thanks for letting me know they have a Japanese program in the works, I haven't heard, and it's supposed to be a great program.

Don't use Duolingo, use Memrise. Japanese stuff on there is amazing.

Eh, I've tried it and wasn't terribly impressed. Plus, some features require payment. Once the Duolingo course is out, it'll be completely free.

Also I have Duolingo to thank for mixing up my Spanish, German and English (I study Spanish through classes and German's just for fun). During one of my final verbals for Spanish, I accidentally said ‘Nein’ instead of ‘No’. XD

The features you pay for aren't worth the money at all. It's just statistics and some extra stuff that you can do on your own like knowing what you are bad at. The main reason it wasn't so good before is because the official courses were almost non-existent. Now they have really good official courses. They have sections for hiragana and katakana. I wouldn't recommend it for kanji though.

Ooh, in that case I'll have to check it out again. Thank you!

I'm currently doing a course on Japanese on “Skill Success” with my Mom. It's been really good so far! I'd really recommend it… I fact, we're already 7% through it.

SonicFan91 wrote:

I'm currently doing a course on Japanese on “Skill Success” with my Mom. It's been really good so far! I'd really recommend it… I fact, we're already 7% through it.

Just did another Japanese lesson on Skill Success today. It was very good!

Also, have any of you ever played the game “Kana Mind”? It's an app you can download that helps you learn and memorize your Hiragana and Katakana. It's free on Google Play and the Amazon App Store. I've probably been playing it for a while now, like, at LEAST for over a year now. I have it on my phone and tablet, and it's REALLY helped me learn my Kana. All you need to do is play the app a lot, and practice in a notebook and stuff.

I just started to study japanese

Anais3000 wrote:

I just started to study japanese

Good for you! How's it going so far? Even though you just started…!

The beta version of Duolingo's Japanese course is now available on the app. Currently downloading!

ArimoTheReindeer wrote:

The beta version of Duolingo's Japanese course is now available on the app. Currently downloading!

wHAT REALLY AHHHHH

This Summer, I'm going to spend more time studying Japanese, as well as Japan. I'll still do my normal activities (Frolicking and playing in the nice warm weather outdoors, singing and dancing around my house, studying “Sonic the Hedgehog” and “Warriors” (this will be my first FULL SUMMER reading “Warriors” books) participating in Summer activities, reading, writing, making art, exploring the Internet, programming, and Scratching (this will be my first FULL SUMMER on Scratch)), but I'll devote more time to my language studies, that is, the time I probably should have put into studying my Japanese in past Summers. Whoo hoo, my 103rd post ever on the Scratch Discussion Forums! YAY!!!

But, don't worry, though; I'm probably still going to spend LOTS OF TIME here on Scratch, anyway.

SonicFan91 wrote:

Anais3000 wrote:

I just started to study japanese

Good for you! How's it going so far? Even though you just started…!

For the moment, I'm just learning the syllabs in japanese, like “shi” or “ro” !

Memrise Pro has a new feature on the mobile app.
They now have practice conversations (pre scripted) that teach you simple things and they also have another set of conversations that are designed to help you with grammar.
Despite these being Memrise Pro only, they seem to be very useful.
They had an example one in the new Japanese 1 course.
Also, the new Japanese 1 throws you right into the deep end with Kanji.

私は少し日本語を話せます
私は日本語を学びが好き