my experiences
Let me start by saying, I'm not that good at Japanese yet though I've studied it on and off for around two years now. To learn a new language first and foremost
requires the will and motivation to learn. Second is the tools available to you.
I've used different products along the way to learn the language. Therefore I want to share my opinion on those products. They're all listed below with links to amazon.com:
Kana de Manga - A small inexpensive book that teaches you to write kana. I find it very useful as a tool to learn the kana.
Kanji de Manga 1 - Same type as Kana de Manga, only with kanji. This book teaches you the first 80 kanji you have to learn. It is easy to use and though it looks a little childish, it is still quite good.
Pocket Kenkyusha Japanese Dictionary - Japanese - English dictionary. The Japanese-English part is in romaji, meaning that it is written with latin letters. This forces the user to learn how to translate from kana/kanji to romaji to find the word one needs. This is not necessarily a bad thing though most people prefers a kana/kanji dictionary. I still believe it's a good dictionary for beginners. Eventhough the content of the dictionary is good, the quality of the book sucks. After a few months of use, the book began to fall apart. That's pretty annoying, considering it has over a thousand pages.
Pimsleur's Japanese I - I found this product very useful. This should clearly not be the only product you use to learn Japanese, but it's a nice product especially if there aren't any Japanese classes in your area.
Rosetta Stone's Japanese 1 - A have only tried this product a few times but I found that it wasn't very intuitive.
My Happy Planet - Website with focus on language and culture exchange. You start mailing with different people that are natives of the language you want to learn and then help them learn your language.
http://lang-8.com - Great place to test your language skills! The page focus is on people helping each other out with their respective languages. You'll write an entry in the language you want to learn (not only Japanese) and then a native will correct your sentences. Vice versa you help others in learning your native language (win-win).
http://smart.fm - Comprehensive site with focus on widening your vocabulary. And the method actually works! I know I've improved my vocab considerably.
http://www.realkana.com - Great site for learning to recognise kana. It has a kanji equivalent too, but I've only used that a few times.
LearnKana! - And of course I will recommend the tool I've developed myself to help you learn kana!
I've used different products along the way to learn the language. Therefore I want to share my opinion on those products. They're all listed below with links to amazon.com:
Kana de Manga - A small inexpensive book that teaches you to write kana. I find it very useful as a tool to learn the kana.
Kanji de Manga 1 - Same type as Kana de Manga, only with kanji. This book teaches you the first 80 kanji you have to learn. It is easy to use and though it looks a little childish, it is still quite good.
Pocket Kenkyusha Japanese Dictionary - Japanese - English dictionary. The Japanese-English part is in romaji, meaning that it is written with latin letters. This forces the user to learn how to translate from kana/kanji to romaji to find the word one needs. This is not necessarily a bad thing though most people prefers a kana/kanji dictionary. I still believe it's a good dictionary for beginners. Eventhough the content of the dictionary is good, the quality of the book sucks. After a few months of use, the book began to fall apart. That's pretty annoying, considering it has over a thousand pages.
Pimsleur's Japanese I - I found this product very useful. This should clearly not be the only product you use to learn Japanese, but it's a nice product especially if there aren't any Japanese classes in your area.
Rosetta Stone's Japanese 1 - A have only tried this product a few times but I found that it wasn't very intuitive.
My Happy Planet - Website with focus on language and culture exchange. You start mailing with different people that are natives of the language you want to learn and then help them learn your language.
http://lang-8.com - Great place to test your language skills! The page focus is on people helping each other out with their respective languages. You'll write an entry in the language you want to learn (not only Japanese) and then a native will correct your sentences. Vice versa you help others in learning your native language (win-win).
http://smart.fm - Comprehensive site with focus on widening your vocabulary. And the method actually works! I know I've improved my vocab considerably.
http://www.realkana.com - Great site for learning to recognise kana. It has a kanji equivalent too, but I've only used that a few times.
LearnKana! - And of course I will recommend the tool I've developed myself to help you learn kana!
