Learning japanese

[gsd2000]

Has anyone on here learnt Japanese?

If so was it difficult?

I would like to learn japanese as i want to go to tokyo at some point.

Also is it possible to do a gcse in japanese?

Thankyou

[WorAl]

Best thing to do if they don't understand you is just shout a bit louder until they do.

I have heard that it is very difficult....or was that Chinese?

[GTIR]

Why would you want to?

Unless you're after a fitty Japanese babe.

[Neil H]

I've made some half-hearted attempts to learn it as my OH is from there, it's actually easier than you think. The grammar is much more simple than English - there's no plurals or irregular verbs (well, very few), for example.

The numbers are logical too

ichi - one
ju - ten
ju-ichi - eleven

Learning the alphabet is much harder, obviously, and will take years to become profficient.

I've concluded that formal lessons are required, books can only help you so much, and you need to practice often.

Tokyo is great, I've been there twice in the last year - try and get a Japanese person to show you around, it will help!

Edited by Neil H on Monday 9th August 12:27

[Stevenj214]

Neil H said:

The numbers are logical too

ichi - one
ju - ten
ju-ichi - eleven

Skipping 9 numbers is logical?!

[WorAl]

Neil H said:

I've made some half-hearted attempts to learn it as my OH is from there, it's actually easier than you think. The grammar is much more simple than English - there's no plurals or irregular verbs, for example.

The numbers are logical too

ichi - one
ju - ten
ju-ichi - eleven

Learning the alphabet is much harder, obviously, and will take years to become profficient.

I've concluded that formal lessons are required, books can only help you so much, and you need to practice often.

Tokyo is great, I've been there twice in the last year - try and get a Japanese person to show you around, it will help!

Probably made a bit easier for you given the fact you live with a Japanese girl though I'd imagine.

[K87]

Try your local college. Friend of mine found chinese lessons this way.

[cazzer]

I've been married to a Japanese/american girl for 15 years.
So far I have learned how to say (not spell) :-
"Evil spirits out good spirits in"
"Seven Eleven, what a wondeful store, thank goodness its open"
The lyrics to Sukyaki
and what sthead is in japanese.

[boomboompow]

I started learning Japanese a few years ago whilst finishing off my uni degree (as I was planning to head over there at some point). Bought one of those "Japanese for dummies" teach-yourself books which was actually really good. The basics aren't as hard as you'd imagine, the main issue is how quickly Japanese speak and it takes a long time to pick up the exact syllables they’re saying. That said, the book covered the bare essentials and it was useful when I went to Japan; would still like to go back and learn more, but I think tutoring would be the way forward rather than self-taught.

[gsd2000]

I might buy some books to start with and then get some lessons.

So its not too difficult to learn? I understand that it will take time to master though.

A nice japanese girl would be a bonus

[angusfaldo]

Neil H said:

The grammar is much more simple than English - there's no plurals or irregular verbs (well, very few),

How ironic

[Marf]

angusfaldo said:

Neil H said:

The grammar is much more simple than English - there's no plurals or irregular verbs (well, very few),

How ironic

Bakane!

[maser_spyder]

Ahh, natsukashi.

[mattviatura]

gsd2000 said:

I would like to learn japanese as i want to go to tokyo at some point.

I'd try and master English first.

[Snoop Bagg]

Mr grandfather speaks and writes it almost fluently. I believe it's relatively easy to learn how to speak Japanese compared to other languages, but there are four styles of writing it!

[Einion Yrth]

Neil H said:

Learning the alphabet is much harder,

Especially because Japanese is rarely written with an alphabet. It is more commonly written with two syllabaries (Hiragana and Katakana) and a bunch (around 2000 in common use) of ideograms borrowed from Chinese (Kanji).

[Neil H]

Einion Yrth said:

Neil H said:

Learning the alphabet is much harder,

Especially because Japanese is rarely written with an alphabet. It is more commonly written with two syllabaries (Hiragana and Katakana) and a bunch (around 2000 in common use) of ideograms borrowed from Chinese (Kanji).

In my laziness I was just borrowing the word to describe the writing system to someone who might not be familiar with Kana.

You only really need Hiragana and Katakana to get by, and the latter is relatively simple. There are plenty of Japanese people who are poor with Kanji, and the lesser-known tend to have a Kana alternative printed above the Kanji.

[UncleRic]

No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark
Everyone around me is a total stranger
Everyone avoids me like a cyclone ranger
That's why I'm learning Japanese

I'm learning Japanese
I think I'm learning Japanese
I really think so

Repeat to fade

[Original Poster]

A mate was learning it for about 3 years, said it was very difficult although not impossible.

[GlenMH]

I live in Tokyo and after 2 years here I am still not conversational in Japanese.

Learning kana (both of them) took a while but have made a massive difference in terms of being able to read a menu etc.

You can live here quite well on about 50-100 words of Japanese and being able to read a bit. The basic 100 kanji are useful for numbers etc but not essential.

It is an interesting place to be but at Y138/GBP it is a very expensive place to live.