learning japanese

[dimitri_can]

Like I said, I'm a manga/anime fiend, so I get lots of conversational input in terms of language. Having said that, I'm probably more adept at listening than speaking.

I didn't expect the preparatory books to provide enough material for holistic language education but they do give me a focal point in terms of structures, kanji and vocab (which is immensely helpful).

dimitri: added you to my msn (me = janettoyu). You're from the meetup forums aren't you? I've seen you around although I haven't met up with anyone yet. Hah.

Yup... I am one of the assistant organizers... =)

 

[dimitri_can]

Totally agree. How I passed JLPT2 was to first learn the grammar by myself then watch tons of anime and read novels lol. I have a kanji JLPT2 book but in the end I hardly looked at it because it was too boring. Was easier to approach learning from an entertainment manner. In any case the JLPT2 kanji isn't too difficult. JLPT1's is probably a lot tougher though.

I think ultimately we learn Japanese is to be able to speak it, understand it and converse with Japanese using it... Like for me, i am thinking of migrating to Japan after my JLPT 1/2, so i hope to be able to speak. My speaking isn't that great, just so-so, i guess...

 

[dimitri_can]

Electronic Dictionary Pricelist

Sharp M800 @ $199 Original Price: $283.92
http://nipponimports.com/proddetail.php?prod=PW-M800&cat=8

Casio XD -F6600 @ $399 Original Price: $435.12
http://www.nipponimports.com/proddetail.php?prod=XD-F6600&cat=1

Sharp PW-A8800 @$449 Original Price: $502.32
http://www.nipponimports.com/proddetail.php?prod=PW-A8800&cat=8

Sharp PW-A8400 @ $350 Original Price: $386.40
http://nipponimports.com/proddetail.php?prod=PW-A8400&cat=8

Seiko M4000 @$199 Original Price: $334.32
(Best bargain, i think...Specially got a big slash of price for the students)
http://www.nipponimports.com/proddetail.php?prod=M4000&cat=7

All prices exclude shipping costs. If bought in batches, the shipping cost can be waived.

Because the owner is based in Singapore, he also handles warranty issues if the set breaks down within a year. Anyone interested, pls drop me a private msg. Thanks.

 

[terraj]

I would really recommend the Canon word tank G55. It has a humongous dictionary (particularly good for learners is the large English-Japanese dictionary), and is very user friendly. I've had it for 1.5 years now and never regretted the decision, which was made after reading a lot of reviews about it. BTW, Canon comes with a simple English user manual which is great for people just starting out.

Apparently the Canon G70 is great buy if you can afford it because of its 480,000 English-Japanese entries but it's very expensive. But if you're going to Japan it's something you should consider because it's been out for some time and you can probably get a very good discount for it. I would have bought this model instead of the G55 if it were available at the current price when I went to Japan early last year (not forgetting more favourable exchange rate right now). Check it out at Amazon Japan. It doesn't ship out of Japan but maybe Vpost Japan might do the trick (have to add GST on top of the Japanese tax though since it's more than 400 bucks). I also found another site that does international shipping via free EMS(!) shipping with prices that are comparable/better than Amazon. No idea if it's reliable though since I've never bought from them. It looks decent though.

 

[p0w3rL3s5]

Hi guys, i'm new here.. just wanna know is there any way to self study japanese for a person with a very busy schedule? Cause i'm interested in this language and i've been learning it (well maybe not really learning) on and off for a year by watching animes and etc.. but the amount of free time i can afford for japanese is like less than 3 hour a week! I'm thinking of trying JLPT4 but i realise my particles is really bad after i try those jlpt4 exercises.. im barely passing those exercises just by putting in the particles which feels 'right', so i'm wondering if anyone is in the same predicatment as i am, as in having a heavy workload but still manages to study japanese and pass JLPT..

 

[dimitri_can]

Hi guys, i'm new here.. just wanna know is there any way to self study japanese for a person with a very busy schedule? Cause i'm interested in this language and i've been learning it (well maybe not really learning) on and off for a year by watching animes and etc.. but the amount of free time i can afford for japanese is like less than 3 hour a week! I'm thinking of trying JLPT4 but i realise my particles is really bad after i try those jlpt4 exercises.. im barely passing those exercises just by putting in the particles which feels 'right', so i'm wondering if anyone is in the same predicatment as i am, as in having a heavy workload but still manages to study japanese and pass JLPT..

Very hard.. but it's possible... If u need help, we can talk online via MSN...

 

[nnskage]

Anybody knows which school uses Minna no Nihongo texts as main teaching medium?

hah nus xD
i donno if they have changed the book or not, but i've seen students carrying around

 

[nnskage]

Hi there. Sorry to jump in on the thread like this, but since you guys are talking about schools, I thought I'd ask since I can't seem to get any decent response elsewhere.

I'm currently doing self-study using Minna no Nihongo and a number of other linguistic texts (I'm a Kino reference book fiend) and am really slightly beyond the beginner level. My schedule isn't really fixed at this point but I'd like to take up lessons so I can work towards JLPT 4 end of this year and so on.

Should I enroll in Ikoma and follow their schedule, try the JLPT 4 exam at the end of this year or should I just work on my own and sit for the exam? I really don't want to relearn whatever I've already mastered at this stage since it would be fairly pointless.

Any advice would be appreciated. Big decision for me since okane is involved. XD

I would say try jlpt 4 (or maybe 3 if you're comfortable with it) to get a feel of the test at that exact moment, the "atmosphere" there if you have not taken it before. No harm taking it right? Or if you have the hobby of collecting certs.. try all

I once joked with a friend. He mentioned he wanted to take lvl4, but felt that lvl4 is uselss, so i suggest that he take lvl3. but lvl3 compared to lvl2 is nothing. Then go straight to lvl2. And yet again, why take lvl2 when you can have lvl1? In the end, just take lvl1 ba!

btw, yukaguri you were a linguistics major? Coool! I totally can understand on the part about you loving grammar heh. EL? I'm planning to go for a masters program at waseda or TUFS.

 

[yukaguri]

I would say try jlpt 4 (or maybe 3 if you're comfortable with it) to get a feel of the test at that exact moment, the "atmosphere" there if you have not taken it before. No harm taking it right? Or if you have the hobby of collecting certs.. try all

I once joked with a friend. He mentioned he wanted to take lvl4, but felt that lvl4 is uselss, so i suggest that he take lvl3. but lvl3 compared to lvl2 is nothing. Then go straight to lvl2. And yet again, why take lvl2 when you can have lvl1? In the end, just take lvl1 ba!

btw, yukaguri you were a linguistics major? Coool! I totally can understand on the part about you loving grammar heh. EL? I'm planning to go for a masters program at waseda or TUFS.

Love grammar beyond belief. So self-studying is a clinch mostly. If I embark on a masters, I know exactly what I'd like to research. Most definitely EL. Since my CL = pathetic. Hopefully will fare better with JL.

Let's collect some certs. XD If possible I'd like to skip to Lvl 3. I'm not that gungho to head for Lvl 1 right away.

 

[dimitri_can]

Originally Posted by Kage82
Anybody knows which school uses Minna no Nihongo texts as main teaching medium?
--------------------------------------------
Ikoma

 

[kazeto]

just started out on jap, does anyone know of any good dictionary from kino?

its quite informative to know about the various electronic dictionary from the previous posts, i am hoping to get a book type dictionary. would the kodansha eng-jap brown cover type from kino a good buy?

 

[dimitri_can]

just started out on jap, does anyone know of any good dictionary from kino?

its quite informative to know about the various electronic dictionary from the previous posts, i am hoping to get a book type dictionary. would the kodansha eng-jap brown cover type from kino a good buy?

These 2 are ok.

http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Furigana-English-Japanese-Dictionary-Kodansha/dp/4770020554/ref=sr_1_5/102-9742263-9342509?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178510914&sr=8-5

http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Furigana-Japanese-English-Dictionary-Kodansha/dp/4770019831/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-9742263-9342509?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178510914&sr=8-2

They are selling for S$33.50 each in Kino

Good luck! =)

 

[horiesan]

For absolute beginners, try watching these simple video lessons at
http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/learn-japanese/

 

[nnskage]

just started out on jap, does anyone know of any good dictionary from kino?

its quite informative to know about the various electronic dictionary from the previous posts, i am hoping to get a book type dictionary. would the kodansha eng-jap brown cover type from kino a good buy?

if you're interested to know, kenkyusha (the giant green book) is the ultimate dictionary, at least in the academic world. If getting the book is out of the question (too dear, too heavy etc), try the online (http://kod.kenkyusha.co.jp/service/) or see if there's any e-dictionary which contains this one. Book type of dictionaries are really fun. The enjoyment of flipping through pages after pages and the smell of books really heightens the process. lol.

 

[nnskage]

Love grammar beyond belief. So self-studying is a clinch mostly. If I embark on a masters, I know exactly what I'd like to research. Most definitely EL. Since my CL = pathetic. Hopefully will fare better with JL.

Let's collect some certs. XD If possible I'd like to skip to Lvl 3. I'm not that gungho to head for Lvl 1 right away.

You were a CL major?

I'm a LS student but my true passion lies in linguistics, particular Jpn Ling (and the nitty gritty stuff of grammar!!) A pity nus doesnt offer purely JL but JS only...

Good luck to your jlpt ^^b
I havent been collecting any certs for a long time heh.

 

[terraj]

I have these books. They are in good condition but with some brown spots due to age. There are 3 books in the series, 2 are what dimitri listed, and 1 is a Kanji book that uses the SKIP method of lookup which makes it very easy to find words. If you're interested I could let all of them go at $45 bucks. They're good books for learners but since I got my electronic dictionary I haven't been using them.

These 2 are ok.

http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Furigana-English-Japanese-Dictionary-Kodansha/dp/4770020554/ref=sr_1_5/102-9742263-9342509?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178510914&sr=8-5

http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Furigana-Japanese-English-Dictionary-Kodansha/dp/4770019831/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-9742263-9342509?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178510914&sr=8-2

They are selling for S$33.50 each in Kino

Good luck! =)

 

[dimitri_can]

I think it's a good deal if u take it... =)

terraj: あなたは何級の試験を受けましたか？

 

[yukaguri]

You were a CL major?

I'm a LS student but my true passion lies in linguistics, particular Jpn Ling (and the nitty gritty stuff of grammar!!) A pity nus doesnt offer purely JL but JS only...

Good luck to your jlpt ^^b
I havent been collecting any certs for a long time heh.

Of course not. My command of CL is pretty bad. I was looking at some primary school test CL test papers in the other day and I thought... "what on earth is that word".

Majored in EL linguistics and quite interested in translation theory (which I attempted for Chinese to English, but sadly... seeing that my CL is so poor, didn't do too well in it). For some reason JL motivates me much more.

 

[terraj]

2005年のＪＬＰＴ2級に合格したが、話す練習はあまりしないせいで（だって、話し相手いないんだもん）、会話はまだ苦手なんです。早く上手になれるといいな…（今の状態からしては無理みたいけど）

I think it's a good deal if u take it... =)

terraj: あなたは何級の試験を受けましたか？

 

[dimitri_can]

2005年のＪＬＰＴ2級に合格したが、話す練習はあまりしないせいで（だって、話し相手いないんだもん）、会話はまだ苦手なんです。早く上手になれるといいな…（今の状態からしては無理みたいけど）

なるほど。。。２級。。。つまり、私の先輩ですね。。。はは。よろしくお願いします。。２級と３級はどう違いますか？