[quorceopporce]

Is there any good computer programs (or anything else) which would help me speak and understand Japanese? Maybe a PC program is not good. Any advice is welcome.

[Slchtjgb]

Being in Hawaii with a good sized Japanese population, I would think there must be classes you can take, maybe at a community college or Japanese Community Center. I highly suggest that over trying to learn through a computer or book based system. What you really need are people to interact with, or the things you learn will be very hard to retain, in my experience.

[Hbkj89D2]

That will be a wonderful start, domo arigato gozaimasu!

[StethyEntinic]

The simple answer would be so I can understand what is being said in the dojo and be able to pronounce it. Too many times I hear words and have to ask more than once how to say them and then forget, I would like to take some kind of course that trains me to understand the language in order to make picking up "kendo-ese" easier. The sounds and pronunciations are totally foreign to me. Very good questions, sir, and questions I will contemplate further as my needs of the language grow. Thank you.

[Maphpseurse]

Hey newbie,
You can try Instant Immersion Japanese CDs.

[Meowmeowz]

http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4860

check this thread out for other ideas

[Carfanate]

As a very minimum, you must be able to read hiragana and katakana. In the beginning people like to learn the language in romanji because it is easier to them and it is fast... at first. But learning to read hiragana and katakana doesn't take that much time and once you get past the initial difficulty, it is simple and will give you more flexibility. So don't be lazy and at least learn to read that. Kanji may not be so important, but people who refuse to study in anything but romanji can stunt their growth so don't be tempted.

[Habalinnyf]

Pimsleur language programs are a great tool for learning conversational Japanese.

Go to www.torrentspy.com and type in "Pimsleur japanese" in the search box. Download the audio lessons. Since this is a torrent, you will need bit torrent software to download it. Go to http://azureus.sourceforge.net/ and download the latest azureus client which will allow you to download torrents. It's easy! If you have any questions...post

[Ceakicknunk]

I second the Pimsleur CD's or tapes. They are good at reinforcing what they want to teach so you actually remember it and they will really help you to have strong pronounciation.

[2CNWXAqN]

I guess the first question I'd have is, what do you want to learn Japanese for?

I don't mean this is a "why bother?" sense, but more like a "what are you going to be using the language for?" sense. Do you want to learn it so that you can speak with native Japanese speakers? Planning on some Kendo training in Japan? Planning on moving to Japan? Do you want to be able to read Japanese classics in their original language? Do you want to be able to watch anime in its original language? In short, what are your goals for learning Japanese?

This is important because your approach should change depending upon what you want to do with Japanese. A Pimsleur CD course would be a waste of time if all you wanted to do was learn how to read the daily Japan Times in Japanese. Likewise, intensive amounts of learning kanji aren't going to help if all you want to do is be able to speak Japanese to a native speaker. However, both of these and more would be necessary if you actually wanted to live in Japan and use the language effectively.

Now, the topic of the post is 'Speaking Japanese', so I assume you at least want to do that. You might want to ask yourself if it is important that you learn to read and write it as well, since that decision will also affect where you want to concentrate your efforts.

So really, it depends upon what you want to do with Japanese. Answering this question will help in focusing on a particular set of learning tools out of the vast amounts that are out there.

[GreesyBeeva]

Try http://chinaland.cjb.net/

[LomodiorCon]

Well, there is awebsite that teaches japanese, www.japanese-online.com
You should check it out.