i want to study japanese, but...

[d1eg0]

here where i live, is a school that teaches japanese, but they are only 5 semesters, do tou think that in this time i can learn some japanese??

i live in mexicali, near california, like 4 hours from san diego and 5 from LA.

i think that i can study in the school from my city, and then i can go to study to a school from san diego or LA

[Emoni]

Take what you can get is all I can recomend. It isn't easy to find Japanese classes, let alone good ones sometimes. They are more rare than they should be, which makes for some frustration at times.

Just learn as much as you can... At least to start, later after you know more you can self study.

[chiefen]

Take what you can get is all I can recomend. It isn't easy to find Japanese classes, let alone good ones sometimes. They are more rare than they should be, which makes for some frustration at times.

Just learn as much as you can... At least to start, later after you know more you can self study.

Or you do as me. I've self studied it for a couple of months now, because I know i wouldn't be able to keep up if I'd join a class without knowing the basics. But that's just me! :)

[Emoni]

I'm highly supportive of at least basic classes at first, but yes, if you can't do the classes do anything possible to learn. Even if you can't go fast, it is still learning.

Don't give up though.

[StarCrap]

Yea, don't give up. You can do it!!

[BlaqJap]

I think it's great idea! Any little bit helps. Try it there's no harm in it. At least you'll learn the basics. Good Luck!

[d1eg0]

i went to the university, and they told me that the classes begin in january, in this time i can learn by my self; but which kind of books you recomend, dictionaries, or what?

[SajberJohan]

All I recommend is that you learn the hiragana and the katakana alphabets, first weeks will be so much easier if you do :) (also you can show off your skills to your classmates ^^)

[StarCrap]

And how to pronouce the hiragana and the katakana.

[PaulTB]

*cough*wrong forum*cough*

[d1eg0]

well i have a doubt, how many alphabets are used in japan?

[TwistedMac]

one. but they call it romaji :p

the others aren't alphabets...

but they are:
kanji
hiragana
katakana

[d1eg0]

and why they use all of them??

[TwistedMac]

good question. search the forums.. there's a good answer around here somewhere... by like elizabeth or paultb or someone like that...

it has to do with alot of words having more than one meaning.

[PaulTB]

and why they use all of them??
I'll keep this short, as it's just coming up to 4am here.

In theory everything could be written in kana (which is hiragana + katakana).

Hiragana and katakana cover the same set of 'letters' and both represent sounds so you can use kana to write Japanese as it is spoken.

Kanji however can be read in several different ways and often also represent concepts / things directly. Don't get confused though, word(s) using kanji are still read with the same sounds as they would be read with if they were in kana (e.g. as spoken).

So, why kanji? Two main reasons (and lots of other ones to argue about which I won't mention here).

One: Kanji came first. Japanese had no writing system before they 'borrowed' kanji from the Chinese, hira and katakana were developed later.
Two: Japanese has no spaces between words. Kanji help a lot to tell easily where one 'word' starts and another stops, reading all kana with no spaces is enough to give you a headache.

[Emoni]

UGH, romaji...

Before your classes start do these two things. Learn Hiragana down to the milimeter. Learn the CORRECT pronouciations and stroke order for each character. Practice endlessly sounding out random basic words.

Find the book that will be used in your class, and read the first chapter or two and understand the very basic use of a three word sentence such as "gohan wo tabemasu" or "hon desu."

If you can manage both things, you will get a great start on Japanese before the class even starts and will most likely be the envy of the class when you get your homework grades back.

This is how I went about learning before my classes started years ago.

[d1eg0]

Emoni, thats a good choice, i'll search for the book.

thanks paultb, i have understand a little more, but i have another question, what is better for starting kana or kanji?

[Glenn]

Definitely kana. Kanji will be something that you learn over a pretty extended period of time, whereas the kana are a lot like our alphabets, so they require only a week or so per syllabary.