Well hi there everyone! I'm pretty new in around here but I'll contribute! =)

This topic will be about ways to practice reading or using japanese!

Before you start anything, please make sure you have both a hiragana chart and a katakana chart =P ( I have my dictionary, which is the same )

It's best to start with the basics (hiragana, katakana) The easiest way to practice reading those is...Reading Japanese manga! In mangas, they would put the hiragana pronunciation for every Kanji so it's very easy to read. =)

Note: While reading in hiragana/katakana, you should use a dictionary there's one right here http://www.yesjapan.com/dictionary/, pretty complete (formal words). This way, you might easily pick up the kanji's pronunciation and its meaning.

I got pretty far using this although I've been a bit lazy lately...It's very easy and can get anyone to learn the language at a high pace without taking lessons!

Trust me ! =P

Well good luck people! :wink

hey, that's quite a good idea!

i can practice reading. however for understanding the meaning, i think it's still hard.

cos of the sentence structure

the sentence structure actually relatively remains the same. subject, direct object, verb. it's the relationals that screw me over.

ok, the sentence structure's maybe alright, but the many different ways to say the same exact word is not....

My sis learnt jap till her Alevels so she taught me abit...the sentance structure can be quite like chinese sometimes..making it abit easier to rmb. XD

yea u r right.

so for any chinese or someone who knows chinese pretty well,
learning japanese is 20% easier, or even more.

i got a few japanese lesson video, but sad cuz' my internet is slow making me cant upload all the lessons, so wait til i fix the internet problem, and then i will try to upload in a webby or make it into .bt file. btw, i had nvr make a .bt file be4, anyone can teach me? or let me know a place that had tutorials.

Hmm..i am not too sure but I think if you have azureus or something you can make a .bit file.im rather confused myself...

Oh really? People who knows mandarin can learn jap easier? Erm... I'm learning jap now but it seems to be pretty difficult, but I guess it need time.. :lol:

guys, try to download this .bt file, and try to download the japanese video. i dont know whether it will work out or not

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/11/28/43...%201-10.torrent

let me know whether it works or not.

the thing with bittorrent though is that you have to leave your computer on and have your bittorrent program on also to seed it to people...=/

im taking a japanese course in college right now. my cousin is taking chinesse and wants to go to china as a exchange student. for him the requirement is 2 years of chinese then he gets to be there for 2-3 months maybe? thats not a really long time for 2 years of work =[
im chinese like my cousin, but i dont know how to speak chinese :huhuhu so learning japanese isn't gonna be as easy for me. we haven't gotten to kanji or katana yet, but the teacher has written some kanji on the board and the students who knew chinese were able to read and understand them....sigh.....

Don't worry!~
I'm Chinese too but I can't read Kanji at all.
I've been reading japanese mangas using Hiragana and I've learned quite a few.
Like...erm...I don't know...Boku(me), Kimi(you), Asa(morning), Ue(top/up), Shita(bottom/down), Te(hand), naka(middle)...aka(red). Easy things like those
I'm already happy that I can read those since they appear quite often.

Well okay.

If you can read/write Chinese then you will be able to decipher the meanings of some of the Japanese kanji... it's quite complex though. A lot of times they don't even mean the same thing. And there's a lot of made up ones too.

oh im cantonese...i hope it helps me! i wanted to take jap in school....but thn i had to take madarin. i dunno anything about the sentence structures...i onli kno the meanings of random words from watching anime XD

:lol: yes... some can mean TOTALLY different things...
example...

大丈夫 (daijoubu)
in jap --> it's okay / all right
in chinese --> man / real man

first time i read that.. i was like :blink:

^ It's ok to be a real man! :lol:

it's quite hard to study on the internet, becasue you still have to hear the right pronunciation of each and every word, but this is a good start :thumbsup: thanks

Anyone can help me find a software to translate japan in english, please??
But i prefer the full version and freeware , hehe

Arigato gozaimas

i don't know if someone already post this, but here:
Japanese Learning Suite FREEWARE
http://jls.phreadom.net/

you need to install the MS Framework first. it may take a while to install, but definitely worth it. :D

oo... thanks Aurelio!... finished downloading it... will try it out as soon as I finish some of my upcoming exams. ^__^

Try this link...it's got lots of goodies for japanese learners
Downloads.com

thanks this is very useful! :wave

EzakNoKaze, for that dictionary site. Do you have to type in actual Japanese characters or can we just type in romanji? :)

There is many software.

Popjishyo : Cool way to use internet with a popup windows appears when you move your mouse on the words... (japanese to english, german, etc...) JUST COPY/PASTE THE URL in the box. My tip using this : Just copy paste www.google.com(.fr or .co.jp, or whatever) on it and keep it in your bookmark, then it is ready for use whenever you like)

http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal.aspx


JWPCE : A good word processor in japanese, that I use for its dictionnary. You can create your own dictionnary. If can share with you my dictionnary japanese/french that I buildt during my years learning japanese. If you want. P.M. me. You can find online good dictionnary about japanese locations, family name, ectc... to use with Jwpce.

http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/jwpce.html

Automatic traduction sites :
ATTENTION. I don't recommend any automatic traduction sites. I think, and it is my opinion only, that automatic traduction sites or software can't do it properly. It can only be used as an utility service for langages we don't/can't understand. For ex, I use it when I want to know the meaning of short words of german or spain, as I can't speak any of these two.
So here you are :
This is the one I use sometimes (Worldlingo):
http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_serv...translator.html

Hi, I'm new here. I hope I can give you some help. :)
If you're looking for software to type Japanese, you can use KANJIWORD. Another way, you can install Japanese language pack in your computer. So, you can type or read Japanese in your computer.