i am planning on learning katakana japanese, so thot i can talk to all the japanese kids at my school AND be able to understand it AND be able to write it, and i want to know what u guys would reccomend. i am considering purchasing rosetta stone. is that program good?
Actually, to really be able to speak and read Japanese, you should try learning all three types, as the language as a whole is a mixture of them. I can't tell you what programs to use and what programs not to use, but taking classes or getting a private tutor seems to be the best option for most people.
It's not worth it is my guess. Just look at lotsa katakana. Everynow and then check a book and look at what they are if you don't know. When you see katakana just point out what you know. Trust me, it's super easy.
Yeah those are it. Pretty much what CarbuncleGem said, in order to understand it completely, learn all three of them. My dad told me that what the Japanese do is mix all three of these together to create words. I don't know. I don't remember quite exactly. They use all three of them. So learn all three of them so you can understand Janpanese completely.
Katakana (カタカナ) is only for foreign names and loanwords. Example: トイレ (toire, "toilet"), ナサニュール (Nasanyūru, "Nathaniel"). There are about 100 or so of these. Hiragana (ひらがな) is for Japanese-only words (there are a few exceptions, I think), particles and endings to verbs and adjective. Example: りんご (ringo, "apple") 戦う(tatakau, "to fight," the final "u" is in hiragana, as it is the ending). There are about 100 or so of these. Kanji (漢字) is also for Japanese-only words, and they are the most complex to write and numerous, with about 2,000 every-day kanji. Each kanji character denotes a certain "meaning," but not necesarily a "word," and adding two or more together changes it's meaning. Example: 簡単 (kantan, "simple," made up of the kanji for "simplicity" and "single") 知らなかった (shirankatta "to know (past negative, "I did not know.")" The first letter (shi) is in kanji, the rest in hiragana as the "ranakatta" is the ending) Anyway, that's enough of Japanese' wacky writing system. Trust me, Japanese is not a language you can learn in a short time. I've been studying it on and off for around 5 years, and I'm still not perfect (grammar-wise, I am, but vocabulary and kanji knowledge, NO). However, if you wish to learn Japanese, all I can do is recommend you this. If you need any help, just ask me. 手伝えるから。(tetsudaeru-kara, "Because I can help.")
I'm using Kana-a-day practice pads right now for Japanese, and it's been very helpful as well as fun. Rosetta Stone is also amazing. I recommend those, and maybe just some flash cards. Other than that, I don't really know what to tell you except that Japanese isn't easy to learn, but it's very satisfying when you can look at Japanese dialogue and say "Hey! I know some of those words!" ^^
Like others have said, to really be able to communicate with anyone, you'll have to learn all three alphabets. Learning katakana isn't really hard. Think of a word, look up the katakana that the word can be written with, and write it. That's what I did, and now I can recognize just about any katakana there is.
I was almost taught Japanese in school and wouldn't mind learning it myself but it may take a little time to memorise things at a teenage age. Apparently we learn things easier when where young.
I learned it from my PSP with a homebrew program call Kanjii review list. I thought it wasn't going to work but it did.
I have typed up some lessons for Japanese grammar, but not the writing system. If I may, I would like to post the download links. I do not know if that's allowed. They're in WordPad format (which is the program I recommend for viewing them, as viewing in anything else would look odd.), and are oploaded through RapidShare. I made it for my friend Ngan, so I call her by that name a few times, so just ignore that.
i think the best would be to get a tutor,that way you can learn the right way of pronoucing the words correctly.i would love to learn japanese,but i also don't want to go up to a person and something in japanese and missay it either.i don't know of any programs that could help you though,sorry.
I'm posting the links for the files. If it is against the rules, please remove. Lesson 1: Pronouns Lesson 2: Particles Lesson 3: Copula Lesson 4: Verbs and True Adjectives Open them with WordPad, not Microsoft Word (or whatever you might use). I made these for my friend Ngan, so if I mention her name, just ignore it.
learn hiragana first. Its part of the basics and it would make learning katakana easier. Hiragana is a lot more important if you want to learn the language fully as well.
