I have a few questions...
could anyone tell me what 'kodou' means?

and coul anyone tell me what 'goman' means?

I to agree it's hard to learn on your own. Especially with a heavy work schedule. No time to get to school by 5PM to make the classes. Its best to find not only a class within your time schedule or find a tutor. But the most important, if you don't speak the language meaning consistent communication its hard to retain. Tried the whole talk to the mom thing and that is hard. Since she tends to speak in Japanese and then mostly in English.

A trip to Japan would fix everyones ills and force to learn the language.

And Chou per the Japanese Dictionary - kodou - Beat(drum, heart) or koudou - (behavior, action) and goman? Or did you mean gouman - (insolent, arrogant). Or gomen (nasai) - (I am sorry,excuse me).

Hope that helps

Rounin

I really want to study japanology but before I go to university I'd like to know a bit about the language so that when I have my first class I would'nt be like Can someone please tell what's better: speaking (knowing words and stuff) or writing/reading.. It would be a great help to know what I should start with

I just found out that there is a whole thread about my question so just consider the question being answered :p

But I have another question, my parents will buy me a Japanese/German dictionary, but that's a whole month away (I convinced them to buy it for me when I finish this schoolyear) and so I have no way of learning words so does anyone have any sites where you can learn some Japanese words, like vocabulary??

hi, i need somebody or anybody to teach me japanese....or send me something to start from.... i am willing to learn how to speak and write japanese... im planning to fly there years from now...please....
_________________

suave_yamapi kathybee
this is one of the first places i started learning from .

http://japanese.about.com/blbegin.htm
_________________

hey you guys are really helpful! ive been reading the thread and i am picking up useful tips that i haven't even thought of before.

To those who are having a hard time in pronounciation, I find it very useful to have a study partner, even if that person is just a beginner such as yourself. You both can practice speaking with each other. Or you can also watch a lot of j-doramas (seriously!) and try to mimic their accents when you speak.

Teaching yourself Japanese is indeed tough, and you really need the drive to get through it. I've been trying to learn the language for almost a year now (rather inconsistently), but my progress has been slow since I've always put it off few too many times because of school. But now its summer, I find it hard to get back on track Although I already know kana, I still need to work on reading the characters proficiently without having to pronounce each syllable to myself first. To do this, I've been trying to work on the Japanese for Busy People I text (kana version). You can buy and read the specs of this book at amazon.com. I've also tried the Pimsleur method, and so far it's been a big help on learning and remembering useful daily expressions, a handful of vocabulary words, and most importantly the pronunciation. On my spare time I sometimes watch jdramas and listen to jmusic quite frequently. Daily exposure to the language is a must!

My school doesn't offer any Japanese courses, and there aren't many Japanese people in my city. Although I would love to make Japanese friends, I have yet to have an opportunity to cross paths with one. I wanted to take part of a study abroad program in Japan, but its too much of a strain on my bank account. However, I do plan to go there once I start working after college. Judging from my current pace of single-handedly learning the language, I'm not sure how much I can hold up. I'm also not sure if this is just a temporary obsession that has so far lasted for a year. Reading this thread reawakened my passion, encouraging me to go on regardless. Thanks, guys

Hey everyone. I will be taking Japanese still fall. I don't have any previous knowledge of the language, so I was wondering if I should start to learn now before class starts or should I wait. My concern is that I will start to learn and when school starts get confussed on the teachers method of teaching.

a-nesuto wrote:

suave_yamapi kathybee this is one of the first places i started learning from . http://japanese.about.com/blbegin.htm

interesting, checked out the hiragana lessons from that site...

hi! der i'm new in this forum...well i really lyk to learn japanese co'z i really love the boy band arashi i like der song (well actually the sound of der song only) and everything but i would really like to understand everything on der song ..so could anyone help me in finding a site that could teach me to learn japanese.....??the site yesjapan didn't work for me co'z ders a payment and i'm not into learning japanese online with payment co'z next summer my parents will enroll me to a japanese class to learn japanese but it is next summer so i'll wait for several months co'z summer just ended hir......so pls help me tnx a lot...

try the link i posted above. its a great site
_________________

yea it's a great site i'm checking it out ryt now ..but how will you know the ryt pronouncement of dat word...??

go to the audio file page.
the sound files there can help your pronunciation.
_________________

tnx.!

a-nesuto, i like your avatar! it's so cute

sankyu, i like yours too
_________________

im taking japanese course in college, so far it isn't going very well b/c i hardly use it outside of the classroom and too lazy to study it. im taking the next level next semester... hopefully i'll hit the book in the summer and do better next year.

[quote="a-nesuto"]go to the audio file page.
the sound files there can help your pronunciation.[/quote]

thanks.

hi.
i would lyk to study japanese in a group..
so is anyone interested in a group study?? ....
well we will just study..
as a group in ym....
we will make up a conference or something
co'z i think it will be much more easier to study japanese
as a group so we could share some of the japanese words that we know
pls think it over co'z i'm looking forward in stdyng wit u guys...






[/url]