Introduction to Learning Japanese

Are You Looking For Information on How to Speak, Read and Write Japanese?

You have come to the right place!

Let me tell you about myself. My name is John Teo. 32 years old this year. And I've been learning Japanese for the past 5 years. I'm married to my Japanese wife and have a lovely 2 year old son and more to come!

Learning Japanese is not an easy task if you want to become fluent in it. It takes constant reading, writing and speaking.

It's even harder to pick up the language when you're back in your own home country. Because you don't have a real Japanese person to interact with. But I have found my own ways to pick up the language quickly and successfully even while in my own home country! And I'm going to teach you right here all in this website!

The "tools" that you need are

1. Facebook!

2. An excellent easy to use Online Japanese dictionary - http://jisho.org/  

3. And your Superb Guide below! And it's Free!

I'll go through these 3 "tools" to help you get started.

Facebook

Who doesn't use Facebook these days? There are over 1 billion people using Facebook from all over the world! That is a lot of people! So what do you do with it then? Go search for Japanese people online and chat with them! Duh! But of course you might be thinking, how do I search for them? Some might not know the power of Facebook's search engine. It's very very very powerful.
Before you go test this, you need to make sure your language setting in Facebook is set to English (US). Then you can start the search by typing a sentence or phrases like these examples shown below.

"Women from Japan"  You get these results

Or even more specific results like "Women from Hokkaido Japan age 25"   :p

I've talked to countless Japanese people in the past. From young teenagers, to housewife, to young working adult male and female. I also chatted with a small time Japanese gangster. LOL! Can you imagine that? Friendly Japanese people all over Facebook, no matter what type of profession they are in. But of course you must understand that not everyone will want to chat with you. The trick is to find the same interest! See this screenshot below! Okay! Okay!, I know you get it. But seriously, I really love Facebook's search Engine! IT'S SO POWERFUL!

Once you found a group of Japanese people in your search results. Start messaging them in Japanese! Even in romanji works! Tell them that you're learning Japanese and wish to find someone to have a conversation with. They'll be amaze to learn that someone from a different country wishes to learn their language. But of course not all Japanese people will respond. Just keep yourself honest and truthful. Someone will eventually want to talk with you.

Online Japanese dictionary - http://jisho.org/ 

The next tool you'll need is an online dictionary. This is essential when comes to finding the words that you can't describe or don't understand what your chat partner is telling you. You need it while chatting with them. Jisho.org provides a straight forward way to get your answers

JapanesePod101.com

You cannot missed this 3rd and very important tool! It's a high speed rush to boost your level of Japanese proficiency. Let me tell you what they have in there.

First and foremost it's free! Test run their product and see what they offer to your liking or not. But I can guarantee you that this is the best resource learning site for Japanese learners! See what they offer below.

Learn Japanese With Fun and Effective Audio and Video Lessons

Knowledgeable and Energetic Hosts

Kanji, Vocabulary and JLPT Learning Tools

Detailed PDF Lesson Notes

Lively Community Forum and Lesson Discussion

Learn on-the-go!

Study anywhere!

Very effective way to learn Japanese, because you're not using textbooks. Textbooks bored the hell out of me. I'll fall and sleep.

There are 300,000,000 lessons delivered and still counting let's all join JapanesePod101.com today!

Conclusion

You'll need to start off with chatting or messaging first because learning to read is the starting method to start learning to write and speaking. When you're able to read Japanese or rather recognize the words, you quickly familiarized yourself by speaking aloud to yourself.

Reading is mostly text based a while speaking means you have to form your own sentence and say it out. You'll have fun when you make a mistake or say something silly with the Japanese people. They'll have fun too when they listen to your conversation. Some Japanese will also be interested to learn English from you. This keeps the conversation interesting and fun.

For a beginner, don't bother too much about writing in the beginning. You need to brush up on your reading and speaking skills first. If you want to learn how to write, I strongly suggest you attend a school, a teacher will be able to assess and correct your mistakes. Writing an essay in Japanese essentially improves your writing and memorizing the hiragana, kataka and kanji.

Or even better is to go to Japan and study in a private school and learn the way of life there. This will improve your writing skills and prepare you for work life in Japan. I'm sure you're not ready for that yet. But start off with reading and recognizing Japanese words.

Beginning of a Beautiful Journey

Once you have mastered the basics of speaking, reading and writing Japanese. You can go find your beautiful wife or cute/handsome husband in Japan. Getting a boyfriend or girlfriend another "beat yourself up and remember it" way to learn Japanese. Or just simply go there and makes loads of Japanese friends and learn their way of life. Watch TV dramas and variety shows to improve and catch new vocabularies.

Go there and start a short trip or plan for a long trip where you can study Japanese in a private school and work part time job to offset daily expenses.

You know, when you finally found someone you love in Japan, you can slowly settle down there or bring her back home just like what my room mate did when we were there in Japan for the 2 years. He met his sweet heart while teaching English in a private school in Japan.

So that's it. You should be set and ready to pick up Japanese at lightning speed! Best of luck in finding a Japanese spouse!