How did you folks/translators learn your japanese

I plan on going back to college, (had a bit of a break down the last time I was there) and I want to get a degree for computer programing, and I would also like to become multi-lingual so I can be a translator. I want to learn japanese but the college doesn't teach it. I downloaded rosetta stone and the japanese pack for it, but I was wondering if anyone else learned it from this or how they learned it. I would like to help translate here if I can ever learn this difficult looking language. I also would like to to tyoko one day and if I can get a job that will allow something like it I would like to get a duel citizenship, one in the stats (born and still here) and on for japan.

https://www.fakku.net/viewtopic.php?t=1958 <- Please use the forum's search tool, I'll ask an admin politely next time I see one on IRC to sticky this topic, so I can link to it easier.

Learning Japanese is hard, and if you want to help tl with us, you'll need a lot of experience. Good luck to you for learning the language. PM me if you need any help around the forums, I'm crap at Japanese though.

Ah, I never learned it myself but my older sibling got help with Japanese classes by talking to our grandpa on our mother's side. Grandpa Tomatsu!

Conversational language is probably what's most important, so what better way to practice that than conversing with Japanese relatives? Granted, not all of you have Japanese relatives, but surely you know somebody fluent?

well.. i guess i learned while watching too muuch anime..

I've once taken a course on basic Japanese language, and for self-study, I usually play Video games with the Original Japanese Language (Finished playing Kingdom Hearts 2 in Japanese) with a dictionary at my side. But, still not good enough to speak Japanese.

A lot of people have asked me where I learnt my Japanese, and I suppose a lot of you want to know as well, so here goes.

I suppose I'm cheating a little because my mothertongue is Chinese, therefore I know at least twice as much kanji than the average Japanese person (though, sometimes they use weird ones I've never seen before or in a completely different way with a different meaning). Initially, I wanted to take a course in Japanese back at home in HK (and I assure you, it's the best way to go), but I'm only in HK for the summer, which made it impractical.

So, I self-studied it. I had hiragana memorized in a day, katakana came about two days later. Then I self-studied out of workbooks the courses in HK use, with help from other sources and my friends (since the workbook only provides sample sentences without telling me what they mean). And now, about 9 months later, I'm pretty much fluent and fully literate (although non-Tokyo dialects and old Japanese still pose problems for me, but they do too for native Japanese people anyway).

Whatever you do, do NOT learn your Japanese from reading lots of manga and anime. Trust me, that's one of the worst ways to learn the language. Take a course, spend several years on it, and make sure you keep using it. I can't stress this enough; as with all languages, if you don't use it constantly, you will forget it. This is where anime and manga may be useful. Try reading Japanese articles too, and post in Japanese boards. Converse with others who know Japanese; it really helps if you learn it with a friend as well, so you can both practise.

Why exactly?

It sounds like a very good way to increase the vocabulary to me.

At least in addition to regular study.

But I may be wrong, that's why I'm asking.

I'm sorry if you already answered this question somewhere else.

I agree that watching anime and reading manga will increase your vocabulary, but it will not help you learn the proper way of speaking in Japanese. That's my opinion though. Reading Japanese text helps me memorized Hiragana and Katakana and a few simple Kanji (ie: Forest= 森(mori), Mountain= 山(yama), River= 川(kawa)) Although there are many ways to read kanji, so it may be difficult if you don't have a Kanji Dictionary.

Well, it would make sense that you get a demonstration at pronouncing from watching anime.

I would recommend not expecting to be fluent in Japanese for a couple years. I suppose if you were really determined you could learn the language in a year and half at the minimum. Only prodigies, extremely determined people, or those who are already familiar with language learn it in under a year.
Try taking it step by step. Learning the alphabets is the first. It took me a about a week or two to memorize all of it. But I suppose in my case, I try to learn it casually. Try to have fun with it. www.lrnj.com is how I started. =)

Yeah, I agree with you there, but don't depend on it too much, 'cause the style of pronouncing may differ from one actor to another. I got a habit like saying ite' (it hurts or ouch) and nani (what) from trying to mimic their style of pronouncing.

Well, if you want to end up speaking non-standard Japanese that people will either laugh at or not understand, by all means go ahead and learn from anime and manga. Trust me, I've been on the bad end of this.

As mentioned before, in anime characters may end up using non-standard expressions or strange ways of saying something, and you don't want to get influenced by those, at least, not until you've had a few years of experience with the language and are very comfortable with it to decide if it's feasible. It's not my fault if, because you decided to learn Japanese from watching anime, you end up speaking like a girl, a recluse, a war general, a superhero, a faggot, or a samurai.

While you might think it's a good idea to learn vocabulary from anime/manga, it doesn't work. You end up remembering random words and expressions you will almost never use in daily life. My advice is, do it the standard way and just memorize those kanji lists. You'll be glad you did.

So, in short, manga/anime might be good for reinforcing what you already know, not as a learning medium; but, in all honesty, conversing with someone else and reading/writing frequently is far better for reinforcement than using manga/anime. If you don't believe me and think you'll be fine, by all means go ahead; everyone's different. It's just my 2 cents. =P

Now I understand, you got some good points there.

I haven't thought about it that way.

Your advice might come in handy some day.