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it sounds like to a native English speaker, or anything like that.
They don't set limits on how much they can learn each day.
If all else fails, try chatting with Japanese people on the Internet.
There are several places you can go:
Ï% Wbs.net
Ï% MSN chat rooms support Japanese text and there are
hundreds of Japanese rooms
You might want to check out the Japanese newsgroups, which all
begin with "japan" or "fj". There are hundreds of them. I'm sure
you'll find several Japanese people to chat with. Many will want
to practice their English with you! Often you will talk in Japanese
to them, and they'll talk English to you. Other times, you both talk
Japanese. It depends on the person! Japanese people are very
forgiving when it comes to Americans speaking their language. In
America, we make fun of people that can't speak English
perfectly. However, Japanese people are not that rude. On the
contrary, they consider English to be "exotic" and "cool". They all
have taken it in high school, but few become proficient enough to
speak it.
Tip 3 - Practice Speaking It
Try to practice throughout the day. I like to speak Japanese all
the time, if only to myself. When I'm looking for my shoes, it's too
boring to say "Where are my shoes?". I'll say it in Japanese
instead, "kutsu wa doko ni aru?" It makes Japanese seem more
like a familiar language. Even though I know the words in that
sentence like the back of my hand, it still helps to be using
"Japanese" that often. After several months, Japanese seems
very "friendly", even though there are still words and sentences I
don't understand.
Without going too deep into the topic of how kids learn, (a very
fascinating topic that I could talk about all day) I will just say one
thing. You want to TRY to be as childlike as possible when
learning a language. Yes, your brain isn't as "absorbent" as it
was at the age of 5, but look at the bright side! You would have a
much harder time if you waited until age 60 to start! Try to
rekindle the love of learning that all kids have.
I started learning Japanese when I was 15. I was decent in
Spanish back in high school, but I don't come from a bilingual
family or anything. I've worked hard to learn Japanese for about 4
years, and I've almost reached my long-term goal of
understanding Japanese. When I first started, I was totally on my
own; I didn't know how to teach myself a language. I made a lot
of mistakes. Sometimes I picked random words out of a
dictionary to learn, etc. I probably wasted a lot of time.
I've concluded it's possible to become proficient at Japanese,
even if you don't start when you're 3. However, you really need to
"beat it" into your head. You have to use it OFTEN, even if only
for a couple minutes. A day shouldn't pass where you don't study
Japanese for at least 5 minutes. Some days you need to spend
more than that.
Tip 4 - It's All in your Mind
The concepts of "hard" and "easy" are all in your mind. For
example, just look at the home PC. Modern computers are pretty
easy to learn how to use nowadays. However, many older people
believe they're "hard". If they could somehow convince
themselves that computers are no big deal, they could learn them
with no problem. Sure enough, the older folks you see on PCs
have overcome that mental block. I know people as young as 45
that are afraid of PCs! The interesting thing is, it's the same PC
that 8 year olds use with ease. It has nothing to do with age
though - it has to do with frame of mind. Little kids no reason to
fear a PC. No one told them computers were "hard" before they
first used one.
Some of you may have heard of a famous music teacher from
Japan by the name of Suzuki. He has groups of 5 and 6 year
olds playing Mozart and other "difficult" works on the violin. Here
is how he does it: While giving the mother violin lessons, he
places a small violin in the child's playpen. The child watches his
mom play her violin, and as soon as he's able, he tries to play his
as well. He develops an ear for music, and before long he's able
to play music without using a sheet (playing by ear). The lessons
only last about an hour, but over a period of years the child
develops quite a skill in playing the violin. The idea is to teach a
child something before they can learn the conventional "wisdom"
that certain things are hard to do.
The -te form
Right now, I am going to teach you a very simple verb form called
the -te form. It's sort of like the gerund in English (the -ing form),
but it's very often quite different. The easiest way to form the -te
form is to remove the final a from the past tense of a verb and
replace it with an e. Eventually, you should get so used to
forming the -te form that you can forget about the past tense as
an intermediary. Don't bother trying to use this verb form yet. I'm
sure you won't get it rignt, but we'll start to introduce ways to use
it in the next lesson.
Let's look at some examples of forming the -te form:
Dictionary form -> Past -> -te form
kau -> katta -> katte (to buy)
kaku -> kaita -> kaite (to write)
isogu -> isoida -> isoide (to hurry)
kasu -> kashita -> kashite (to lend)
utsu -> utta -> utte (to strike)
shinu -> shinda -> shinde (to die)
asobu -> asonda -> asonde (to play)
yomu -> yonda -> yonde (to read)
kiru -> kitta -> kitte (to cut)
taberu -> tabeta -> tabete (to eat)
Irregular:
iku -> itta -> itte(to go) kuru -> kita -> kite
Notice that these irregular verbs are irregular with respect to the
dictionary form, but changing them from the past to the -te form is
completely regular.
Kana
Today, we'll finish up with the lone vowels and learn the last two,
e and o. Remember, this is the last time that I will be providing
.gif images of the kana, so get the Japanese viewing on your
browsers straightened out. Here's e and o:
[H0] and [J0]
For e, first draw the stroke at the top, going from left to right, then
draw the next stroke, which looks almost like a seven. Finally, the
curved third stroke goes from the right of the second stroke to the
bottom right.
For o, start with the short horizontal stroke from left to right.
Follow with the long vertical stroke that crosses through the first.
Next draw the long curved stroke starting at the left, curving
around and finishing at the bottom. In the diagram you can see a
small diagonal line connecting the second and third strokes. You
can write this and use it to combine the second and third strokes
or leave it out and draw them separately, depending on your
preference. Finish with the short curved stroke from left to right.
That's all folks. Be here next time for:
Ï% Particles
Ï% Commonly Heard Phrases
Ï% More Useful Words
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