Tomorrow I will begin classes for the fall quarter including Japanese 1. While my decision to study Japanese was driven by my interest in Japanese culture, I would be more likely to use whatever I learn to read original language manga (like my issues of Shonen Ace and random tankoubon) than to watch raw anime since I imagine it might take longer for me to keep up with normal-speed conversations than to read at my own pace.
I had previously taken a freshman seminar called “Communicating with Japanese: Introduction to Intercultural Communication” where I met exchange students and a few police detectives as well as some courses in Japanese literature but I hadn’t studied the language itself so I thought I should start at the base level. Using the Rikaichan Firefox extension has helped me wade through posts on Akibablog and other sites so it should help supplement my studies a little bit. I am looking forward to adjusting to different word ordering and verb change schemes than the tongue I studied for the past few years (German) and actually using the English-to-Japanese digest dictionary I bought a while back from Ichiban Kan in San Francisco’s Japantown.
To those who are currently studying or already have a firm grasp on the language: do you have any tips for a beginner aside from studying everyday?
Recent Comments