can some one help me with Japanese?

[Nick]

my Japaneses teacher sucks at teaching and i really want to be able to speak Japanese some day

[Sai]

why does your teacher suck?

[Max]

what do you know and what don't you understand?
i can't just randomly start explaining things :P

[Nick]

umm... she just describes things and when we ask, she moves on the the next lesson. We have already asked her too go over MANY things and she just says and i quote "O! You will get it dont worry, you get it..." I DON'T FUCKING GET IT!!!
i know how to umm say hello and a few swears... ooh and i can count to 10 well not objects just general counting....

[Sukerkin]

How long have you been taking lessons, N Sama.

Regardless of whether they're part of a school curriculum or not, a vital additional thing to consider is how much work do you do outside of the lessons to absorb what you've been shown.

You'll find that things stick with greater persistence to your memory in direct proportion to the effort you exert outside of lessons. That is particularly so with something as complex and 'different' as Japanese. I have likened it before now to an onion - the more layers you unpeel, the more there are revealed :D.

[Nick]

when i first started before i got lost cuz of the teacher i spent a hour a day outside of class on it

[Nick]

and for about 3 quarters

[Sukerkin]

It's a good idea to do something like that. As little as half an hour a day chipping away at something that puzzles you will make a remarkable difference.

I'd recommend something like either getting a DS with "My Japanese Coach" or downloading and buying a program like Transparent Language's BYKI programme http://www.shoptransparent.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Actio....

Both are excellent for broadening your vocabulary and grinding in the basics.

[Max]

well, counters are the hardest part with Japanese in my opinion, there are so many, and so many variations... it's almost scary, hehe.
alright, you can try starting at this site, "www.guidetojapanese.org" <-- that site is basically just grammar.
do you know hiragana and katakana? if not i suggest you to learn that before moving onto grammar.
you can learn hiragana, katakana and kanji at this site: "www.japanese.about.com"
and.. i use this site as a dictionary "www.jdic.com", might come in handy.
It's good as a Japanese to English dictionary but sucks as a English to Japanese dictionary.

[Nick]

i know hiragana pretty good and a little of katakana thank you for the sites max im sure it will be a big help

[Arthur]

One other really good stuff to have on your pc (in my opinion) is Perapera-kun, it's a little plugin for your browser, and when you point at a kanji, or a word or anything in japanese, it instantly gives you a translation (and even more infos for the kanji).That's really helpful, and its the first reason why I got Firefox^^

[Michelle M]

No matter who you have teaching you, I think the most important thing in learning a language is putting in lots of work on your own. Drilling is the worst part, but it can really help. Especially written exercises since it forces you to spend more time on each word and interact with it physically. (I hope that makes sense.) You should definitely make sure you know your kana. If you don't then you should probably drill by writing words that you know over and over in the proper kana. I think that helps you learn better than just writing the characters on their own. Also, I think kana is great to know because then you can start learning more from reading instead of just listening. I know, there is stuff available in romanji but I'm sure most stuff is in the native alphabets.

Software is also good because it's interactive and different from books and in-class study. Variety in your study methods is good. There's lots of free software online if you don't want to buy. If you have money though, Rosetta Stone is good. Be warned, it is very hard because it doesn't explain anything. But I finish my lessons with that program feeling amazed at how much I've been able to figure out. It's really good for learning, but expensive.

For grammar, the book "Japanese the Manga Way" is really great in my opinion. It's very thorough with the grammar and not so much with the vocabulary, though. So I think it's best to read little bits at a time or you won't really understand what they mean until you hear some examples in real life.

Um, that was a lot. I hope you find something helpful in this post!=^_^=

[Sukerkin]

Excellent advice, Michelle.

It is reckoned that memory retention for something that you write down is in the order of a thousand times stronger than something that you hear or read.