Reddit reviews Japanese from Zero! 1: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals

I am, but i have my high school finals in march and the pre boards are starting this month, so i'm not getting much time to study what i like.

Apart from that i'm starting to learn what forms of verbs mean and how their ending affects the meaning. Like 'ita' means the meaning is related to past tense, and 'tai' means it's about wanting something.

Though i couldn't find any good websites for learning grammar* and don't really wanna spend money on books, even though i've found some good ones.

Anyone know if the Japanese From Zero will take you farther, shorter, or if its comparable? Getting close to finishing book 1 and kinda curious.

There are books.

I actually own this one but I have serious motivational problems. It's a pretty good guide though, holds your hand and is written by a person who is obviously good with people and quite humorous.

It's part of a series though.

I hove to go back to it soon.

So I’m also learning Japanese too and the best method I have found was the Japanese from Zero! series. George is a great teacher and he makes the lessons entertaining as well. He clarifies the lessons and tries to make it as simple as possible.

I was able to start the lessons without the books for the first 5 videos and then eventually got the book on Amazon . It has really helped me so far. Another thing I also use are apps that help me further memorize the hiragana and katakana. I use Learn Japanese!! app on my IPhone and Kana Drill.

Also George has his own website online where you can further help yourself with games, flash cards, etc. I just really like the feeling of having a teacher motivating you to learn instead of practicing on your own. It lessens the feeling of being easily overwhelmed and he helps you on knowing what to learn next.

Either way good luck !

Edit: link

I've never used Japanese for Dummies, so I don't know how far it takes you and how well it allows you to transition to more advanced learning materials. As has already been mentioned, the easiest method is to exhaust all the grammar your current book can teach. The most popular alternatives to JfD are Genki and Japanese from Zero. If you asked anyone who studied Japanese for a while, if they used either book or at least heard about them, they'll most likely say yes. On top of that, it's easy to build up on your knowledge after you finished the textbook. After Genki 1, you can use Genki 2 and after you finished that as well you'll be quite good at Japanese.

If you want to practise natural speaking and writing, I'd recommend to take a look at an app called HelloTalk. It basically lets you chat with native speakers of a language of your choice for free. It might feel like it's still a little too early to try that but when I look back at how I learnt Japanese, I wish that I would have used that app much, much sooner. It's never to early to start speaking/ writing!

So I recently found out about these books called Japanese From Zero. He has an entire Youtube channel dedicated to the books and questions from people. IMO he's been a great teacher and provided tons of free content in addition to the books. There are currently 4 JFZ books. https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Zero-Techniques-Students-Professionals/dp/0976998122/

Japanese From Zero is a wonderful way to learn! Here's the link to the first book if you're interested

https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Zero-Techniques-Students-Professionals/dp/0976998122/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=japanese+from+zero+1&qid=1565528459&s=gateway&sprefix=Japanese+From&sr=8-1

The author George also goes over the entire first 4 books in video lessons which is a great addition to help reinforce what you've learned after reading a chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOcym2c7xnBwU12Flkm5RcLIEhvURQ8TB

You seem to have a good grasp on things. It looks like some of the linked threads follow a similar path, and I'll probably be following a very similar path myself. Nice books, too. I have quite a few myself. I'm not quite sure which of these are good (since they all had great Amazon reviews). I have the following:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014RTDPBA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078G5P6Q4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4789014401/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/478901441X/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4805312270/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1572229195/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GW5KTDK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976998122/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0658014900/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(Although Genki I and the Genki workbook, plus the Kata/Hira quick guide looks good)

Come here /r/LearnJapanese , And there are a quite a few options they have in their sidebar.

Other thing i would recommend is, Japanese from Zero.

Im currently just starting out as well.. Not great at memorizing vocab, But i have hiragana fully memorized.

Edit: your second question... how long... it will be a very long adventure, and depends on where you would like to place yourself. There are a ton of KANJI, which all of multiple meanings depending on context and such. But if ur goal is to be fully fluent... well from what i gather, not to be a downer, it will take many years. (specially if you are not immersed in Japanese). Myself, i want to learn cause i love there Music, Anime, and a few JDrama's. So i would like to be able to understand them, ye know, not just Sub them all the time.

Randomly throwing this out there: Silent Siren and Maneki Kecak have some wonderful music.

​

Edit 2: Tip: Try not to pay to much attention to Romanji. You can get stuck in a root if you do it that way. Japanese from zero will start off with partial romanji but halfway through the book it will be full hiragana.

here is the one i have right now and I'm loving it, just saying this book is addicting

I’ve been using a textbook called “Japanese from Zero” and it’s a dream. It’s so, so easy to learn from and it teaches you how to read, write, and speak in a natural way.

Japanese from Zero! 1: Proven Methods to Learn Japanese with Integrated Workbook and Online Support https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0976998122/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_xbk7Cb5AD6WWV

I really want to learn Japanese. I watch a decent amount of anime, and it'd be great to be able to watch it without subtitles (as in, have it open in a tab while I do other things). I'm also planning a trip to Japan next spring, and knowing the language would definitely be handy. I already know Korean, and I've heard the grammar is similar, so it should be slightly easier to learn, but the writing/reading is going to kill me.

This book seems to have good reviews and appears to be a structured way to learn some basics.

This is one of the first of a few Japanese songs I've listened to and thoroughly enjoyed.

I tried looking up a joke, and the only one that provided an explanation is...

Q: What is Michael Jackson's favorite color?

A: あお！ (Say "ow!" like Michael Jackson style. Means "blue" in Japanese)

Other than Japanese, I'm hoping to make some time to learn French using the duolingo app. I started when I went to France this past year, but I ended up losing my phone and was too busy with studies and travels to continue on. I'd say I'm close to native in Korean and about intermediate in Spanish. I've been working on my Spanish vocabulary using memrise, because that's what usually destroys me when I try to speak it or listen to someone else speak.

Oh, and this is a fun song we listened to in my high school Spanish class.

Better get started