seville009

I was thinking about maybe incorporating a review section for products that users can use to assist with their language education. It could be a comprehensive list of free courses as well as purchased courses, DVDs, books and audio. I'm not sure what would work better but here are some ideas. At first I thought that every language section could have their own product review section. Then I thought that maybe there could be just one section for products organized by language. I'm not sure what would flow better for this forum or if this is even possible. Well there's my idea! Thanks by the way for this forum because it is awesome!

I understand  what you mean when you talk about paying as being a motivation. If you paid for it then you are more likely to follow through. Something doesn't seem to have as much value when it's free. I went ahead and purchased some books that totaled around $30. I'll let you guys know how they work out!

Okay so over the past couple of hours I have been scouring the web looking for different language courses and the cost of them. Rosetta Stone as everyone knows is somewhat expensive for a lot of people. I understand that not many people want to spend that much on a language course but Rosetta Stone gives you a lot of value for your money and that is how they justify their price. Yet still I would not spend that much money へ へ. And I wouldn't do so because there are so many different websites where you can learn for free. Just go through the forum and you will find them. I suggest you look at every single one you can until you find something that works for.

Now I have no doubt that you can learn a good foundation for Japanese from any of these different sites or courses but if you were going to pay your hard earned money to learn a new language. How would you determine the value a course will give you? What would you look for from a course? What should you look out for that should raise red flags and make you put it back immediately? How important is a guarantee?

Finally, when is $695 US worth spending on a language course? I'm looking at you Pimsleur!

http://www.pimsleur.com/Learn-Japanese#cd

Or a $335 for a download of the same

http://www.pimsleur.com/Learn-Japanese#mp3

I'm sure that it is a wonderful course but how do they justify it costing so damn much?

Growing a kid multilingual is a good motivation, but it seems a hard one too. How do you plan to do it, speak the three languages around her?  :wacky: Kids are really sharp, possibly she will make it. 

Yeah! That is how I grew up bilingual so I'm hoping to do the same with three languages. I won't have mastered Japanese by the time she starts speaking so as she gets older we will start to learn together. Also, my wife desperately wants to learn Japanese but never has any time to sit down and study. I figure if both I and my daughter learn and speak Japanese then my wife can start to pick it up.

I don't know much about those particular rap bands, but yet, there is "japanese rap", though I think they use the term "hip hop" more. 

This group "Rip Slyme" is in that genre, I think.  I don't know anything more specific than that.

RIP SLYME - Super shooter

Thanks for the suggestion! I dug it a bit with the simple Drum N Bass electric music and what sounded like rap over it. I'm definitely gonna listen to more of their stuff.

I was hoping to find something along these lines though

!!!!!NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW!!!!!

I greatly enjoy the Japanese take on other cultures. Lowriders for instance. Over here in America people drop their cars and ride real low. But in Japan they drop the entire vehicle to the ground. Its as if they they thrive on pushing boundaries and I love it!

Question:

Are there Japanese rappers or rap groups? I myself am heavily into bass heavy Southern rap like Killer Mike, T.I., Trick Daddy, and a few others. I may not be looking in the right place but I couldn't find anything online. I like rock too. Mostly I enjoy heavier sounds and I would love to experience something from Japan. I think it could take a while before I can get used to the pop music.

Thanks! I don't really have much time in my day to learn but I will be putting a great deal of effort into learning Japanese. It is very important to me that my daughter grows up tri-lingual (English, Spanish, Japanese). Also I know that I won't have mastered Japanese (can I say にほんご here?) but what I don't know I can learn together with my daughter! Thank again and we shall see you on the Japanese subs!

こんいちは and welcome!!

I can't wait to see what you can bring to the forum for all of us! I've been to a few forums and they are full of Japanese speakers but they don't have and real experience in Japan and I think that is important! This a great forum for folks like us. Again welcome!

I am American I grew up speaking English first but by the time I was 4 or 5 I started to repeat the Spanish that was spoken around me. My grandparents especially taught me small amounts of Spanish by speaking to me but I also picked up a lot from watching Sabado Gingante on TV with them on Saturday nights. The biggest influence on my ability to speak Spanish though came directly from my grandfather cursing at me in Spanish. It was really funny because it was never in a hurtful manner, he spoke to me like I was one of his best friends. I eventually began to repeat what he told me back to him and only him. I remember when my uncle almost beat the ever loving crap out of me the firs time he heard me speak like that to my grandfather. After that Spanish became very easy and even natural for me to speak.

Then when I was in 7th grade I had the most amazing language teacher. Instead of teaching us one language over the course of a semester, she systematically went through 8 different languages. Of course I don't remember any of it but it was fun to know that we learned little known languages (at least in the states). I remember than Swahili and Japanese were my favorites. Now I am fully intrigued by the Japanese culture so Japanese is what I am learning now. I love the fact that my daughter is going to grow up trilingual.

WOW!!! I never thought about this! This is such a wonderful idea! I can see myself now cooking up some Japanese recipe that I found online in a steamy kitchen, Fist of the North Star playing on the television, chewing on some interesting Japanese snack I bought online, all the while I'm getting drunk off of sake and orange juice......yeah I can see it now.

For real though, this is an awesome idea. I think I'm going to have to think of some other everyday activities that I can turn into great immersion experiences. I'll let you guys know what I come up with. Thank you so much for the idea!

I'd like to suggest something else. If you were to ask you how you learned your first language, how would you respond? If you were like me, you started speaking and building a vocabulary first. In fact, if you grew up in a bilingual home like me, you spoke in two different languages before you ever learned how to write in one. Now I know that this isn't for everyone but so far this is working alright for me with Japanese. I memorized the Hiragana syllabary first but now I find myself trying to read it having no idea what I am saying. So what I decided to do is go back to learning how to speak first, just practicing my Hiragana and Katakana for a while, then I will go back and learn how to turn my spoken words into text.

I definitely agree that you should learn Hiragana and Katakana early. I also think that you should focus on speaking first then learning how to write it down. I know that this won't work for everyone but so far I think that this is working best for me. Maybe give it a shot and tell us what you think!

For sure! I would suggest setting up an account online first then going over the courses and adding some to your list. That way, when you do check it out on your mobile, they will automatically sync for you. Well I know they auto-sync for iOs but I can't say for Android. Be sure to follow me too! My screen name there is the same as here.

I have always been intrigued by the Japanese culture, not only the language but the entire culture. And when I found out that the language has differences for when your being more respectful or casual instead of feminine and masculine, I got more excited. English was my first language and I grew up speaking Spanish with my grandparents so it seemed easier. Also, the pronunciations of the letters are the same as in Spanish for the most part. For instance, "KA" could be pronounced as "kay", "kuh", or "kaa" in English. But in Japanese and Spanish, "KA" is pronounced "kaa" and that's it. This makes things so much easier.

Okay, so I mentioned how much easier it would be for me, and I mentioned that I have always been intrigued by the culture. But the number one reason I wanted to learn Japanese is because I have a goal to take my daughter there to experience the culture and how fun life can be. Her middle name is even Sayuri (god I hope that wasn't a mistake  :speechless:). And now I just realized that I haven't installed a Japanese keyboard on this computer yet! Off to do that now!

I've seen it in use but I haven't tried used it. In my opinion, and that's all it is, I think Rosetta Stone is great with certain languages like Spanish and French. But with Japanese, the structure seems different and easier to learn by learning the syllabaries (?) first. To each their own but I'm not sure that Rosetta Stone would work best for me to learn Japanese. Now that I think about it, I should probably give it an honest effort first before  get too critical about it.   

I never thought about that! I have Hiragana memorized and a little Katakana and when I see Japanese writing, sometimes I don't recognize some of the "letters". And I know that they aren't Kanji. It's kinda of like the lower case letter a in English. The font we see typed out on the computer is not how we write it out. I do have to say that I think other courses would be good to learn conversational Japanese but Memrise is good to learn vocabulary and basic introduction Japanese. Memrise also allows users to create their own courses. It isn't for everyone, but it is worth taking a look at for us noobs.

I got online to check out www.memrise.com because I wanted to learn Japanese. It turns out that they have a great app for iOs! It does require registering a free account but once you download it (I think that it is still free) you can choose from courses through the app or go online, choose what course you want, and then sync it to your device. So far I think it runs awesome and my favorite feature is the ability to download courses for when you aren't connected to a network. Did I mention that there are more courses other than just Japanese? You're gonna be surprised when you see what kind of courses you can take. Check it out and let me know what you all think!

Hello everyone! I've been wanting to learn Japanese for too long now and I figured a forum would be the best place for me to do it since I don't have all the time in the world. I really would like to dedicate some time to learning. I can't wait to see what I'm going to find here and I hope that after some time I can help others as well. Thank you and have a great day!