Want to learn Japanese? Start here!

[Sakuras]

You're welcome!
I hope it serves you well and you're able to learn a lot.

@(you need an account to see links): No problem!
Learning Hiragana and Katakana is pretty easy. I'd say it shouldn't be much harder than it was to learn hangul for Korean. Kanji is another matter entirely though... That does take time and effort, but it's not as hard as people make it out to be if you go about it the right way. (Pssst: my guide tells you how to go about it the right way. )

Hangul is pretty easy, but it seems like there's a bazillion characters with Japanese. That's what's overwhelming haha.

[Clear]

Hangul is pretty easy, but it seems like there's a bazillion characters with Japanese. That's what's overwhelming haha.

It's really not that much, if you ignore kanji. lmao
You can always just learn Hiragana and come back to katakana (and kanji) later when you feel ready. You can learn Hiragana in like a week if you wanted.

[cloudxcrash]

Wow @(you need an account to see links) , great thread!

The Genki textbooks are, in my opinion, the best. My advice would be learn hiragana and katakana before getting the books. It will help you a lot and avoid unnecessary confusion. Here's an old picture from one of my Genki books, lol.

Please log in to view spoilers.

The best way to learn Japanese is to go to Japan. However, not everyone has that opportunity so if you can't go to Japan, make Japan come to you! Surround yourself with Japanese. Watch Japanese dramas, TV shows (Gaki No Tsukai much recommended!), and listen to Japanese music. Oh and, my Japanese teacher always said that language is a tool. You don't learn how to use a tool unless you actually use it. Find someone you can casually talk to in Japanese. Maybe find a Japanese person that wants to learn English, then s/he can speak English to you and you can speak Japanese to them.

Lastly, here's an easy way to learn/memorize る-verbs (ru-verbs)
(you need an account to see links)
(you need an account to see links)
(you need an account to see links)
(you need an account to see links)

[Clear]

@(you need an account to see links): Yes, I definitely agree. Learning hiragana and katakana should be the absolute first step for anyone and they shouldn't bother picking up a grammar book until they have that down!
Good to have another backer for the genki books though! They seem really popular!! I'd check them out if I wasn't already really satisfied with Tae Kim's guide. But seriously LOL @ THAT PICTURE.

Going to Japan is definitely the best way (although it's not a guarantee - especially if you happen to live in an area with a lot of foreigners and fall into a pattern of mainly speaking with them - in English!). But for sure, if you can't go then do your best to surround yourself with the language and culture. Many people on Lang-8 are more than willing to skype call people they meet, so that's a great place to look.

Those songs are ridiculously catchy......and those videos - well. That was a trip, to say the least. xD
I think it might be hard for some who are just starting out, but if they look up each word and try to follow along then it should prove very helpful!

Thanks for contributing!
I might add some of this to the original post if you don't mind, so people can find them easily. (:

[txtsd]

すごいガイドですね。
So I was baked when I watched those videos, and I had no idea what was going on.
ぜんぜんわかりません。

[firehawk]

I watch some doramas on dramanice.tv they release Japanese raws before subs are out
in case anyone else enjoys watching raws

[OpTic Specs]

My brother would lvoe this haha

[Clear]

Added a new resource to the main post:

☆ Delvin Language.((you need an account to see links))
This is a site I recently stumbled across that had been posted about on another forum I frequent. It works by showing you a clip and then asking you to type what you heard; it will start with extremely short clips for beginners, and get more difficult over time it seems. For more advanced users, it will play an entire sentence and then ask you to fill in the blanks. They allow you to try it out and see how it works. Personally, I find it very interesting and think it'll be a great tool for practicing your listening skills, which many people struggle with. As far as I know, it's free to use but I haven't looked into it too extensively yet.

[thfrozenkite]

Hey, this is pretty useful . I think repetition is the key to learning language; at least in the beginning so your brain can internalize the structure and phrases of the language.