Japanese language study group. Starting July 19.

[June]

I have some books in .pdf (including Genki), if you don't care about copyrights

[HelloGoodbye]

I signed up for classes at freshman orientation today at the college I'm going to in the fall and they only had Intermediate and Advanced Japanese.  There goes my plan  .  Hopefully they will offer a basic course I can take in the Spring. 

[Princess-Sparkles]

Princess-Sparkles

princessluna11706
Your SOOOOO lucky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so jealous of you, but at the same time I'm very happy for you..

If anyone is interested, I'm by no means fluent but I can speak/read pretty decent Japanese (lived in Japan for 3 years, hubby is Japanese) and I'd be happy to help anyone who wants to learn, and it would also be good for me to keep my skills sharp <3  I love the Japanese language!

That would be awesome!! I'm very jealous, Japan is my favourite country by far.  ^_^

Aww thanks guys PM me and we can work something out ^__^

I'll pm you soon.  ^__^

Looks like there's plenty of interest, that's awesome.

[Starflashbaby]

sounds great I'm looking forward to your PMs. Princess-Sparkles
so if we do have this study group how would we work it.
Skype and PMs or both.

If anyone has a smart phone; from the app store there is an app called Human Japanese Lite from BRAK SOFTWARE.
there is a free one for beginners I think...
the next one is $9.99
the other free one is for Intermediate
then there is Intermediate for $9.99

I'm using this app to learn how to write in Japanese. I already memorized 15 hiragana characters so far.

[Princess-Sparkles]

sounds great I'm looking forward to your PMs. Princess-Sparkles
so if we do have this study group how would we work it.
Skype and PMs or both.

If anyone has a smart phone; from the app store there is an app called Human Japanese Lite from BRAK SOFTWARE.
there is a free one for beginners I think...
the next one is $9.99
the other free one is for Intermediate
then there is Intermediate for $9.99

I'm using this app to learn how to write in Japanese. I already memorized 15 hiragana characters so far.

PM sent! ^_^
We can also write on here too. Skype might be a bit hard for me due to the time difference.

[Starflashbaby]

true and then there might be an extra charge on the phone depending on where you live. I sent you a pm before I read this.

[pony_magick]

With Skype, maybe would could group by similar time zones? And then do the rest here? Unless there's a problem with how to pronounce something? I know that me and Princess Sparkles could skype each other as there's only a few hrs time difference...
Plus if we (the whole group) do it on weekends then maybe would could try and organise a time that would suit most to go over things like once a month or something? Just putting ideas out there. I know it's very hard to try and learn a language or anything by yourself.

[Princess-Sparkles]

With Skype, maybe would could group by similar time zones? And then do the rest here? Unless there's a problem with how to pronounce something? I know that me and Princess Sparkles could skype each other as there's only a few hrs time difference...
Plus if we (the whole group) do it on weekends then maybe would could try and organise a time that would suit most to go over things like once a month or something? Just putting ideas out there. I know it's very hard to try and learn a language or anything by yourself.

Those are great ideas Pony Magick. Just warning everyone though, I've never used Skype before, So the first time could be interesting.  does skype cost anything?

[pony_magick]

Never have I so don't worry. I think it's free? Don't quote me though

[princessluna11706]

Never have I so don't worry. I think it's free? Don't quote me though

Yep, Skype is free <3

[tikibirds]

Yup - Skype is free. The first time I used it was a few weeks ago to have an interview (at 3AM) with an English conversation school in Japan.

[June]

Skype is a great idea! Weekends are probably the best time to that.
My time zone is CET (1 hour ahead of UK), so Europe and US should be fine for me

[pony_magick]

Maybe we could get an idea of who lives where for time zone differences. I just had a quick look and it seems that early morning or late night seem to work for most people (checking agaist Europe, USA, Australia and NZ). If we decide to go ahead with this route are people comfortable talking and making mistakes if front of people? Also we might need to decide where we're going to start and what materials we're going to use (text books or something else?).

I've now had 2 terms of Japanese evening classes but I still consider myself a beginner, do we have others at different levels? If you're slightly experienced would you mind helping out in a sort of teacher/tutor role?

[Sumire]

I am not a very good Japanese student. I studied for a year as an exchange student in university and then I lived in Japan, teaching English, for five years. I only managed to pass Level 3 on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (this was before it got restructured). 

When I lived in Japan, I could ride the train, order food, shop for the latest single from the band I followed, ask where to buy tickets to their next live, figure out TV schedules, talk about TV shows with my friends and read enough of the food labels to cook meals. I could probably get back into the hang of all of that (after some stumbling) if I went back.

On the other hand if I wanted to know if the eggs I wanted to buy were cage-free I ended up asking the store clerk, "Could these chickens take a walk?" I never managed keigo beyond a few words. I had to look up kanji I wanted to write on my keitai (but then so did my Japanese friends). I couldn't sit down and read a newspaper without a dictionary (and a few hours set aside -- thus I never read the articles in the newspaper) and I only got the basics of news programs.

I'm not sure if I would be of any help to anybody studying Japanese but if you have questions about the way the language is spoken in an everyday sort of way, I may be of use. 

For those studying hiragana, my best advice is to play karuta. Back in the day I had a Ranma 1/2 karuta CD (there was a song that began with each character) and my friend and I would hit shuffle on the player and play extremely competitive karuta with little scraps of paper on her dorm room floor. It was such fun and actually a really great way to learn.  Here's an online version that also helps you learn about Osaka -- the very best city in Japan (I am admittedly horribly biased  ): http://www.city.osaka.lg.jp/contents/wdu020/english/homestay/karuta.html

[tikibirds]

I have a book on Kanji which is supposed to be what one would learn in 1 and 2nd grade in Japan. I could scan it in but not sure it would help anyone.