Learn Japanese

I was learning Japanese alone with My Japanese Coach, but I had left that aside because with the regular classes, cello, and boyfriend, I was feeling overwhelmed having to do this alone.

After years of showing interest for the language, my mom finally agreed to pay for Japanese classes. I started in June and have advanced quickly. I am now finish Basic Japanese III. By September, I will be done with Japanese for Busy People I and will start Book II, Intermediate I. On the side, I study with the Genki book my boyfriend lent me. I turn to it when I’m in need of more detailed explanations, and when I’m ready for a new set of useful kanji.

Kanji are surprisingly not as hard to learn as I thought. They’re interesting and meaningful. Of course, they speed up reading and make things clearer. It was hard going over the sample readings with a wall of kana, no spaces!

I got My Japanese Coach for DS. And I have to say, it’s really good. It starts you off with a diagnostic test, so they can skip you through the things you already know. Though, if you feel the need to go back to them, you can always go do the lesson.

Right now, I’m in the Kana 2 lesson, where I’m learning the second set of hiragana they give you, t and s sets and they become d and z with the dakuten. It really makes it much easier with their interactive games. Also, it enforces your learning of stroke order. I was looking into getting some courses in a university, but I think this will be good enough for now.