How to Learn Japanese

I love when someone submits a really detailed review or contribution.
One visitor who is learning Japanese, went into considerable detail on the methods he used and what he found was effective. This kind of insight from someone who has 'done it' is very helpful for those who are just starting out. He includes an outline of what materials he used, links to resources and how he put it all together. If you are learning Japanese and are interested, read his guide to learning Japanese here.

Asian Pacific American Heritage

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. If you have some Asian ancestry and you've been thinking about learning the language of your family or ancestors, maybe now is the time to start! There are lots of free resources to get started learning Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, even Hawaiian!

Listen to a free first lesson of Pimsleur or try the Rosetta Stone demo in any of these languages -Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese or Thai at Language Learning Advisor.com. Or download BYKI Lite for free to get started learning vocabulary or phrases in any of those languages plus many others! - Free BYKI™ Lite download by Transparent Language

Stop thinking about it and start learning now! Or, if you've already started, get motivated and really focus on it - redouble your efforts toward learning your target language and work toward that long-term goal of fluency!

I came across a very interesting blog a few days ago.

All Japanese All the Time.com is most definitely worth checking out, even if you are not learning Japanese. Why? Well, it's a practical application of the 10,000 Sentence Method of learning languages, which you can apply to learning any language.

What's the 10,000 Sentence Method you say? It's based on input. If you have lots of input, and good quality input, you will eventually be able to produce good quality output. This is compared to most classroom learning situations which put pressures on the learner to produce output too quickly, thus instilling bad habits.

You spend your initial learning efforts memorizing good, grammatically correct sentences. Hundreds of them, even thousands. In this way, you are consciously (and unconsciously) learning and recognizing the patterns of the language. Without ever producing your own output, you will eventually recognize that "He goed yesterday" is incorrect because you've never seen it before. You just know that "He went yesterday" is correct because you've seen it 100 times and memorized it.

The only disadvantage I can see offhand is that it will be slow going at first. It will take a lot of work and time before it all begins to gel. It may seem (to some) that you are going nowhere fast. Clearly not a method for everybody, but I'd sure like to test it.

There's more to it, of course, but it's a very interesting idea. Do check out the blog. He gives a great explanation of the hows and whys.