What is the most efficient way to learn/study Japanese?

[Wakannai]

Ahh, well glad that long-abandoned website was still around to copy from.

[myles1260]

Mike that was genius. If I ever feel stuck, I'll come back here and read that.

Thanks for the replies, many were very insightful and I have a better idea of what to look out for as well as what to do now.

[clay]

That was great, Mike. Here are my favorite highlights:

DO NOT skip over the part about pronunciation. Japanese has only 5 vowel sounds. Make sure you aren't using any others.

* Japanese has LOTS of pronouns and avoids using them whenever possible

It is said that fire is both man's best friend and his worst enemy. Kanji can be either your best friend or your worst enemy in studying Japanese. Make friends with them as early as you can.

Wishing they (kanji) didn't exist will NOT make them go away. Being illiterate in a highly literate society is no damned fun. If you are or will be in Japan, life will be much easier if you can read things for yourself rather than relying on a Japanese to hold your hand and wipe your linguistic butt for you.

"wa" and "ga" confuse the hell out of everybody. Don't feel like the Lone Ranger.

--
Considering all the textbooks published in the past ten years, do you still recommend "Learn Japanese: New College Text" over others?

Great advice. Wow

[Yudan Taiteki]

It is said that fire is both man's best friend and his worst enemy. Kanji can be either your best friend or your worst enemy in studying Japanese. Make friends with them as early as you can.

The only thing I disagree with about this statement is that I think it needs a little qualification -- we have a very high frequency of people coming in and saying things like "I started learning kanji but do I need to learn all the readings? Why are some in katakana and some hiragana?"

I would say to make friends with them as early as you can, but make sure you're learning Japanese along with kanji, not just kanji themselves.

[Wakannai]

I think the whole "make friends" thing is about not being intimidated by them.

There was a really nice book, Teach Yourself Japanese Script. It didn't do a whole lot for teaching kanji per se, but it did a wonderful job of making kanji more friendly.

[Mike Cash]

It is said that fire is both man's best friend and his worst enemy. Kanji can be either your best friend or your worst enemy in studying Japanese. Make friends with them as early as you can.

The only thing I disagree with about this statement is that I think it needs a little qualification -- we have a very high frequency of people coming in and saying things like "I started learning kanji but do I need to learn all the readings? Why are some in katakana and some hiragana?"

I would say to make friends with them as early as you can, but make sure you're learning Japanese along with kanji, not just kanji themselves.

I would have to agree with you very strongly. I would only point out that when I wrote that in 1997 the phenomenon of people using the internet as a primary learning source really hadn't kicked in yet and I was writing from a default assumption that people were using textbooks of some sort, which means I assumed they were doing all the regular vocab/grammar/drills/etc that go hand-in-hand with that. That particular bit could stand editing to adjust it to the current situation.

Regarding Clay's question, I haven't actually studied Japanese since right about the same time I wrote that (although I like to think I've picked up a thing or two along the way), so I really have no knowledge of or familiarity with any of the textbooks currently available. Practically anyone else here would be able to answer that question better than I can.

[coco]

Mikeさん、 ベッキーさんのおっしゃるように埋もれてしまうにはもったいないアドバイスなので、
取り敢えずWagawikiに転載させていただきました。差し障りがあればお知らせください。

[Mike Cash]

Mikeさん、 ベッキーさんのおっしゃるように埋もれてしまうにはもったいないアドバイスなので、
取り敢えずWagawikiに転載させていただきました。差し障りがあればお知らせください。

役にたつようなもんだったら全然構いませんよ。

[spin13]

Abandoned or not, there are quite a few good reads on Mike's site.

[ss]

An essay of great worth, very encouraging indeed! Thank you uncle Mike + Spin13さん。