Any good books for learning Japanese?

Question

Half my family is japanese and I used to speak it well when I was younger. Ever since I moved in with my dad(who isn't japanese) I gradually lost touch with my language skills. I find it more difficult to read, write, and formulate sentences in japanese. I can only understand by ear now. Is rosetta stone good? I prefer to buy a good book, since rosetta stone is pretty expensive. Do you know any good books?

Answer 1

Hi, Denzel. I recommend using the Genki series to brush up on your Japanese. The Genki I & II books contains a wide variety of Japanese to help you read an understanding up to just before intermediate Japanese. There are also other books in the series which focus on teaching Kanji through mnemonics which many people find helpful.



Books will not be the only way you will improve on your Japanese, though. Watch TV in Japanese, listen to Japanese music, and otherwise surround yourself in the language as much as possible. You must also try to speak it whenever possible, even if it's with yourself. Having a Japanese friend or pen pal can help.

Answer 2

Rosetta Stone is pretty basic.



If you once had good skills (especially after the age of seven), you can probably recover them. Watch stuff that you like, like anime or classic Japanese movies (be aware the language may be old-fashioned, especially in samurai dramas). Go on-line and find articles aimed at elementary school students (and be prepared to sweat over them, LOL!). Try to find a native Japanese speaker to talk with (can you talk to the other half of the family by LINE chat or something?), and failing that, make conversations with yourself -- use your hands as puppets, and talk about life and things.



If you can find a channel with news for the deaf, that would be ideal. The announcers speak more slowly, there are often subtitles in Japanese with hiragana over the kanji, and the topics are all current events.



You might also check out TED talks -- I know there are many translated into Japanese so you can get reading practice by reading the transcripts, and there might be some Japanese TED talks out there.

Answer 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08uhRgBmhCE

Thank you.