wikki nihongo

[kotatsuneko]

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese

[FG Lurker]

Cool link. Still a bit thin once you get past the kana stage though. Maybe I'll do some writing over the holidays.

It's all licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Ian

[Charles]

Cool link.

No it isn't.

I've seen a bazillion pages like this. You should never study instructional material written by a beginner.

[FG Lurker]

Cool link.

No it isn't.

I've seen a bazillion pages like this. You should never study instructional material written by a beginner.

Do you know what it is Charles? Do you know what a Wiki is?

The material there so far is not bad. It's not perfect, but it's no worse than any of the dozens of basic books available.

[Andocrates]

[omae mona]

[Mels]

I had taking Japanese in high school (Yokota AFB in Japan) and college.

I did speak it fluently when I was 10, but while in college, my Japanese professor had to correct me on many occassions. He use to say that my Japanese contained to much Tokyo slang. Well, sure, my relatives are from Tokyo.

I really got the grasp of honorific Japanese when I worked as an expat for a Japanese company. The daily interaction with my colleagues and clients helped me tremendously.

I would suggest taking a formal Japanese class for the beginner. But, if you have no access to classes, perhaps you could look as some Japanese language curriculums from other colleges or univeristies to find out what books they use...you can typically buy them from the school, second hand book store or internet.

Good luck and have a great time. Since I have never looked into learning Japanese on the internet, I have no input on it.

[Andocrates]

I am sure people here have excellent facility in using Japanese on a daily basis, but explaining it correctly is a whole different ballpark. I prefer to leave it to professionals. In fact, my teacher regularly has to undo the damage resulting from absorbing Mrs. Omae Mona's speech patterns... and she's a native speaker.

If it was me I'd trust the native speaker above the "professional" Japanese teacher.

[jim katta]

I'm a big wikipedia fan and I didn't know about this link. very cool, thanks!

[Charles]

I am sure people here have excellent facility in using Japanese on a daily basis, but explaining it correctly is a whole different ballpark. I prefer to leave it to professionals. In fact, my teacher regularly has to undo the damage resulting from absorbing Mrs. Omae Mona's speech patterns... and she's a native speaker.

If it was me I'd trust the native speaker above the "professional" Japanese teacher.

That's great advice if you want to sound like a woman, wa yo ne?

[Socratesabroad]

If it was me I'd trust the native speaker above the "professional" Japanese teacher.

Just my two mao worth, but I'd beg to disagree. Someone being a native speaker doesn't necessarily mean that they speak/write correctly. This holds true in Japan as it does in many other countries.

A good example is the poor linguistic ability of Japanese college students (not that native English, Spanish, etc. speakers fare any better):
http://blog.livedoor.jp/wnmtohoku/archives/9743304.html
[the link to the 24 Nov 04 Yahoo story seems to be dead, but feel free to try]
http://stohira.jugem.jp/?eid=176

Possibly by subconscious choice or just by chance, all of my Japanese and Chinese tutors have been women in their late 40s-50s who were well versed in their native language/literature. Sure, they won't teach me decent pick-up lines or fight-inducing insults, but I figure I can learn that stuff on my own...

[Andocrates]

Possibly by subconscious choice or just by chance, all of my Japanese and Chinese tutors have been women in their late 40s-50s

You sly dog you.

Everyone learns differently. I can't stand that bogus artificially structured Japanese because there is never a break into normal spontaneous Japanese. You never "get it."

There should be a point where your Japanese starts multiplying on it's own and that happens by understanding the normal paths that speakers use.

[Steve Bildermann]

[Andocrates]

[Andocrates]

[omae mona]

If it was me I'd trust the native speaker above the "professional" Japanese teacher.

You didn't think I hired a gaijin to teach me Japanese in Tokyo, did you? If so, you'd have a good point!

[Andocrates]

If it was me I'd trust the native speaker above the "professional" Japanese teacher.

You didn't think I hired a gaijin to teach me Japanese in Tokyo, did you? If so, you'd have a good point!

Actually I've always thought Gaijins would make the best teachers, Because they know all the traps. But of course you're right - you have both influences so it's all good.

[FG Lurker]

That reminded me of a post a Japanese guy wrote on a message board.

I used to know a guy here who spoke in the weirdest way: His vocabulary was often very harsh Kawachi-ben (extra points to anyone not from Osaka who knows Kawachi-ben!), but he'd picked up intonation and some bits of sentence structure from his wife. His wife was an extremely feminine Japanese. The combination was beyond weird.

[kotatsuneko]

bit too tired to type why i posted the wiki site, but for now..

>puts on flame proof happi coat>

http://www.kanachart.com/

[Charles]

>puts on flame proof happi coat>

http://www.kanachart.com/

Hey, if you can't master kana in a few hours with flash cards, a website isn't going to help.