This topic contains 8 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by 
-
Posts
-
Well, aside from making a long title. こんにちは。 It took me a while but I finally got on here. I’m more on Wanikani, having discovered that place first and this site after that.
I got interested in Japan and learning Japanese through anime, having watched many shows since I was a little kid (Just for Kids imports, Studio Ghibli, Fisher Price dubs and others) and then fully getting into nerd culture when I turned 12. Though being a young teenling, I had absolutely no idea how to go about learning a language without professional classes. I bought Rosetta Stone, but I didn’t quite know how to work with the book and CDs so I did the CDs for a bit and they started to collect dust. I occasionally went back to them. Mostly I absorbed romaji through fandoms.
But I’d been interested in learning a second language for a long time, and one day I just decided I’d try for kanji and started looking up the Grade 1 kanji and downloaded a few freeish apps for hiragana and katakana. Though none of it really clicked until a mixture of Tofugu’s mnemonics and the drag ‘n drop game they linked. Suddenly I could read both hiragana and katakana in 2 hours whereas before I could maybe remember up to the さ line on katakana let alone hiragana. That drag ‘n drop game was so helpful.
Studying the first few levels of wanikani was somewhat easy due to trying to learn the kanji before, but I still learned more and faster here than on my own. I’m hoping to at least be able to have something of conversational Japanese within a year when I graduate from college. My family and I are going to Japan as a graduation present. I know that it’s not required to know Japanese if you’re a tourist, but I’d still prefer to make things easier for myself and my family.
Welcome! While it’s true that you don’t need Japanese as a tourist, it most certainly would help. I managed a two-week holiday with just a phrasebook and charades, but if I’d been able to understand Japanese (or at least had the courage to actually use the phrasebook) I probably would have avoided spending ten thousand yen on a taxi on the first night…
Ha ha ha. I am so good at replying. Much quickness.
That sucks! Well, lesson learned, I guess! And good advice. Don’t do the taxi thing. I shall memorize the train system instead. Even if it kills me. And maybe learn to ask directions.
Basically the deal was that I thought I’d missed the last train for the night, but it turns out the trains on that line just terminate at the previous station after a certain time of night – all I had to do was catch a different train back one stop, and I would have been fine. Since I didn’t stop to ask for directions (and couldn’t make out what they were saying over the PA), my initial misconception never got corrected, so we headed for the taxi rank instead…
Alternately, I could also have avoided it if I’d known about Hyperdia at the time – it’s the answer to all your train timetabling questions. =)
Anyway, the point is the phrasebook can help me to ask questions, but can’t help me to understand the answers. =P
That site is definitely bookmarked now, thanks!
Heh. Yeah that can be an issue. I wonder how much Textfugu goes into helping someone with things like that. I know I’m only on season 2 so I don’t have an idea how much I’ll learn over the year. It’s not quite as clear as wanikani, though that is to be expected. Then there’s EtoEto…
It’s a mystery!
So, any recommendations on where to go in Japan? Or anything else to look out for like the taxi incident, maybe?
Oh, I’ve got a huge list of things I want to do when I’m finally able to visit again. =)
Kyoto, Nara, Koya-san and Miyajima are all worth visiting. Himeji Castle is Japan’s largest remaining original castle, and it just finished a huge refurbishment a year ago (it had just started when I was there, so I couldn’t go in the main keep). Matsumoto Castle is the oldest original castle. If you go in summer and like a good hike, you can try climbing Mount Fuji – if that’s too much effort, you could try Takao-san instead. If you’re a Ghibli fan, you should visit the Ghibli Museum, though you were probably planning that already. If you want to see photos of my trip, I’ve made a digital scrapbook and uploaded the pages to Facebook – think you can still view them without friending me. Linky.
Other places on my list which I haven’t actually visited yet: Yamadera (Yamagata Prefecture), Yanaka, Onomichi, Takehara, the Nakasendo, Yanagawa, et cetera and so forth.
As for avoiding incidents, I didn’t really have anything. I will admit I found Osaka Castle a little disappointing, though (it’s a castle-shaped museum rather than an actual castle). Also note that staying one night in a place is basically the same as zero days, so stay more than one night per place. =)
If you’re doing lots of long-distance travel, it’s worth getting a Japan Rail Pass. Gives you free travel on all JR trains except the fastest Shinkansen, but it also gives you so much peace of mind. It did me, in any case. A trip from Tokyo to Osaka and back will almost cover the cost of a seven-day pass all on its own, but it’s certainly worth checking how much your intended travel will cost you (use Hyperdia). It’s also worth getting a Suica card. When I was there, JR had a deal where you could get a ticket for the Narita Express and they’d give you a Suica card as well, though I’m not entirely sure if that offer is still around.
Yeah I encouraged my family to save up enough for each of them to buy JR Passes. I am trying to convince them for a two-week stay instead of just one. I mean going to another country and spending only a week. There’s too much to do and see! Thanks for the links!
Those all look like interesting places. I don’t think I’d ever get to places I’d like to try out on my first trip. Places like Fox Village or some of the smaller towns and villages less travelled. But I think even staying in the larger cities would be very rewarding. The Ghibli Museum is definitely a stop I’d like to try. Maybe an animal cafe too, and some onsen. Though the majority of my family coming along have tattoos so I’ll probably be alone going to them.
So, when are you actually going, precisely?
After I graduate from school and get my animation degree. It should be about a year from next month. So we have time to save up and I have time to study.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.