This topic contains 7 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by 
-
Posts
-
Hi all, my name is Matthew Knight and I’m a network engineer currently living in Tasmania, Australia. I have had an interest in Anime and JRPG’s for a while but it was never enough to make me commit to learning the language. However, after visiting Japan recently I fell in love with the place! My reasons for studying are;
- To be able to play video-games in Japanese
- To be able to watch Anime without subs
- To be able to teach English over there at some point in my life
- To be able to hold a conversation with locals when visiting Japan nextI realized that you can’t really truly understand Japanese culture unless you at least grasp the basics of their language so I am going to give it a red hot dig. I’m going to use this in conjunction with wanikani and Human Japanese on my android phone. Any idea if this combo is a good / bad idea?
Thanks for having me!
Welcome! I’m in Sydney, here.
What took you to Japan? Where’d you go in particular? Take any photos? =D
I can’t speak for Human Japanese (or the effect of Android phones =P ), but WaniKani is intended to replace the kanji sections of TextFugu, so feel free to just skip over those pages when you come to them.
Thanks Joel! Sorry for the late reply, I got back from Japan on Saturday and had to go straight back into work!
I went to Japan to visit a friend who is teaching English in Omachi currently, it was great catching up with her. I went for a whole month so I can’t list everywhere I went but I will say that Himeji is most wonderful place I’ve ever seen! I took a few hundred photos, a lot for me!
When I posted this I didn’t realise they were both made by Textfugu! I’m not good with Radicals yet… breezing through Hiragana though!
So envy.
When I was in Japan in 2010, they’d literally just closed Himeji Castle for refubishing, so they’d already covered the main keep in scaffolding, but hadn’t yet opened the observation deck so people could watch them at work. Gonna show off some photos? =)
Hiragana should be a breeze. The kana are pretty much the easiest bits of Japanese. =P
Hey guys, Brisbane here :)
I just got back from my first trip to Japan – such a crazy, fun place! I felt so out of my depth not being able to read/speak any Japanese (studied French at school…not very helpful) and was determined to learn Japanese on getting back. I think my motivations are the same as Matthew’s (except teaching English – I always think it makes sense until you realize how many exceptions and quirks it has).
I started with Human Japanese on my android, then I found Textfugu after watching some of Koichi’s awesome videos. I just got the lifetime subscription when I saw that you’d automatically get upgraded to EtoEto (it looks amazing). I’m finding both really good so far and know most of the Hirigana kana now – I think Anki really helps. I’m a bit slack on the writing though – though I did install Kakitai on my Surface (it’s nice to practice with a stylus) which is handy.
I figure whenever I lose motivation I can always watch anime to get interested again :) Japanese Netflix had soooo much, but very few were subbed so I’ll just have to wait.
Anyway, good luck!
Oooo, where’d you go?
All over:
- Tokyo – a fun city, but soooo many people
- Ishinomaki (we were trying to get to Tashirojima aka “cat island” like in Koichi’s video, but after hours of travelling from Tokyo including a super crowded train ride from Sendai, the ferry wasn’t running because of a typhoon :( Very sad!)
- Osaka – we were staying next to the train station and still managed to get lost
- Hiroshima – so peaceful, but incredibly sad
- Miyajima – I ate so many things I’d never normally eat (we stayed at Iwaso, a traditional style Ryokan, so lots of kaiseki style food)
- Kyoto – wow! so temple. very walking.
Fun. Sounds like you followed an itinereary fairly similar to mine (though we didn’t go to Ishinomaki). Absolutely loved Miyajima. Iwaso looks like a really nice place – we stayed in Miyajima Hotel Makoto, over on the other side of town. Kind of a cross between a ryokan and a western hotel – multiple floors with a lift and everything, but tatami-mat rooms.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.