Are you using Windows or Mac?

For Windows, Start > Control Panel > Clock, Language & Region > Change Keyboard and Other Input Methods > Change Keyboards > Find the Japanese one.

Mac, I don’t know, someone else would have to help.

Although typically what I just end up using is http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/hiragana.htm (it also has a katakana option)

Howdy and welcome!

Knowing even a bit is definitely helpful. I went to Poland once without knowing anything except how to say “pickle” which, to my surprise, turned out not to be that useful. A few words would be been magnificent. So good job on planning ahead!

If you have any questions or need help with anything, feel free to throw questions at us with wild abandon. Also pop over to the Teamspeak thread (it’s a sticky so it should always be near the top) if you wanna get some practice in.

Enjoy your time here!

@michicachan

The best way to find out is to try it, methinks ;)

@missingno15

Oh excellent, thanks! I will definitely give that a lookover!

I’m really confused, I totally wrote a reply for this but it doesn’t seem to be here. Maybe I forgot to actually hit submit. Derrr. Guess I’ll try writing it again!

So in terms of TV, I think drama is probably more realistic – you’re less likely to encounter made-up words and definitely less likely to encounter strange voices. However! Anime is probably WAY more fun :D
I watch a very small amount of anime aimed at kids because it has smaller, easier words and also because PRECURE IS AWESOME *hide in shame* (seriously though that’s what I watch)
If you go to http://kitsunekko.net/dirlist.php?dir=subtitles%2Fjapanese%2F you can find the Japanese subtitles for basically everything. They do also include commercials most of the time but if you grab those for whichever show your watching and look up all the words you don’t know and find their translations and then follow along while watching, you can get pretty rockin’ at Japanese. That’s largely the premise of japanesethroughanime which is a pretty good program as I understand it. Anyway, they’re packaged as .srt files which you can just open in Notepad or any text editor if you’re not using Windows.

Also, just for the sake of recommendation, you should definitely watch Anohana if you haven’t. It’s only like 11 episodes but I DARE you not to cry. You might learn something about Japanese too I guess lol.

And yeah music is great! I find Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to be absurdly satisfying, and very easy to sing along to if you can get your voice to go that high (which, yes, I often can). People may think you’re a bit kooky though.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by  Justin.

At the risk of being a bit of a hypocrite (because I haven’t done this), you should make your way to the Teamspeak server when you get a chance if you wanna get some practice in. 69.175.103.226:10076 and password: boundforTokyo

Hey Monique!

Glad to see you’re doing so well!

For remembering words, I rely pretty heavily on (perhaps too much) what I believe is called the link method – thinking of an image or phrase that sounds like that word. It’s actually really similar to remembering kanji. But sometimes you have to manipulate words in weird ways, and I don’t write any of it down. I’m going to try to write out an example for you, but because of the way I have to mess with words it may not come out right.

おくります = to send

We know that ます basically just says “yo I’m a verb don’t worry about me” so that doesn’t matter. All you need is the おくり part. So I think “to send through thee, O Great Courier” which sort of comes out as “To send through thee, お great くりer”. After 3 or 4 rounds in Anki I no longer need the little sentence. But if I ever forget it, or need to share it, it’s pretty easy to work backwards.

Some are hard than others, and some are just downright impossible. I (somewhat ironically) have a ton of trouble remembering わすれます (to forget) because I have never been able to think of something for it. And although I had to verify that I was correct, I am impressed that I got it right lol.

And of course, anything with Japanese in it is good. TV, music, radio, etc. I’ve been slowly going and getting lyrics for all of my Japanese music so that I can sing along. Having the music along with it and knowing the translation helps a ton.

Keep up the good work! And don’t worry if you start to slow down when school gets going!

Oh cool cool! Work may bring me to DT Atlanta for a few days later this year, which is why I ask. That’s pretty rad. If I see you, I’ll wave ;)