Hey Tobias,

So, the first thing I have to mention is that it’s NEVER too early to listen! :) Jump on http://tunein.com/radio/Japan-r101255/ and have that going in the background. You won’t necessarily LEARN anything right away but you will get used to the sounds, and as you learn words you’ll start being able to pick them out with less and less effort. Plus Japanese music is just generally flippin awesome haha.

As far as having places to speak Japanese, I haven’t really done a lot of this myself, so I definitely don’t have all the answers. But! omegle.com can be good AS LONG AS you put “Japan” or “Japanese” in your interests. Otherwise all you see are a bunch of… gentleman’s sausage. But as soon as you’ve got something in the “Interests” field, you get like normal human beings. Some of them will be willing to speak with you.

The other good one is http://www.japan-guide.com/ – set up an account, post an ad in the classifieds saying you’re looking for someone for a language exchange, and within a few hours you’ll have a pile of people offering to speak Japanese with you if you’ll speak English with them.

I’m sure there are other folks out there with more ideas!

Hello and welcome, Monique!

So sorry for typing so much! I was going to type a bit more about me, but I guess nobody really wants to read about that anyway…

Don’t worry – this is *your* introduction. It’s ALL about you ;) Talk away!

It’s nice to have you aboard! 2016 will come sooner than you think, so get ready for a pretty rockin’ time! :D

Mark: headed for, early next year by the looks of things. Apparently you need to save up some money for that first ;)

Tokyo is definitely a cool place. That’s really awesome that you’re moving there :D

Hello and welcome, Tobias!

Just wondering, how did you get into Japanese culture/media/things?

Regardless, you’ll find many helpful folks around here! Good luck!

Hello! Welcome!

Yeah Textfugu is a pretty rad place to be learning some basics. If you can jam through the first 5 or 6 seasons in the summer (which, you should be able to do if you’re consistent) you’ll definitely have a handle on some basic stuff.

There is a lot of helpful stuff around here – unfortunately the search function doesn’t work :( but the more senior members of the community are aware of that and won’t react with anger and rage the way people do on other forums when you ask a question that’s already been asked. It’s very nice, actually.

Anyways, enjoy your time here!

This was the main reason for me doing this the RTK way. I think it’s too much to learn the kanji writing, meaning, vocab, and readings all at the same time. Learning the writing and meanings together is fairly easy and only sometimes a bit challenging. That is, of course, only my view and subject to a lot of individual traits.

What I’m trying to say is don’t feel disappointed in yourself! You most certainly haven’t failed in any way. I don’t know if you take notes or anything, but I write everything down. EVERYTHING. Including how well I’ve understood something, what about it I’m having trouble with, etc. If you do anything like that, I find it really helps to go back to the beginning and look at how far you’ve come. Sometimes, you need to take a step back, gather a little perspective on your situation, and go back at it remembering that you’ve come this far and you’re not going to let some obstacle stop you from doing what you’re doing. If you’ve managed to get this far, you can keep going.

Whenever I get stuck, I stop learning and just keep going with Anki for a few days. Taking a break makes it easier to refocus, I find.

Another Textonian Fugunite shared this with me, and I will share it with you. It lives in my bookmark bar so it’s always there when I need it. Watch it 6 or 7 times to let the general silliness have less of an impact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxGRhd_iWuE

Don’t worry, you’ve got this. Just take your time with it :)

Hello! I was going to try coming up with a new nickname for you but I’m failing to come up with anything. So I’ll just stick to Catherine for now :)

Anyways, welcome to our corner of the internet. We’re a pretty rad bunch here at TF. Enjoy your stay and don’t be afraid to ask a question, even if you feel a bit daft asking. Learning is just 90% getting stuff wrong anyways ;)

Greetings!

Some people have told me my last name (Satov) may have Croatian roots. So I’m going to go ahead and say WELCOME BROTHER! lol.

Textfugu and WK are the places to be at – your choices have been wise. Enjoy your time hear and if you’ve got questions, odds are somebody here has answers!