I just got a semi-greenlight to run a panel on Japanese language at this years Anime Weekend Atlanta convention in Georgia, in late September. I'll mainly be talking about resources and methods for beginners to learn Japanese, and I'll of course speak heavily about the amazing Heisig method
If anyone plans to be in the area and would like to join my panel, you're more than welcome.

Right now I'm mainly just trying to plan out what I want to talk about, and get a list of resources to point people to. Here's what I've thought of so far:
- methods to learn Hiragana/Katakana (any ideas besides heisig's books?)
- Talk about Classes
- Listening resources (Pimsleur, JapanesePod101)
- RTK/RevTK
- learning through Spaced Repetition
- Tae Kim's grammar site
- Using Anime/Manga in Japanese studies
- Ways to get to Japan (study abroad, JET program, what other ways?)

Anything else I should cover?

All Japanese all the time!!!!!!

Oh right, how could I forget that :p
I'll definitely have to slip that in there somewhere.

Also might want to point out that different people learn different ways, and folks need to try to find the ways that work best for them. But encourage them to try as many different ways as possible, and don't ignore an idea without trying it first.

You should also mention some good textbooks. Some people like structure, especially when just starting out.

yukamina Wrote:You should also mention some good textbooks. Some people like structure, especially when just starting out.

Do you have any suggestions? The only one I have used was Genki, and while I thought it was a great textbook, it was really designed for a classroom environment, so may not work well in a self-directed study.

How about Kanji Odessy 2001? Its great!

(BROKEN LINK) http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=918

Anime Weekend Atlanta...wow. A long, long time ago, I was a part of Anime-X when they were in the planning stages for the first AWA (probably 1996? 1997?) Those were back in the days of exchanging and copying videotapes. How things have changed!