Hello,

I?ve been working on learning Japanese for a few months, but I?ve been having trouble keeping my studying fun, and I need some suggestions.

I use the Pimsleur program, but when I do that, I think of it as kind of boring, because I?m just sitting there listing to people talk.

When I work on my Kanji, I get really frustrated and discouraged.

And, in general, nothing feels like very much fun, but I really want to learn Japanese... any suggestions?

Thanks,
Charliechip95

I just started using it a couple days ago, but I would recommend checking out Japanesepod101.com - the topics for the podcasts have a lot of variety, and are much more entertaining than standard audio course fare. It has helped revitalize my enthusiasm for studying quite a bit.

Apart from that, watching Japanese television or anime, or trying to read a manga can be a fun break - I like watching my favorite Japanese movies (which I originally watched with subtitles) in only Japanese, since I already know the plot and never feel lost, but still get lots of practice. Also, if you can find a conversation exchange partner, that can do a lot to break the monotony.

Why don't you go and watch Tonari no Totoro? It has a really cool thing called a ねこバス。

But seriously, why not watch a movie. There is loads of quality stuff out there. Personally anime does it for me. Other than Miyazaki, recently I've watched 人狼（じんろう）and Blood: The last vampire.

If you can I'd suggest not stopping RTK1. I stalled at about 1900 and it was really hard to get going again. To spice up my reviews, sometimes I try to go as fast as I can. Then others take time to savour my stories, re-inforce the image, add/remove something to try to make it more vivid.

Or maybe just take a week off and come back fresh?

In addition to jpod101 I like the Let's Learn Japanese series of programs. Even though it's done almost entirely in romaji it's pretty fun to watch and you get lots of listening practice. You can watch the entire first season of 26 episodes on youtube.

You can also watch a ton of anime on Youtube. Right now I am on season 9 of Naruto. It is pretty cheesy but it is for the sake of learning...
Anyone else have other anime series they recommend?

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is pretty good. Only on my first cycle of viewing so I'm watching it with subs. Even with them it's confusing! If you like SF, I'm sure you'd be into it.

I think youtube has deleted a lot of the anime, but you can still find a lot on dailymotion and veoh. Detective Conan is good if you like whodunnit type stories.

I'll second the recommendation for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex! I watched it with the subs also though, and I'm sure I would have been completely lost without. A lot of the dialogue is pretty political, as I recall. The Ghost in the Shell movies are also excellent - the first won a few international film awards, I think.

Also, Cowboy Bebop is one of my all-time favorites. It's quite funny, and also has a fantastic sountrack.

Death Note!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Note

If you're a Smash Bros. fan, the website is releasing little daily tidbits for the upcoming game on Wii. It's relatively easy reading, as long as you can tolerate video-game related stuff and won't mind reaching for that dictionary often:

http://www.smashbros.com/jp/index.html

Thanks for all the advice, everyone! And sorry for my late reply, I've been busy lately.

First, before I explain how my Japanese is going, I'll respond to some of the suggestions.

As for JapanesePod101.com, I think that Pimsleur is good enough for me at the moment, I don't want to overload myself with work. Same with Let's Learn Japanese, but thanks for the suggestion!

lol, yeah, as you can see by my avatar, [kana]tonari no totoro[/kana] is one of my favorites, and my avatar is a picture of a ねこバス. I've ordered it from my library (japanese with english subtitles, of course), but it's taking forever to come. I'm going to get more Miyazaki films in japanese, too, because I'm a big fan of his films!

Thanks for all the suggestions of Manga/Anime! I'm going to look into finding some good manga and anime that I can enjoy for kind of a break off all of the work of learning Japanese.

Big thumbs up to the link, akrodha, I'm a big Smash Bros. fan! Although that page is a little complex for me at the stage I am now, I like looking at the text and translating the kana (or recognizing the Kanji), even though I don't understand what they're saying in the kana.

As for just a normal update on my studying, I took a week off and have come back fresh. I've started with the Pimsluer again first, and it's exciting because it's a lot less boring then before, now, and I feel like I'm making progress. I'm yet to start my RTK1 again, but I'm planning on starting it up again either today or tomorrow. I don't want to get too far behind.

[kana]domo arigato gozaimasu ![/kana]
Charliechip95

Glad to hear things are going well!

As for not wanting to overload yourself on top of Pimsleur, I can understand your sentiments. However, I did end up mixing in japanesepod101 lessons into my pimsleur schedule just to break up the monotony (that course can get super boring in places!), so it might be worth trying anyway.

I just tried watching もののけ姫 in japanese only...it was a humbling experience. I hope となりのトトロ, which is next on my list, is a bit easier!

I'm a big fan of the Studio Ghibli films, it's one of the main reasons why I am studying Japanese - I own the Japanese DVDs of most of the Studio Ghibli films, including the latest (Tales from Earthsea).

But となりのトトロ and 千と千尋の神隠し are my favourites, and you can get the scripts (in Japanese) for both of these over the Internet if you search long and hard using Google.

I've converted となりのトトロ to a Microsoft Word document with the Japanese script and English translation side by side and it's wonderful as a Japanese study aid. Mei is of course very easy to understand, Satsuki somewhat less so, the father is quite easy because he tends to speak in polite form. The nanny is hard to understand because I think she speaks colloquially. The version I downloaded had a few minor errors which I have fixed.

Next step is to try and do the same for 千と千尋の神隠し.

Christine_Tham Wrote:But となりのトトロ and 千と千尋の神隠し are my favourites, and you can get the scripts (in Japanese) for both of these over the Internet if you search long and hard using Google.

Could you post the url and save us the long hard search? That really does sound like a marvelous study aid.

Thanks!

Chadokoro_K Wrote:Could you post the url and save us the long hard search? That really does sound like a marvelous study aid.
Thanks!

Unfortunately, it's not as easy as that. The Japanese version of the script was on one url, the English translation on another, and I basically cut and paste from both of them into a single Microsoft Word document.

I'm happy to send my Word document to anyone who is interested though - just send me email. I still need to polish it up a little though. If you are wondering about the strange page size, I formatted it to print on loose leaf ruled A5 pages so that I can put them in a binder along with all my other Japanese stuff.

You could just upload it somewhere so that it would be more convenient for other people (and not to mention you) to get it.

The main problem with most Japanese video is that they don't have subtitles, or have crappy subtitles. A script would be most definitely useful.

Megaqwerty Wrote:You could just upload it somewhere so that it would be more convenient for other people (and not to mention you) to get it.

I suspect there are legal issues. Isn't the work copyrighted?

Megaqwerty Wrote:The main problem with most Japanese video is that they don't have subtitles, or have crappy subtitles. A script would be most definitely useful.

The studio Ghibli ones all have excellent Japanese subtitles, but unfortunately the English subtitles correspond to the English dialogue and are not a translation of the Japanese dialogue.

I have built a collection of Japanese DVDs that all have English and Japanese subtitles - these include some of my favourite films such as the Juzo Itami titles (ie. Tampopo, Suupaa no onna, A Taxing Woman etc.), Water Boys and Swing Girls, Hula Girls, Always, Udon, ...

But the best titles to use as learning aids are the Studio Ghibli ones, because the dialogue is quite crisp and clear and therefore maximise listening comprehension.

[ファブリス]

Christine_Tham Wrote:I have built a collection of Japanese DVDs that all have English and Japanese subtitles - these include some of my favourite films such as the Juzo Itami titles (ie. Tampopo, Suupaa no onna, A Taxing Woman etc.), Water Boys and Swing Girls, Hula Girls, Always, Udon, ...

Are these "overseas" editions of the same Japanese movies? Where do you get japanese DVDs with subtitles?

I finally remembered the site that had the script to 千と千尋の神隠し together with translation to English:

http://www.eps.vic.edu.au/lote/Spirited_Away.htm

The site also has hints for studying Japanese by watching となりのトトロ but no script.

Yikes! Blue text on green background hurts my eyes! But this is sweeeeeeeet. Thanks for the link!

ファブリス Wrote:Are these "overseas" editions of the same Japanese movies? Where do you get japanese DVDs with subtitles?

They are all Japanese Region 2 DVDs ordered from HMV Japan. I tend to buy them when HMV has a 25% sale because that basically pays for shipping.

The Juzo Itami ones are really nice because not only do they have both Japanese and English subtitles, but they have an additional "big font" Japanese subtitle track so that you can make out what the kanji are. Cool!

PS - Australia has legislation that permits importation of foreign DVDs - and all DVD players sold here are region free out of the factory (except for very early DVD players before the issue was clarified). That's the one thing our government managed to get right.

[ファブリス]

Hmm I bought "Shimotsuma Monogatari" while I was on holiday in Japan, and it didn't have any subtitles (though I was looking for japanese subtitles, I don't know if there ever are).

To answer your question Fabrice, you get them from Hong Kong. Remember they speak English in Hong Kong since they used to be owned by the British :-)

Japanese movies unfortunately don't always have Japanese subtitles, which I find disappointing. You'd think they would at least cater to the hard of hearing, but I guess they don't matter in Japan.

I actually have "Shimotsuma Monogatari" on DVD. One of my fav movies. It's the HK DVD edition with English subtitles. Quality is good and subtitles are good as well. I've heard that there are some great torrent sites for downloading asian (especially Japanese) DVD movies.

Btw, charliechip95,
if you're looking for a conversation partner, try
http://japanese.meetup.com/25/

Search for your area and see if there's a group nearby.
Great way to find japanese people.

This link provides a helpful list of Japanese Region 2 DVDs with English subtitles:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/movie/jmovie/jm...itles.html

If you click on each title, you can find out if the DVD also has Japanese subtitles. Some do, and some don't.

The following site has very good reviews of Japanese films, so you can figure out what to buy (we have discovered a lot of nice films this way):

http://www.midnighteye.com/

Finally, this site allows you to order Japanese DVDs, including those sourced from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea which are much more likely to include English subtitles (as well as being cheaper in some cases)

http://www.yesasia.com

Now please don't blame me if you go broke buying DVDs based on these links!

don't forget http://www.kfccinema.com (asian movie reviews) and http://www.pokerindustries.com (DVDs, often many different regional versions of the same title)