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[lalalateda]

Hello. I�m leaving for Japan in 2 weeks. It�ll be my 1st time there. I�ll be living in a remote area where there are not likely to be many English speakers. For the past month, I�ve been listening to Japanese CDs (Living Language). The CD�s only have listen and repeat exercises and the text doesn�t have any variety in task types. Basically, I haven�t been able to commit very much of it to memory at all. It�s been really hard to try to put all these new words and grammar in any sort of context so that they are truly meaningful. I will be taking Japanese lessons through the school I�ll be working at once I get to Japan.

Will I be able to get around in a rural (Hokkaido) region without any Japanese?

Any Tips for learning a little Japanese in the next two weeks?

What would you say are the most important basics to know?

Thank you very much for sharing your advice and experiences.

[ava77]

You should try to learn the katakana characters. This will be very helpful as you can read menus , signs etc if you know them. It is great to speak but when they answer you it will be in Japanese and you will probably have no idea what they are saying. Study the basics. Greetings, doco, coco etc.

[Glenski]

Where in Hokkaido are you going? I'm in Sapporo.

[lalalateda]

[kdynamic]

Learn hiragana and katakana right now. It'll get way easier to memorize vocab and stuff when you get there and hear it everyday. Good luck!

[Anne0]

I started learning Japanese from the Berlitz boos. they had a book with casett tapes called "basic Japanese" sadly i think thei discontinued the series. I was kinda shocked to hear you are using living language because I am as well. After finishing with Berlitz's Basic japanese I moved on the Living language's Intermediate Japanese. It has a book and comes with 8 Cds. I learned a heck of a lot of Japanese from it. I am now on Advanced japanese by the same company it also comes with 8 Cds and I'm learning more than ever, this one is more hands-off than the intermiadiate version but it's helping so much with my listening skills. On these Cds they speak at normal speed rather than the slower speed of the intermidate Cds and so I find that I am understanding more when watching shows in Japanese with no subtitles.

My strategy has always been to take two notebook, one is for the dialogues and one is for vocabulary. I take the dialogue and rewrite then in the notebook leaving space in between each line. So if it takes me two lines to write one person's "thing" then I leave two lines of space in between. Then I read the chapter, all the different sentence patterns they introduce and stuff. Then I go over the vocabulary once. Then in the notebook, I go back and in a different color pen I translate the dialogue myself. I use a different color pen because I found with the same color pen it's hard to tell what's english and what's japanese. So then after that I go over the vocabulary again. This is in the second notebook that i'm going over the vocabulary. This time though I listen to when they say each word and translate each word in my head, if I can't I write that word down and those are the words I go over the second time. then I do the exercise at the end of the chapter. Then I go over the vocabulary again using the same strategy as the second time (listening and writing down the ones I don't remember. Then I listen to the dialogue this would be my first or second time listening to the dialogue. I do this without looking at the book or anything. Then I go over the vocabulary again. This whole process takes about a week per chapter really. I don't move on until I can listen to the vocabulary spoken and there are 3 or less words I don't remember. It takes a long time but I see the progress when I watch or listen to something in Japanese with no aids whatsoever and can understand more and more.
I have been watching this old drama called "boku dake no madonna" without subititles and I know what is going on in every scene. I don't understand every word. But I am not lost as to what each scene is about. So I feel I am learning. The last time I watched "boku dake" was when I was halfway through my internediate book. i stopped because I do not have episode 9 and I don't want to skip over it. I may have to though. I am anxious to see how much I understand now that I am in my advanced book. so anyways what i'm suggesting is if you are serious to spend more time on each chapter. Learning Japanese will bge easioer once your in Japanese but still you cannot go over a chapter one time and expect to understand it. Do not move on until you understand the dialogue completely. It will help-. it will take time but not as long as if you studied it in school. I've only been studying for 2 years and i'm on advanced level. In a school that would take about 5 years.

[macondo]

I have been using Living Language, but unfortunately the books are in Japan with my bf, so I just listen in the car.

As for books I have been using Japanese for Young People 1 and 2 (love the picture prompts, plus it's simple, kana-based with the introduction of some kanji),

Japanese for College Students, from International Christian University. It's ok - not really thematically-based (nor is JfYP), more grammatically-based. And if you don't have a teacher, some explaining is left to be desired. It's also pretty dry, but it does use a lot of kanji.

A Guide to Writing Kanji and Kana, Book 1. A hand not-so-little workbook, that can double as a dictionary, assuming you know the pronunciation and it happens to be included in that book...

Everyday Japanese. Has lots of vocab for travellers and business people, including the kanji. Lots of cultural explanations, etc.

Dictinary of Japanese Particles (Kodansha). It's ok, has many explanations.

Don't know if any of these help.

Here are some of my favorite sites for learning Kanji, Kana and Japanese:

http://www.realkana.com/

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~armiller/japanese/kanjiordfr.htm

http://www.gu.edu.au/school/lal/japanesemain/JP_Res/JP_Res_control/kanji_frame.html

http://www.nihongoresources.com/

http://www.ak.cradle.titech.ac.jp/Rise/titlefs.htm

http://www.hellonavi.com/foldera/html/japanese.html

http://www.kanjisite.com/

http://www.rikai.com/perl/Home.pl

http://www.manythings.org/japanese/links/

http://www.kanjicafe.com/icemocha.htm


Check them out, see what you think. The hello-navi one is hysterical (check out the "toire" section), although geared towards school children (although, if you're going to be working in a school, this may come in handy). It has animated cartoons with written and audio dialogue.

[Munchen]

As one who enjoys this forum, I really love it when this topic arises as there are always new suggestions and ideas about learning Japanese.
Certainly great to learn about some of these websites given in the above entry.
Always remember that this is a topic that has arisen on this forum a number of times in the past, so be sure to dig into the archives, so to speak, here and look for other entries..
There is a plethora of materials out there. If you are going to be in Japan in short order, you will pick up the language on site and ultimately that is the best way to go, being there!

[Kimura]

I think you have received alot of good advice so far. I think what you might also want to consider is the use of body language. It might sound dumb, but when you can articulate what you want, body language is often your best option. Ganbatte O!!!

[abufletcher]

IMHO, the best immediate language survival skill you can have is learn to say English words as if written in katakana. You will be amazed how many situations can be dealt with via a carefully chosen English word spoken as if you were speaking Japanese (e.g. "teacher" = "teechaa").

Also if the products in the supermarkets in Hokkaido are anything like the products in Shikoku then I'd say katakana is of much greater immediate value. You will find that many many products actually have English names hidden away behind the katakana.

But really far more important than any specific language skills will be your general "strategic competence." My kids are almost fluent in Japanese while my skills are minimal. Yet I am frequently able to accomplish tasks when they don't even know where to begin. They are trying to think of how to phrase a specific request, for example, and I'm planning out how I can manipulate the situation so that an offer (prior to any actual request on my part) is spontaneously forthcoming.

It also boils down to confidence. After years of overseas living I feel like I could be dropped down in the middle of Papua New Guinea and I'd somehow figure out how to get my needs across to the locals.