Learn Basic Japanese

   Since I was little, I have always loved to watch anime. I would watch whatever anime series was on the television. Watching those drawings come to life was a very entertaining and fulfilling experience for me. When I reached high school, I decided to buy anime CDs/DVDs and that was when I got interested in learning Nihonggo. I thought it was cool to understand what I was watching without having to depend on those English subtitles which are sometimes not available plus learning an additional language aside from my own would totally rock. I’m not saying that I’m a total expert when it comes to speaking and understanding Nihonggo but I managed to learn the basics of the language just by putting a natural effort. :)

Learning tips:

1. Watch, watch and watch. Same as with writing, you have to write, write and write more to become good at it. You just have to watch more anime or Japanese shows to your liking. Find shows that have English subtitles enabled on them. Do not watch those ones that are already dubbed in English or your own language. Try to comprehend and remember the conversations and their translations. Repeating a few words or phrases will also help you to remember them.

2. Knowing the commonly used expressions speeds up your learning process.

Here are some of the phrases/words that are usually used in conversations:

• Konnichiwa - hello/hi!/good afternoon
• Ohayo - good morning
• Kombanwa - good evening
• Oyasumi nasai - good night
• Gokigen yo - have a nice day
• Arigato/domo arigato/arigatou gozaimasu - thanks/thank you/thank you very much
• O genki desu ka?/ikaga desu ka? - how are you?
• Hajimemashite - nice meeting/knowing you
• Yoroshiku onegaishimasu - please take care of me/i'll be at your care
• Shitureshimasu - please excuse me
• Gomen nasai/sumimasen - im sorry
• Gochisou sama desu - thanks for the meal
• Gokuro sama desu - thanks for the hard work
• Dozo - go ahead
• Watashi wa ___ desu. - my name is ___.
• O namae wa nan desu ka? - what is your name?
• Dare desu ka? - who are you?
• Doko desu ka? - where is it?
• Nan desu ka? - what is it?
• Dou desu ka? - how is it?
• Doushiyo - what should I do?
• Onegai shimasu - please
• Irrashaimase - welcome
• Tabemasho - let's eat
• Nemasho - let-s sleep
• Sayonara - good bye
• Mata ashita - see you tomorrow
• Hara ga heta - I'm hungry
• Kimochi ga warui - I feel bad
• Hai - yes
• Iie - no
• Daijobou? - are you alright?
• Iin desu ka? - is it okay?
• Ikimasho - let's go
• Gambarimasu - doa your best
• Itte kimasu - i'll go now
• Itte rashai - take care

3. Take free online classes. There are a lot of Japanese courses online that are offered for free.

http://www.freejapaneselessons.com/

http://learnjapanese.elanguageschool.net/

http://www.studyjapanese.org/

http://www.japanese-online.com/

http://www.learnjapanesefree.com/

There a lot of other free sites on the internet. Just hit "Learn japanese online for free" on your favorite search engines.

4. Joining Japanese-related forums, groups and communities will also help a lot. Post your own topics, make friends and converse with them so you could practice and better your Nihonggo speaking skills.

http://www.nihongofreak.com/nffboard/

http://www.jref.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=35

http://www.hakubajapan.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=nihongo_cat

5. Listen to a lot of Japanese songs. Try to comprehend and understand the lyrics. You could even write it down then check the translations on the internet if you got it right.

6. Last but not the least is to have patience. Be patient and take everything step by step. Learning is a process and patience is an essential element for progress and improvement.

I hope that you've learned something from this. :)