Another Way to Learn Japanese

So, after working through the last list of books to learn Japanese, I figured it was quite a bit difficult. Yeah, you'll be speaking just fine, but you probably won't stick with it. I didn't. I realized whether you have a foolproof method or not, nothing matters if you won't do it. Something more friendly was needed...

So, here is a method that will teach you the same things, but make it easier on you and you'll probably learn faster:

Recommended: The Sanseido Daily Concise Dictionary - (ISBN4-385-10880-3). This dictionary is small and will serve you well from the moment you learn hiragana to when you've become advanced in Japanese. There is no sense in having to buy multiple dictionaries at different levels...

1. Either Kana Pict-o-Graphix (A small, convenient book) or Remembering the Kana (A quite famous learning material)

2. Japanese for Busy People I (Get the kana version so that by the end of book I, you can read it well (ISBN: 9784770030092) along with Basic Kanji Volume 1

3. Japanese for Busy People II along with Basic Kanji Volume 2 (By the end of here, you will know 500+ kanji)

4. Japanese for Busy People III along with Intermediate Kanji I (<-- When you are almost done with these, you may want to just order a manga you are interested in from Japan. See section 5)

5. Intermediate Kanji II with Learn Japanese the Fast and Fun Way (It is a big book you can work through quickly if you already know a lot of the vocab from the previous series. It is all in romaji, but if you learn every line rather than do it as they tell you to with just the highlighted words, your vocabulary will become VERY solid. I mean, what text books teach you how to talk about car trouble?). This would be a good time to also read a manga you like in Japanese. Don't worry, you'll be able to do it :) (By the end of this, you will know 1000+ kanji)

Optional: A "Clean up". As no series is perfect, if you have the Japanese for College Students Series or the Genki series, go through those books at the rate of about a chapter a day or every 2 days leaving one day a week to review and another to rest and simply digest the information. (JFCS has 30 chapters in all) There will always be things that one series teaches that another misses. So, people sometimes recommend you work with multiple series. It will be fast as you should already know a good 80%-90% of what is in these texts. This is optional because the next set of the books will fix any disparities.

6. An Integrated Approach to Learning Intermediate Japanese and Remembering the Kanji I (You can do a lesson a day now since you already know half the book. Also, for a lot of the characters, you will now have 2 ways to make sure they are ingrained in your memory. This book just teaches how to write and recognize a total of 2000+ characters.)

7. Authentic Japanese: Progressing from Intermediate to Advanced and Remembering the Kanji II (This book teaches how to read the 2000+ characters you learned in Remembering the Kanji I)

8. Remembering the Kanji III - 1,000+ more characters you may occasionally run into if you plan to read truly advanced texts (How to write them, readings, and meanings)

Yay! Take a Japanese Foreign Language Exam ^.^ (Offered once a year in Chicago in December for $50)

Notes:

• Don't look at this whole list. It may overwhelm you. Concentrate on one number at a time. It isn't a lot to just see about 2 books each time you have to work with, and not even both on the same day.
  
• Take a class. For $250 for the first class and $225 for each subsequent class, you can get through Japanese for Busy People I-III and Basic Kanji I. These materials are included in the class price. The classes are 8 weeks long and held at the Japan America Society of Chicago. There are 7 classes in total, and by the end, you will be reading articles from a Japanese newspaper and conversing in Japanese. The class is taught by a native.
  
• To be honest, I write these schedules for myself as a plan. You see, research is one of my hobbies. For those of you who know me, I like to push myself and learn as much as I can as fast as I can. I don't know if everyone has the time or desire to follow such a rigorous arrangement, but the books are still just as effective if you take one at a time.
• I like clear progression, meaning follow this and you will definitely, without a doubt, be able to do the next number on the list smoothly.
• I like things as easy as possible, so the things like the "Clean Up" and going back to the Learn Japanese the Fast and Fun Way even after you know some kanji for the sake of the vocab may seem demeaning, but tackling the those two texts with no previous experience proved to be quite daunting. JFCS is such a boring series with no opportunities to practice in the text. LJTFAFW is not boring, but big. And it feels like you'll never get through it, though it is the same length as others. It bothered me that I was learning Japanese, but even after working with that book for hours, I couldn't write or read anything. So, why not satisfy your natural need to see accomplishment first? Then there is no pressure from feeling like you aren't doing anything and you can just enjoy the amount of new vocabulary.
• This is not written 100% from experience. I am a researcher. I compile the experiences of other people into tangible plans. This is a compilation of what MANY other people who now hold advanced degrees in Japanese or levels of certification on the Japanese Foreign Language exam have stated enabled them to reach that level. Some of this IS from personal experience, but also backed up from the experience and advice of the aforementioned.
  

Regarding the First Lesson: You can learn 5 characters a day. There are loads of practice sheets online you can print out, but I like to use this book with them to make sure the characters stick in my memory)

Here is a sample schedule for number 2:

JFBP: Japanese for Busy People
BKB: Basic Kanji Book

Day 1: JFBP I: Chapter 1
Day 2: JFBP I: Chapter 2
Day 3: JFBP I: Chapter 3
Day 4: BKB I: Chapter 1
Day 5: JFBP I: Chapter 4
Day 6: Review Material from Days 1-5
Day 7: Rest
Day 8: BKB I: Chapter 2
Day 9: JFBP I: Chapter 5
Day 10: BKB I: Chapter 3
Day 11: JFBP I: Chapter 6
Day 12: BKB I: Chapter 4
Day 13: Review Material from Days 1-5 and Days 8-12
Day 14: Rest


A Second Sample Schedule:

Days 1-5: JFBP I Chapters 1-5, one a day
Day 6: Review Chs. 1-5
Day 7: Rest
Days 8-12: JFBP I Chapters 6-10, one a day
Day 13: Review Chs. 1-10
Day 14: Rest

(Fast forward to after you finish JFBP I)

(Restarted Day Count)

Days 1-4: BKB I Chapters 1-4, one a day
Day 5: Review JFBP I Chapters 1-25
Day 6: BKB I review chapters 1-4
Day 7: Rest
Days 8-11: BKB I Chapters 5-8, one a day
Day 12: Review JFBP I Chapters 1-25
Day 13: BKB I review Chapters 5-8
Day 14: Rest
Days 15-18: BKB I Chapters 9-12, one a day
Day 19: Review JFBP I Chapters 1-25
Day 20: Rest

...and so on. If you start to feel braindead, just read over the material 2 times and call it quits that day. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you have retained by the following day. As silly as it sounds, you may benefit from watching Chi's New Home. It has VERY basic Japanese with VERY easy to hear syllables as it is made for little kids. Still, for those of you who took Spanish in high school, it is about the difficulty of the La Catrina series (if you saw that).