Good Place to start to learn to read Japanese?

[lordwinslow]

Now that I am not traveling as much and it is getting colder here in the Northeast, I have time to play with my trains and get a layout setup.  I was wondering if anyone out there knew of any resources (online or otherwise) that may help with learning to read Japanese.  I am not looking to master the language but I would like to be able to read a bit so when I go on line to look at models or go to buy something from a store in Japan, I can work my way through the site.  It would also be nice to read some of the decals that come with some of these sets so I can know what I am putting on my trains and structures.  This would also help when I go back to Japan on vacation in a year or so for a train holiday.   

 

Thanks,

Winslow

[Guest ___]

I use iKnow.co.jp now called Smart.FM

[bill937ca]

This is a tall order.  The Japanese use three different types of script: Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana.  There are 2.131 Kanji listed by the Education Ministry as being in common use.  That's 2,131 indvidual characters you would have to learn and memorize.  But to really learn Kanji, as I have tried, it seems you need to be skilled at calligraphy so you can draw the characters.

 

Some links:

 

Nihongo o Narau.

 

http://www.learn-japanese.info/

 

Calligraphy still holds the key to mastering kanji

 

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/ek20090318a1.html

 

Remembering Japanese Characters

 

http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Japanese-Characters-language-library/dp/0804820384

[bikkuri bahn]

You should start with learning hiragana and katakana, which are easy.  This series seems well reviewed:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Learn-Hiragana-Kodanshas-Childrens/dp/0870117092

http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Learn-Katakana-Japanese-Writing/dp/087011719X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a

 

flash cards (though you can make these yourself):

http://www.amazon.com/Kana-Flashcards-Japanese-English-Hodges/dp/0974869430/ref=pd_sim_b_3

[Guest ___]

Do however note, you need to practice everyday, and if ya start to miss days, you do start to forget. I started toi get lazy on my hirigana and kana's and now I'm practically back to square one even though I had been studying Japanese for over ten years. It always made me wonder if I went a week or a month without reading English., typing or anything if I would forget how to read/write. I sorta forget old things when I learn new ones, just like when I took that adult eduicati0on class at the community college on home wine making and subsequently forgot how to drive home.

[westfalen]

I use iKnow.co.jp now called Smart.FM

I might look into this, it would be nice to be able to read a bit of Japan Railfan Magazine as well as admiring the pictures. When I visit Japan I start to take some of it on board but by the next time I go I've forgotten most of it though with a bit of deduction you can work out what some things mean.