Comments on: I am starting to learn Japanese, not for fluency, but for travel.

By: espanol mi amor

espanol mi amor — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:39:59 +0000

“During our second session, we needed to say “kore o kudasai, ” which means something like “please may I have this?” My girlfriend couldn’t remember how to say it, so I held up a piece of mail and said “correo” which in Spanish means “mail”, but sounds very similar to the Japanese “kore o.” This got a laugh out of her and now she remembers that “kore” means “this” in Japanese.”

> I came across this language learning software once, which uses words in English to teach words in another language. It’s pretty much the same with what you did. For example, the word “mallo” means BAD in Spanish. The software would ask you to imagine a bad marshMALLOw, and that would allow you to associate the words. It’s really effective.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:11:16 +0000

You have an exciting trip ahead of you in Japan. I have wanted to go there for a long time. It is quite admirable that you are tackling an Asian language in addition to working on your Spanish. It is a bold step to take on Japanese or Chinese when one has only been previously exposed to purely alphabetic languages. I truly enjoyed the tiny bit of instruction I had in Chinese and would like to continue. This is an inspirational article. Thanks and best of luck.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 19 May 2010 23:19:47 +0000

When we married five years ago, someone gave my husband and me this piece of advice: find a hobby or project that neither of you know how to do and learn it together. That way, both partners are completely equal and pursuing something new together. (We did gardening–my monolingual engineer hubby would not have enjoyed learning a language!)

By: Gert Forsström

Gert Forsström — Fri, 14 May 2010 06:15:16 +0000

Is it possible to learn Japanese just for travels? My experience as a teacher is that you have to build a language from the beginning. It´s nice to know phrases but what do you do when they answer you fast as a machine gun?
But I think your blog is an interesting blog! I´m Swedish myself but I run a Spanish podcast, don Gerardo de Suecia on this address:
http://turbeng.wordpress.com/ I have English and Swedish translations oof many episodes.
Bienvenidos, Welcome, Välkommen!

By: Marta

Marta — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:02:36 +0000

Hi there! You could also learn Japanese with manga. In Barcelona, these books are really famous, I think they’ve been translated into English, too.
http://www.nipoweb.com

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:42:45 +0000

@Stefan: Thanks for the link. I expect that if we have enough time, we will learn some of the writing, but since our goal is to learn enough for travel, speaking and listening will be more important.

@doviende: I love the idea of couchsurfing or even renting a cheap place for a month, but I won’t be able to spend that much time away. It seems ironic to me that it’s actually going to cost more for a short stay than it would if I were able to be more nomadic. I’ve accepted that for now though. I’ve yet to leave the United States so this trip is a big first step for me.

By: doviende

doviende — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:24:56 +0000

Saving enough money for traveling is easier with lower expenses. My plan for this year’s big language-related trip is to extensively use couchsurfing.org, and do a lot of bicycle touring while camping for free wherever I can. That said, even once I pick a spot to settle down in and rent an apartment, most cities have cheaper rent than my home town of Vancouver, so I guess cheapness is a matter of perspective.

Even staying in hostels every night for a month would be more than twice as expensive as renting my own room for a month, so if you’re doing more than just a really short trip, consider renting a place.

By: Stefan Koch

Stefan Koch — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:55:06 +0000

Yes, we always remember the silly things much better than the usual ones. Especially, when we have to remember something totally new. Your method by the way gives the claim that each language you know makes it easier to learn another language a totally new meaning ;)

Thanks for the first link by the way. In case you do not know, you might also like JapanesePod101 [1]. They provide some free mp3-files (basic) and additional commercial information.

I guess all other websites I use are rather focused on written Japanese, except maybe smart.fm for vocabulary which includes pronunciation examples.

[1] http://tinyurl.com/ykxe673