[Article] Learning Japanese through Visual Novels

Aaeru

New member
Sep 14, 2011
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Learn to read Japanese in 2 years time - by reading VNs and watching anime
This post has been updated to include Anime as a learning option as well
http://visualnovelaer.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/how-to-read-visual-novels-in-japanese-in-2-years-time-step-by-step-guide-%E2%80%95-learn-to-read-through-vn-or-anime/



it takes about 1.5 'productive' hours per day for ONE year and you will be reading in Japanese (I said 2 years in the guide because it's being realistic). this is the funnest method I know.
no need to drill through thousands and thousands of model sentences if you can just read VNs or watch anime. Also you only learn how to READ Japanese, you don't learn Japanese as a whole. you wont be good at speaking it, listening to it or writing it.
 
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Hello. ^_^
I first encountered your blog while looking for a guide in self-studying Japanese. I've started playing pc otome games and am using AGTH. I'd like to ask what is its difference with ITH? Do TA works on it as well?
 
Thank you very much! I will use this guide + 1-2 other learning methods and hope I will "soon" learn how to write and read :3
 
Thanks a lot, man. This will be a big help someday. If you don't mind me asking Aaeru-san, do you know how to write kanji traditionally?
 
do you know how to write kanji traditionally?

nope not one bit!!

i can type kanji though for example i can still write an email to an online shop the other day telling them not to cancel my ps vita, which ultimately i think is more useful for overseas ppl.

do you know how to write kanji traditionally?

nope not one bit!!

i can type kanji though for example i can still write an email to an online shop the other day telling them not to cancel my ps vita, which ultimately i think is more useful for overseas ppl.
 
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nope not one bit!!

i can type kanji though for example i can still write an email to an online shop the other day telling them not to cancel my ps vita, which ultimately i think is more useful for overseas ppl.



nope not one bit!!

i can type kanji though for example i can still write an email to an online shop the other day telling them not to cancel my ps vita, which ultimately i think is more useful for overseas ppl.

I already have those Aaeru-san. What I mean to say is do you know a site where they can teach you how to write it by hand?
 
I already have those Aaeru-san. What I mean to say is do you know a site where they can teach you how to write it by hand?

you can't learn write kanji by hand alone, even if there's a guide book... you need a teacher first! to teach you how to wrote basic kanji!

otherwise, even if you manage to do it alone, you'll spent years for mastering it, even though you could master it in a few week training
 
you can't learn write kanji by hand alone, even if there's a guide book... you need a teacher first! to teach you how to wrote basic kanji!

otherwise, even if you manage to do it alone, you'll spent years for mastering it, even though you could master it in a few week training

Oh, so I'll need to find a good instructor first? Okay, thanks for the help Anima-san.
 
Nice and interesting Blog Aeru-sempai. What i cant say. Keep it up :rolleyes:
 
Nice guide, the best way to learn a language is through immersion. That said, if you really want to learn Japanese quickly just sign up for some classes. They're expensive but you don't have to dedicate years to them if you don't want. You can get the books used in many of them for free online. The main thing is to make friends and study/talk with them. If you can hold a conversation in Japanese reading comes naturally.
 
animaksiat-san i have a guide book, but i know what to do, please your enligthment.......
 
:reallyconfused:hmmm... maybe i have a guide book and naving a text book of japanese, and i know some few of hiragana and katana, i mean is what i should do if i studied a kanji of japanese, because tthe kanji from chine (mandarin) is look diferent from kanji on japan.....:cramming:

so please your enlightment...
 
as for beginners i recommend you to buy Minna no Nihongo vol.1 set along with the cd! that's should give you a good start.
 
:reallyconfused:hmmm... maybe i have a guide book and naving a text book of japanese, and i know some few of hiragana and katana, i mean is what i should do if i studied a kanji of japanese, because tthe kanji from chine (mandarin) is look diferent from kanji on japan.....:cramming:

so please your enlightment...

You are also facing the same problem with me here. Also both learning Mandarin and Japanese. Basically most of 200 basic characters are all the same but the problem is that Japanese people use a lot of different words from the Chinese like I, sky, ... It's kinda very confusing to learn both of them at the same time since you won't know the right way to which one to use for Japanese or Mandarin. Depending on where you live, if you stay in China like me, I'd suggest concentrate on Mandarin first. Learn Japanese only the face of words only and the spelling.

If someone wants to learn Japanese properly, I suggest buying the Colloquial Japanese, the complete course for beginner. I already bought it and it's quite easy to use and learn. I also use the Skitter website to help me practice with writing skill and vocabulary. Too bad that both ways of mine do consume money. But if you want to gain something, accept to lose something. Well, hope my advice help.
 
Thank you so much for this awesome post! Saw this a wile back but put it off because i figured there would be a lot of configuring/troubleshooting involved. I installed the programs for games yesterday and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

The text hooker is a lot more user friendly than AGTH, and the Translation Aggregator works really well giving not only translation but also an auto dictionary, I could even set it up so it shows the English characters equivalent to the Japanese characters.

Again, thank you for sharing this awesome learning resource.
 
you can't learn write kanji by hand alone, even if there's a guide book... you need a teacher first! to teach you how to wrote basic kanji!

otherwise, even if you manage to do it alone, you'll spent years for mastering it, even though you could master it in a few week training

Yeah, you're right, thx :)
 
Hey guys. New poster here. よろしく! I think people CAN master kanji on their own. Using:
  • Remembering The Kanji by Heisig
  • this font with strokes order on all of Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji
  • Anki (a flashcard program utilizing SRS algorithms so that you don't forget), and the Lazy Kanji Mod public deck (check this and this image on how to get the deck, and the program's site FAQ on how to use the aforementioned font. You might also want to check the link in the deck's description)
  • and this pdf with magic squares of awesome on it to write them Kanjis inside
  • as well as an available printer and a few months

it's quite possible to learn how to write and know more or less the meaning of 2042 Kanji (the last 150 will be way to easy). Maybe not how to read them, but it's a good start.
 

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