For those of you non Japanese speakers of the language. What was the easiest method to learn. My university has a course w/ beginning elements, but I just planned on self teaching myself w/ books and cd-roms. What method did you use? I only want some knowledge for my trip to Japan, but I don't actually intend to come even close to be considered a good speaker of the language. What methods would you reccomend?

go live in japan for few years....

he just said that he doesn't "intend to come even close to be considered a good speaker."

so i say... do what lots of weirdos do and watch anime a little too much. lol

I mean, y'know who some of us have mothers who aren't good speakers of English for example, but they know enough words that you can understand what they're saying during a conversation. I'm looking for that

Some of that anime stuff is just plain crazy. A friend of mine told me that he knew some guy that learned how to speak Japanese form watching porn. Though it might be more intertaining I don't think you would learn that many words. Get a Japanese girlfriend. A few friends of mine looked for American boyfriends so they could learn english better. I am sure it will work the other way around as well.
Where do you plan to go in Japan, by the way? And are you going with anyone who knows Japanese?

UHH i see we are sorta int he sam position. Im going to japan next year in feb 2006 to hokkaido to go to hokusei gakuen University in Sapporo. Of course i do all that i can to get japanese speech exposure. i hang out with any exchange student in the area from japan. I tend to try to chat in japanese chat room now I have a few japanese pen pall that i do language exchange with. i read books on japanese language. Listen to music watch animes with out subtitles to practice picking up phrases and things of that nature. Microphone chats with people in japan over yahoo.video chat with them aswell. But before i did all that i took a semester of elementary japanese. the thing i found was a down fall to learning in a college class is that they teach you very ultra super formal japanese which screws you when you go over there. like they will think you are so square and stiff if you speak with out using any slang or informal language. at least in college withthe youth but formal is okay for people you dont know. I say do what ever it takes to learn you gotta be dedicated though.

why not just learn the whole language instead of some of it????

you either learn it or don't learn it at all.....and when i mean learn it, i mean learn it COMPLETELY :genius:

Thanks for all the advice Mitsu

Eclectic- I'm a full time student, plus have an internship, plus tutor annoying little kids for 8-10 hours a week. I get your point though.

I'm not saying I'll never learn it, but I was always critical of people who said they know like 7 diff. languages. They might know a little from each, but not enough from the ones they like or need most. I already have English and Spanish on my plate and I wouldn't say I "completely" know them. I just need to know enough Japanese. This is a stupid ex. but, let say something as simple as a "staircase bannister". I am not necessarily interested in learning how to say it in Japanese. True, this may not allow me to ever use it in a story, but I think I can live with this. I'll find a way to show that I respect the language w/out actually having to learn the whole language.