Best software for learning Japanese?

[joeyj]

I know Rosetta Stone is good but its too expensive. What software for under a 100 bucks is good? I've forgotten a lot of Japanese, so I need to catch back up.

[spoonybard]

OK, so there's this website called GenkiJapanese, and when you play the games there, you'll supposedly learn the word for a certain thing in half an hour. Personally, I don't believe this, and I've never tried so... Plus, I knew a girl who taught English in Japan, and she says it took her two years to learn the language.

Anyway, there's this: Learn Japanese - Start to Speak Japanese in Minutes

You get a free trial for a week where they give you access to EVERYTHING. Haven't actually started listening to the stuff yet, but many recommend it, and there's a lot of people that have gone there that seem to have learned much, so I suppose that's your best bet besides conversing with one who knows the language pretty well.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by joeyj

I know Rosetta Stone is good but its too expensive. What software for under a 100 bucks is good? I've forgotten a lot of Japanese, so I need to catch back up.

No software is good for learning a language beyond the basics. If you've got to "catch back up," chances are there's no software that will help you unless you customize something like flashcards yourself.

If that's the case, just download Anki and make flashcards. I've been doing that off and on for the summer and have improved my kanji and vocab retention substantially (e.g., approx. 20 kanji/wk in June and then off and on review all summer while preparing to take the bar exam and then going on a big trip.

For kanji and vocab for someone of at least intermediate level, Anki + customized flashcards is all you need. For grammar, I highly doubt a program like Rosetta or anything is going to help.

I'm assuming you're intermediate based on your OP.

[spoonybard]

Actually, my father works for customs and he said that one of the employees was going to go to Brazil, and the government gave him the money he needed to purchase RS for Portuguese. He didn't go because they didn't need him after all, but he wound up learning Portuguese anyway, and it was because of Rosetta Stone. If it's as bad as you're making it out to be, I doubt it would be as expensive as it is.

[Googlyguy]

I tried Rosetta Stone (Torrented lol) and honestly it didnt do crap for me

[joeyj]

Getting different feedback here from everyone heh :P I guess everyone has their preferences. I'll try a few of the suggestions put up here and see what that does for me