Hello Looking for a Japanese helper.

[Xanvius]

Hello everyone my name is Michael and I am new to this forum. I stumbled across it from trying to learn the hiragana and katakana characters. I was wondering if anyone would like to assist me in my journey of speaking this wonderful Japanese language. I have skype and msn for conversing with. If you would like to help out someone who is very interested in learning the language and is a very good studier please send me a PM. Also I could help you with English in return for Japanese! (English -> Japanese)

Also I was wondering if I am very new, about a few days into learning, should I start with hiragana and then katakana? Or should I do the reverse, or should I start with neither and do some other type of learning? Thank you for your time and thank you for the help in advance!

~Michael

[Xanvius]

My contact information for those who do not wish to go through the hassle of a PM ^^
MSN: Phantomcal@hotmail.com
Skype: R3dz0n3

[superabbytcs]

I would suggest learning hiragana first. You will use it a lot more than katakana. And make sure you really have hiragana down good before you learn katakana because there are several characters that look similar in katakana to hiragana characters and it might throw you off.

[superabbytcs]

Also, if you are learning Japanese independently by means of books, other language learning materials and/or the Internet, I would strongly suggest getting into a class or finding an actual tutor. Japanese-English dictionaries alone for example will not be enough to master such an intricate language as Japanese, unless you're using real Japanese-teaching curriculum. I am saying this from experience. I tried to teach Japanese to myself for about 3 years using only dictionaries and then I took Japanese last school year and I learned more in one week than over those three years of trying to teach myself.

[Xanvius]

Originally Posted by superabbytcs

Also, if you are learning Japanese independently by means of books, other language learning materials and/or the Internet, I would strongly suggest getting into a class or finding an actual tutor. Japanese-English dictionaries alone for example will not be enough to master such an intricate language as Japanese, unless you're using real Japanese-teaching curriculum. I am saying this from experience. I tried to teach Japanese to myself for about 3 years using only dictionaries and then I took Japanese last school year and I learned more in one week than over those three years of trying to teach myself.

こんにちわ
Is there any online classes that I may be able to take? I don't believe there is a class here in my town to teach Japanese. I already started hiragana with flash cards and such but I know this will not be enough. Do you recommend any classes if there are any online?

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by Xanvius

こんにちわ

Can we at least learn to write "Hello" correctly?

[Xanvius]

Originally Posted by Sashimister

Can we at least learn to write "Hello" correctly?

Sorry I thought that was the way it was written.
こにちわ
Is that the correct way? If not please correct me I am just learning.
Or is it this.
こんにちは

Did some google. It is the second one I think ^^

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by Xanvius

Sorry I thought that was the way it was written.
こにちわ (<--This one is even wronger than your original. )
Is that the correct way? If not please correct me I am just learning.
Or is it this.
こんにちは

You've got it the third time! Just proves how useless romaji is.

こんにちは！

[Xanvius]

Originally Posted by Sashimister

You've got it the third time! Just proves how useless romaji is.

こんにちは！

Haha thanks for the correction Sashimisterさん this is why I am trying to learn hiragana and never write in romanji.. lol ^^ Thanks again!

[superabbytcs]

Originally Posted by Xanvius

こんにちわ
Is there any online classes that I may be able to take? I don't believe there is a class here in my town to teach Japanese. I already started hiragana with flash cards and such but I know this will not be enough. Do you recommend any classes if there are any online?

Well, I take it as an elective in school. I am in online school but I'm pretty sure you can't take classes from my school unless you're actually enrolled. I'm sure there are classes you can find, I don't know any off the top of my head though.

One thing you should make sure to do is practice actually talking in Japanese out loud. I get embaressed and uncomfortable when I actually speak Japanese aloud to people because I don't practice it enough.