I have faith but let's hope I have enough of it...
 

I'm most likely going to Korea and Japan this summer. But I don't know much of the language except what I've picked up on from the anime shows that I've watched. I went and bought myself a japanese-english dictionary and a beginners japanese book. I really want to learn how to speak at least some basic Japanese before I go to Japan. So is it hard to learn? Can I learn much within 5 months of self teaching??? Any suggestions???

No it isn't hard to learn, although I am curious to know exactly how much, basic you know.**from anime**

To be honest, learning anything from anime, especially language, doesn't help you any.
If you're going to Korea, and yes some people there do speak Japanese as well as some Chinese, do you speak a little Korean? And I'm assuming you' re visiting South Korea, am I correct?

I presumed that you'll be there on vacation, as a tourist. You have 5 months to go and frankly, 5 months is more than enough for you to know what a tourist is suppose to know.
The heck, you could even hold up a phrase book and read to them what you're trying to say. You'll get your message across and no one is going to laugh at you.
After all, that's what tourist are supposed to do. Otherwise, you have plenty of time to read up the basics.

Yeah I know a few phrases/words that are kinda helpful that I got from anime. It's not much though. That's why I went and got a dictionary. I do know a little bit of Korean from my friend. And yes, I am going to South Korea. No way would I be going to North Korea! Not even a crazy person would do that... (not to be racist or anything..) Anywho, I'm glad it isn't hard to learn. I tend to be a lazy person ^^

Thanks! I guess I'll go and be a tacky tourist! hahaha well I was kinda hoping to learn it and then surprise people when they see a white girl from America speaking Japanese. Guess we'll see what happens!

Five months?
I started back in May and here I am in December, holding conversations in ONLY Japanese (with the help of my dictionary and kanji book, of course).

Five months is more than enough to get the basics down, if not the bulk of the language (grammatically speaking). The only place I think you'll come up short on through self study is conversational skills. I can read and write pretty well, but when it comes down to actually talking... Well, I studder all too often and it takes a while for me to spit out a sentence. If you can, try to get audio CDs to go along with the book, if any. They'll really help you get down the hearing part of Japanese.

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