Since i do most things backward i have now lived a few years in Japan and studied Chinese. I will now move permanently to China so it is about time to study Japanese more seriously. What is the best book to use, is it still Genki? I do know my kana and most of the jōyō kanji but need to seriously learn words and phrases. How about podcasts, any recommendations? Japanesepod101 seems ok. As usual Skritter will be my number one app to use and it is so fantastic that I can study booth on the same account. Can't thank Skitter enough for this absolutely perfect tool.

I like the Japanese for Busy People series of books. A lot of other people seem to like the Genki ones instead. Some people criticise the J4BP books for being business orientated. I just don't understand that. I'm on the last few chapters of the last book and it doesn't seem to be about business to me. There are a set of characters who live in Japan, some of whom work at the same company, but it certainly isn't business-focussed in my mind. I just find the books really interesting and there is consistency and character development in the cast of characters. I think J4BP is a work of art. I've also found the "Basic Kanji Book" series good (they don't just have the kanji, but also have a lot of vocabulary and reading passages).

A set of books I also find really useful are the "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" series by Japan Times (guess what the intermediate and advanced ones are called!). You can either use them as a dictionary, or can just read bits of them according to interest.

I really like Japanesepod101. I'd definitely recommend it. I think the quality of the newer podcasts is really excellent. Japanesepod101 and skritter are the only things I subscribe to on the interweb and I think they're both great.

Welcome to the true path.

頑張ってくださいね！

おかげで、私は意志

I will go to the book shop first thing tomorrow and check those out. Thanks a lot! I seldom stick to just one source so I probably get both Genki and J4BP. Just did sign up for japanesepod101 to try it out. Seems to be very nice as well. Well, true path or not, it will surely be fun at least. I really love Japan, much more than China unfortunately. I also have the great pleasure to be able to continue to work a lot in Japan in the coming few years.

I bought a Nintendo DS. I look up video game vocab whenever I buy a new game. Much more fun and more efficient than buying a textbook. You need to learn Japanese the way Japanese people do. Most textbooks are bad.

The little Japanese I do know do mostly come from video games but I would really not call that efficient. Very limited vocab, a lot of low frequency expression, usually wrong politeness degree etc. I where found of reading childrens books as well but that is same story, you can only get to a very limited level and pick up masses of infrequent words and expressions on the way. There is also a very large difference between the way an adult learn compared to a child. I can just look at my two daughters. They learn by listen and repeat and never question anything, never look at rules etc. That is efficient but that changes from around 6 years of age when the brains emotion center takes over and degenerates this lovely feature. Since I am in Asia I am exposed to Japanese/Chinese all days long so I do anyway learn patterns and sounds that way. For phrases, grammar etc I think I will stick with books, Japanesepod101, my teacher and my Japanese co-workers. I did pick up Zults recommended books at the book store today so now it is down to business. Still not sure if this is the true path though;-)

Maybe the video games are too vulgar and “usually wrong politeness degree.” But the textbooks are just “lady's speak.” Reading the scripts of movies and TV shows helps one learns how to speak like a man, but they are really hard to obtain. The readily available comic books are less efficient (limited vocab), but they do show how the language is spoken in daily life.

"lady's speak"? That is maybe a little bit to stereotyped. The books I have checked out do have both male and female expressions to get it right. I do however have female friends that learnt most of their language from males and hence use it in a male way. I am not that concerned over that to be totally honest. That sort of things usually adjust them self once you get exposed enough to the language. Now it is more important for me to build a vocabulary. One source I do use now is all those learn English courses you have on TV in Japan. Even tough it is the other way around they use mostly Japanese and I am able to pick a lot of good words and expressions that way. I also improve my crappy English at the same time. Have tried the manga as well but that is not to my liking.

Actually, Manadarinboy, pts is right. I can understand, and be understood by, women much more easily. I learned Japanese from textbooks and podcasts; it's not a coincidence. The language they use is different. Women generally speak clearly and are more focused on communicating instead of showing off.

I watched The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, last night and I could barely catch what the yakuza boss was saying. It's just different.

I hear what you say but do not fully agree;-) Yes, it is more female oriented but not to the point it is a problem really. Same in Chinese, TV operas dialogues are, luckily, not the same as the ones used in business context. All books and other sources for learning are always very much simplified to start with. You simply can't jump directly in to the complex structures without getting the basics first. Or at least it is not very efficient.

Same here in Japan. I do get understood and do understand (partly) both males and females at my office. I do however have more problems following (overhearing) a female conversation at a club. Fast and the furious is on the other end of the scale. That is not really mainstream male conversation either. In addition to standard Japanese it is nice to learn that as well but I will surely not avoid books due to the "female touch" of it. Better learn them all. This with learning from movies can have rather terrible effect. I guess you as an American are tired of us Europeans using the f word way to much in every conversation. It is easy to get the impression that you "have to" use that sort of language but it is far off from the reality in e.g. business conversations.

Conclusions, I am aware of the different ways of speaking and the sources and will study them all. Study is fun so why limit your self to only parts of the language?

I would recomend iknow.jp

Thanks ddapore99, that seems to be an interesting site. I will try it out.

Glad I could help.

check out

http://japaneselevelup.com

it's a fantastic site that gives you all the information you'll need!

Good luck on your journey!