There have been a lot of good suggestions here. But I wanted to point out something to make sure you start out on the right foot.
It’s こんにちは (Not こんいちは)
Also Human Japanese has pre-made Anki decks that are awesome. They have all of the examples and vocabulary in the app with sound files that really helps with listening. If you use the Human Japanese apps (very affordable), use the Anki deck (it’s free).
And, while I love anime, it’s only ever helped my Japanese when I turned off the subtitles and watched. But that’s not so helpful early on. You need to at least be able to pick out a few words. Otherwise, what should be entertaining turns frustrating and demoralizing.
I’ve been a big fan of the “Japanese from Zero” youtube show and book series. I’ve also taken classes at school, but his explanations of grammar made a lot more sense to me than in the classroom. If I could start over with independent study. I’d definitely pick up his book series, and watch the videos.
If your goal is to learn some words out of it, then why not.
But manga is definitively not representative of how actual Japanese people speak in real life.
I would recommend seeing if a local university has a language partner program. I hang out with mine once per week and even struggling through 10 or 15 minutes of conversation in Japanese will help A LOT.
I think i would say some words is an understatement, considering so far, most of the vocab WaniKani has used to reinforce kanji readings for me so far have been words i know only because of anime/dramas, and that is over 1000 words at only at the start of level 13
Well I meant that in a lot of anime, they talk in a way that is not okay to mimic in real life nor representative of how actual people talk.
I see many people coming from anime getting some bad feedback from the teacher(s) and/or natives.
So yeah, you can learn things from anime but you really should learn proper Japanese if you plan on interacting with actual people someday.
You’ll probably get away with it if you don’t (thanks to the gaijin pass)… I don’t know about you but that’s not how I wanna live my life.
While it’s probably true that anime isn’t a good representation of everyday speech. (I’m not sure what kind you watch.) I still feel it has merit. It’s something that combines visual and auditory stimuli so even if you don’t understand 80% of what’s being said you don’t feel completely lost. It’s less about learning the speech patterns and more about combining study with fun to avoid burn out.
You’re absolutely right. I was just pointing out the fact that you shouldn’t rely on it as a way to properly learn the language.
I should’ve elaborated to avoid the endless sessions of replies lol
I’ve been using Pimmsleur for the better part of a year and really enjoy it for listening/speaking, even if some of it feels a bit outdated. You can get them with Audible credits, should you have an account.
I began with Genki. It’s good for grammar, although the lack of an answer key is extremely frustrating given that, in the early going, you really benefit from being able to check to see if your work is correct and Google translate is, at best, spotty.
I tried Italki for a bit and it ended up being a bit too high pressure for me. Coordinating times is also difficult, or at least it was for me and the two instructors I booked.
Other recommendations:
Watch subbed anime or Japanese programming
When playing games, switch the voices to Japanese. Not only do you bolster your understanding of the language, but as you learn more, you can start complaining about spotty localization!
Well yeah learning grammar and normal patterns from anime is obviously a bad idea, thought you were purely talking about picking up new vocab, in which case I sure hope there aren’t people who mimic anime to such a degree with no proper study.
