I really want to go to Japan?

Travel Info
I really want to go to Japan and there is a chance that i might do so in a about a year or so... but i want to know what to expect. I'm trying to learn how to speak Japanese but i think i need to know more than that. Does anyone know where i can take lessons or learn about Japan.

Travel Tips

If you want to be ambitious it is possible to learn the rudiments of the language in a year. If you really apply yourself you can gain some level of competency and be at a conversational level within that time.

The first thing you need to learn is of course the writing styles of which there are 3. Two of them are phonetic (Hiragana & Katakana) in which the characters are strung together to spell out words. One of them is picture based (Kanji) in which the character stands for a specific word. To be considered "literate" in Japanese society and to read the paper you need to know about 800 of these kanji with around 2000 being the total. Don't worry, there are scores of Japanese people that don't know them all.

As for learning the language there are ways. The first and most obvious way is to take lessons. I'm sure your community college, adult learning centre or Japanese community centre has some kind of course for this. Otherwise, maybe you can go for some audio courses. Things like the Pimsleur method is a quick and dirty way of learning a foreign language. It's not perfect as some of the words used are archaic or uber-formal. For example, they use the term "kannai" to refer to "my wife". It's totally correct, but it's also very sexist and is rarely used. The term "tsuma" is more appropriate for that.

The other option is of course to get a book from your local bookstore and work from there. It's not an ideal solution as you really need to hear the language in order to be able to speak it.

Good luck.
Others

ISI Chukyo is quite affordable. But it's a bit out of the way. 20 minutes on a bus from Gifu station takes you to nothing other than farms.
Yamasa in Okazaki has the most intensive courses if that's what you are looking for.
I want to go to Japan too!

I don't think you'll need to learn Japanese just to visit there. Unless you're planning on moving!

The best thing is just to find a blog of someone who has moved to Japan, read about their experiences and gain as much help as possible. Research the culture, currency and politics.

If you are planning on moving, i'd recommend a visit first for you.
First, try to pick up some books and learn some phrases.

Go onto craiglist and advertise that you want lessons. Also try a paper.

If you have iTunes, I like to listen to JapanesePod101.com. It is a great podcast.
I tried learning Japanese before I came to Japan from a book at it was completely useless (I got laughed at everytime I opened my mouth!!) ...definately take a class if you can find one. It definately helps to know the phonetic pronunciation than you can go from there. Learning Katakana will also help you as most foreign words you see on menus, buildings and the like are in Katakana. Don`t get too worried about Kanji (except for maybe food words, or how to use a atm machine), there are just far to many and you will learn them more easily once you get here.

Don`t get too hung up on the Japanese culture stuff either.. besides the obvious (taking your shoes off when entering a house,taking a shower before getting into a bath tub and basically having manners) nobody really makes a big deal out of foreigners being foreigners. Another one of those things people laughed at me about as I was so concerned about not offending people and tried all of those techniques like bowing, etc.! My host family actually thought I was being kind of nervouse and standoffish at first. Once I relaxed and was myself then people started opening up and we all had a great time!
Japan is alright. I lived there 3 years and got sick of it.

I'm tired of Americans over romanticizing it just because of Lost in Translation and anime nerds.

I did this and found out I was wrong.

They're nice people but only to your face. They still think you are a dumb foreigner and they are stumped as to how the lost out on WW2. No matter what you will do they will think of you as fat and slow and hairy and lazy.

I don't like fake people so maybe I'm biased. But if fake is what you like move to LA or Tokyo.

Japanese women are annoying too. I'm down with the Asian persuasion but it has it's limits. I now prefer westernized Asian women!!

Learning from a book is good and practical. Speaking it is technically easy but getting down the accent will be done there. I am fluent and do work in the US on Wall St in NYC. This I am grateful for. The overseas experience was great too! But I love NYC and it is totally better than Japan! The Japanese people in NYC know this and they are really cool compared to the people back in Japan--that's why they come here!

But, like grandma's sound advice, you will not listen and will most likely need to experience it for yourself. Which I highly suggest!

Good luck in Japan!
I'm not trying to discourage you...but whatever you learn within a year is not going to be good enough for you to get by in Japan. Japanese is not easy to learn...you need to learn not only Hirakana...but Kanji too. Nobody in Japan expect you to speak Japanese either. You should try to go where the tourists go so that everything is already translated in English.