WaterLily Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I have a 10 year old who has been asking to learn Japanese for the last year or so. I've told him that I think that's an interesting idea but I haven't done much about it. He not only wants to learn Japanese but says he plans to go there and maybe even live there someday! I'm realizing that he is serious about this (as serious as a 10 yo can be) and I want to help him out, so I'm looking for something to help him learn Japanese. I don't know if I should go for a curriculum or just some kind of "introductory" kind of book to get him started. I want to get him something so I can be supportive of his interests because you never know where this will lead, but I don't want to overwhelm him with something too difficult that may discourage him. So I'm open to any suggestions! :) Karen in CO - As I was looking through posts trying to find any recommendations for learning Japanese, I saw a post of yours about your son that caught my eye. "...he decided he wanted to "draw better." We used Mark Kistler's Draw Squad. After that, he became interested in drawing Manga which I was not at all a fan of. Manga led to an interest in Japanese which is one of his majors along with International Relations - in Japan." I think you said your son was in middle school at the time? I found it so interesting b/c my son is very much into art/drawing and that may be part of the reason he's drawn to Japan. It was fascinating to see how your son's interest actually led him to Japan! Just very interesting. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I would highly recommend Irasshai. My 11 year old has been successfully using this since last year. The instructor is fun and quirky. The lessons are very engaging. Do a search on the board for more info; here are a couple of threads to get you started! Have fun. ;) http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162972&highlight=irasshai http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148442&highlight=irasshai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Wilhelm Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I have a 10 year old who has been asking to learn Japanese for the last year or so. I've told him that I think that's an interesting idea but I haven't done much about it. He not only wants to learn Japanese but says he plans to go there and maybe even live there someday! I'm realizing that he is serious about this (as serious as a 10 yo can be) and I want to help him out, so I'm looking for something to help him learn Japanese. I don't know if I should go for a curriculum or just some kind of "introductory" kind of book to get him started. I want to get him something so I can be supportive of his interests because you never know where this will lead, but I don't want to overwhelm him with something too difficult that may discourage him. So I'm open to any suggestions! :) Karen in CO - As I was looking through posts trying to find any recommendations for learning Japanese, I saw a post of yours about your son that caught my eye. "...he decided he wanted to "draw better." We used Mark Kistler's Draw Squad. After that, he became interested in drawing Manga which I was not at all a fan of. Manga led to an interest in Japanese which is one of his majors along with International Relations - in Japan." I think you said your son was in middle school at the time? I found it so interesting b/c my son is very much into art/drawing and that may be part of the reason he's drawn to Japan. It was fascinating to see how your son's interest actually led him to Japan! Just very interesting. :) Wow! I could have written all of this about my daughter who is 13!!! She is sure that she is going to go to Japan for College/University...... she is loving drawing Manga/Anime...... she wants to learn to speak Japanese..... she converted my computer to Japanese Characters the other week... (I wasn't happy...I had to figure out what she did and undo it). We have a language school/camp up here... Concordia Language Camp, or something like that... she has found out about it and is dying to go.... I am stunned at her tenaciousness for this fascination with Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoundAbout Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) If you can find the Pimsleur audio series at your library I highly recommend that for getting started with speaking the language. They are short 30 minute lessons that you do orally along with the CD. I lived in both Japan and China and used Pimsleur before going - amazing stuff. Not flashy like Rosetta Stone but way more effective I think. Edited February 5, 2011 by RoundAbout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I'm still having my first cuppa coffee so this is just random thoughts. I didn't "let" him study Japanese until he was old enough to take classes at the local cc. The teacher there turned out to be the teacher at the other two colleges in town also. And she was terrific. He took Japanese class 2-3 semesters a year from 10th grade through his senior year. We looked at colleges that had majors in Japanese, but I had never considered him going to Japan for college. It was just too far outside of my realm of experience. After he had been accepted to the schools he applied to but never made a choice, he texted me one day from Japanese class that he knew where he wanted to go to school - this was May of his senior year. The school he is currently attending was doing a presentation in his class. He teaches Hiragana to the girls on his breaks using this book. We get Rosetta Stone free from our district so my youngest is using that so that she can speak to her brother. I've heard good things about Irasshai, but haven't used it. I had thought Japanese would be too hard for him, but it wasn't. It was hard enough that he, Mr. Everything-Is-Easy, loved it. If you have a language camp or one of the language schools for kids that you can get an instructor then that would be the best place to start. Also check your local paper for events by the local Japanese society. There are also summer camp language trip companies that take kids to Japan for a hefty fee. My ds attends an American university in Tokyo. 60% of the students are Japanese most of the classes are taught in English. He takes Japanese every semester which was an immersion class from the beginning. After the first semester, you can apply for a work visa. He is now teaching English in a Japanese kindergarten. He'd previously been waiting tables. Way back in middle school, he did a lot of reading and drawing Manga. There are some interesting books Japanese in Mangaland that he worked through also. Once he started taking classes, he learned Hiragana and Katakana then started working on Kanji. When he started with art, I had no idea that he would end up in Japan. I was just trying to help him find something he was interested in. Here is a link to his blog. He mostly updates it when he needs money, but he has some great pictures, a couple of videos and a discussion of some of his classes and experiences. As his English teacher, I've been very disappointed that the longer he is in Japan, the worse his English is. If you have any more questions about the process, I'm always happy to talk about my ds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I'd also look at the NHK stuff. http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/index.html You can listen and they have a downloadable PDF book. And they have lots of cute broadcasts. Even stuff in English about Japanese customs. They're nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) Human Japanese is an app we like and I think its also in software format for desktop computers. We are not far along with it so no long term experience to relate. http://www.humanjapanese.com/home.html Edited February 5, 2011 by Ray Added link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 You can see if it's offered free on livemocha.com? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaterLily Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 I just wanted to say thank you for all the input/recommendations! My son is very excited about these possibilities so we'll try one or two of them and see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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