Hey all. I'm dead set on learning Japanese. After years of watching dubbed anime, I'm starting to believe that some things are lost in translation, and I don't wanna be lost anymore!

I was thinking of purchasing Rosetta Stone (the complete package) as a means to learning the language.

My question is, have any of you ever used it to learn another language (doesn't have to be Japanese)? I want to know that if I shell out $500 that I'm getting my money's worth. If you have used it, how was your expirence? Was it easy to learn?

If you haven't, and you learned a different way, what did you use? Was it cost effective?

Thanks in advance for your input!

I have been using the Japanese Rosetta Stone (only the first part so far) and I have found it real easy to remember the words and where to use them in sentences so far. Pronunciation can be tricky, of course, but the companion audio packs help. Only thing I find difficult to pick up is writing it out, which you can switch from hiragana and kanji, so it gets a little confusing. But, so far, I give it thumbs up!!

That program is not worth $500. If you want to try it, I would advice procuring it from a free source somewhere on the internet.

Or take that money and invest it in a class if you want to learn Japanese properly.

Keep in mind though that a lot of Japanese used in anime is colloquial - sort of Japanese slang - and not something covered in a textbook. A class will help you with the basics but you will have to watch a lot of Japanese tv to pick up the nuances.

I made a thread similar to this before. There are a lot of good suggestions on that thread: www.dokuga.com/forum/10-off-topic-discussion/55486-learning-japanese#55893

That being said I have purchased a small learning book that covers the basics, it has been easy for me to learn with the exercises and I find it easier to watched un-subtitled videos and listen to music and feeling more comfortable doing so, I'm only a few months into learning, but I'm actually learning.

It is called 'Read and Speak Japanese for beginners' I got mine from Barnes and noble it is only $20. After I finish the lessons in this book, I do plan on purchasing a more advance learning program(most likely Rosetta Stone).

Try and find some people on skype that speak English and Japanese fluently, see if they can help, also watch as many un subtitled videos(I would stay away from anime, because from experience, anime uses a lot of slang or non proper ways of speaking) but watch documentaries or interviews, or even the Japanese dramas(or movies) this will be a good way to learn too!

wow, these are way more helpful (and far less expensive) then my suggestion to go with Rosetta Stone lol.

I can't speak to the Japanese Rosetta Stone specifically, but I do know that Rosetta Stone is an effective way of learning a forgein language. Its not fool proof. There is always a glitch or two when your instruction isn't from someone whose first language is the one you are trying to learn.

Rosetta Stone is used by the Government to quickly teach their employees who need to learn another language for the job. Two of my friends had to learn French in a matter of weeks and they picked it up enough to function for the purposes in which the intruction was necessary; light conversing situations and meetings.

I have a friend using Rosetta Stone to learn to speak and write Chinese. She loves it. She said she downloaded a pirated copy, but, of course, it didn't come with the subscription to speak with a person who is fluent in that language. She said that part was what she likes the most about the program. Now when she says something, she can be sure that her pronunciation is correct.

I did most of my learning in classes, so I can't speak to the effectiveness of Rosetta Stone. But what I can tell you is that there are a lot of resources on the internet to get you started. Plenty of websites have exercises that can help you learn your kana and other stuff for beginners and are only a google search away. No matter how you decide to go about it, good luck on your studies!