Resources to Learn Japanese

[N0valok]

I want to attempt to learn to read the Japanese in this game. Mostly to be able to play the vita version. Can anyone point me in the right direction with some resources to get started. Hell if Rosetta stone will do the trick or something similar i'm game!

[Boltzmann]

Rosetta is crap. Go with Tae Kim (http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/).
For dictionaries I suggest http://jisho.org/ and http://www.alc.co.jp/
For additional software I recommend Anki(memorization) and Rikai chan(Firefox automatic lookup extension).
You'll also need an IME to write in japanese. Assuming you're using Windows, it has Microsoft IME built in, you just have to activate it.

I'll warn you though that trying to start with japanese outside the PC can be hell. The only way to look up unknown kanji that way is either drawing them on a recognition software or searching by radical on a dictionary, which can be quite time consuming. On PC you can at least copy everything on the chat box to a browser window and dissect it with the help of Rikai chan.

[N0valok]

Thanks for the suggestions, i've started watching the videos from Tae Kim.

As for learning on pc, my saving grace i think is i have a Surface Pro which has a Wacom Digitizer so writing on my laptop will be no issue.

[Silver Crow]

I only play on the vita, I can read and write Japanese enough to get by. Try to get both Kana down first, then learn the Romanji of certain Kanji, so you can type it using the romanji keyboard on the vita which automatically sets the Kanji or gives you a selection to choose from. To read Kanji... you would really need to study the Radicals and delve further into the Japanese language world...

[N0valok]

Its just really hard to know where to start.

[Rayden]

TextFugu (http://www.textfugu.com) is a really good online Japanese textbook for beginners, not just for the teaching, but it's very motivational too. You have to pay to access the whole thing, but it's very cheap, there's a lifetime refund, and the first season of it is free anyway. Members also get big discounts for other Japanese learning resources such as WaniKani, JapanesePod101, and Gakuu.

WaniKani (http://www.wanikani.com/) is a great website for learning kanji and vocabulary with mnemonics and SRS. I think it's in closed beta though, currently only available to TextFugu members.

Genki (http://www.amazon.com/GENKI-Integrated-Elementary-Japanese-Edition/dp/4789014401) is a very highly regarded physical textbook, which you can acquire for free if you know where to look.

Lang-8 (http://lang-8.com/) is a website where you can practice your Japanese by writing posts and having native speakers correct you. In exchange, you help others by correcting their posts in your language.

Dr. Moku (http://drmoku.com) has nice, simple mnemonics for learning hiragana and katakana very quickly.

Real Kana (http://www.realkana.com/hiragana/) is a helpful website when you're first learning hiragana and katakana, and it's used by TextFugu. It basically tests you on all the characters that you choose (so you can just choose the ones you've learnt so far), for as long as you like. It can also mix in different fonts to get you used to the different styles that you'll see the characters written in.

Edit: I second Boltzmann's recommendation of Anki and Rikaichan. There's also Rikaisama for Firefox, which I've heard is superior, but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet. Anki is an incredibly useful tool for memorisation; it's used a lot throughout TextFugu.

[Vetur]

I don't really know about specific sites for learning grammar rules and all that(I've just used Google which leads to various sites/blogs), but I often use this site to look up any words I don't know, or need things like the kanji, or examples of sentences with the word. It's very in-depth:

http://jisho.org/words/

If you need a quick instant translation, there's also Google Translate among other translators... but I'm sure you know that it often will translate badly if the sentence is mildly complex or has slang/abbreviations. The same applies to English and any language.

I find that watching dramas and anime is a good way to learn casual Japanese(especially with pitch/tone) which is okay to use in online games(of course you should still maintain common manners).

If you party with Japanese people, be sure to say "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.", or it will be impolite not to say anything. That is one of the complaints they have of foreigners. You can end a party with "Otsukaresama deshita. pt arigatou."
It's usually okay to type in Romaji if you do not have Japanese IME keyboard setting.

If you need some additional Japanese tips for PSO2 specifically, I have made a text file with some commonly used Japanese for PSO2:

http://f.audaxinc.net/doll/pso2JPtoEN.txt

[reptile7383]

I used a droid app called "katakana - Learn Japanese" to learn Katakana which is the main script used in PSO2. That'll let you navigate many of the menus and items. Learning this script will probably get you the most benefit quickly. Two weeks and you should be able to pronounce most words (maybe at the level of a 5 year old but its something :lol:) and a lot of the items and menus are just engrish really. For example トルネードダンス is Torunēdo dansu which is really Tornado Dance

Learning Kanji is much more time consuming has theres over 2000 common use Kanji,many of which mean different things depending on the symbols around them, that you would have to learn and honestly I doubt it worth it just for one game