learning japanese...

[chidokan]

I bet you speak japanese better than you do iaido and kendo, young lady, after watching your performance at Xmas....

Tim ( thats sensei to you young madam) Hamilton

may the world forgive me for letting her train.......

[Paburo]

the best thing you can do to learn fast besides going to japan or marrying a nihonjin onna(don't let your wife read this :D) is joining a school or a private teacher(often more expensive).

there are plenty books and resources on the net but let's face it, most of us mortals do not take things seriously if we don't have a schedule, tests, and someone after us correcting our mistakes.

[nodachi]

Good advice that doesn't require high expenses of paying for schools or private tutors is to take many small steps.

If I try to study for a long time then I rarely do it. I find that I am more consistant with my studying if I study for 10 or 15 minutes each day. It is short, but it is easy to fit into the day somewhere instead of trying to schedule a big chunk of time and then being discouraged if I don't have time to do it. Keep this up everyday and you will learn quite a bit.

For example, I am studying Kanji. I learn 4 a day. It seems really slow, but after a few months you can see that you have accumulated a lot of information. Just gotta think in the long term.