Study time management

Courses around where I live won't start till the fall, but i'm a little eager to get a head start.

Had a few questions about learning japanese:

1. Should you learn the basics through speaking before starting on reading & writing?

2. Do you split your time with speaking & reading/writing? (E.g. 2hours of study, 1hr with speaking & 1hr with reading/writing)

3. For someone who is taking this seriously, approximately what would be a good study period for the week? 15-25hrs?

4. The store I came across had only two versions of learning japanese on CD. Pimsleurs Japanese beginner/intermediate/advanced (expensive, so might assume its the better one) & "Living Language, A Random House Company". My question is if anyone knows if they are either good or one being the more effective version.

Thank you for your time

Qns 1. People who is learning a language tends to be able to write and read better than speaking. However,if you dont manage your hiragana and katagana well in the beginning or before the course starts,you will be facing alot of difficulties. Therefore, i believe it will be nice if u can start your vowels and learn how to speak at the same time.

Qns 2
How are you going to practise your speaking?through CDs?Its not a bad idea. At least it will help you to catch up faster when the course starts.

Qns 3
Good study period. Revise all your work after each lesson and before the next lesson will helps alot. As for how long you should study is different individually. As long as you finishes what you are suppose to do will be sufficient.

Qns 4

Buying CDs to practise is not a bad idea. frankly speaking, to me, i think the best solution might be learning japanese songs. For example, as you know they have something called kanji too. In japanese songs, they usually have hirgana or katagana attached with the kanji. I believe it will help to speed up your speaking. Also, you can try watching japan manga. Some of my friends pick up japanese fast because they watch mangas alot. Of course, you need to really concentrate what they are speaking.But, the most important of all is to master your hiragana and katagana first.

Hope it helps.