How to start learning Japanese/Korean

This question is mostly for those who aren't native speakers of Japanese.
How did you start learning? I learned Hiragana and Katakana but it does next to nothing in communication. I have also purchased several books of "how to" and they haven't helped me improve much. Could you steer me on the right track? I'm still in high school so I don't have much free time.

I'm afraid learning a language is not a walk in the park. Firstly, you have to accept that lots of effort has to be put in.

Unless you are exceptionally gifted in learning languages, "I'm still in high school so I don't have much free time" ain't going to help you.

If you are really interested and are prepared to consistently invest some time, look to attend a class to at least get the basics in place. A group class would help because you'd get practice by communicating with peers. Once you have the foundations, then you could look to upgrade through self-study.

I am a native speaker of Japanese, but since I've been trained to and have taught the language to English speakers, and my spouse has studied the language as a non-native, so I guess it's OK for me to reply :)

Having learned the hiragana and katakana is a bit like saying "I've learned the alphabets, so how can I master English?" :) I recommend you get yourself a structured textbook, or as suggested, attend classes. You would want to not just learn phrases from traveler's phrasebook (though those may come in handy for a short trip to japan), but learn the grammar through step-by-step lessons. Good luck finding useful schools/textbooks and enjoy learning!

Well first are you sure you want to learn Japanese or Korean ?

That is the first question you should answer for yourself, because learning 1 or both language are an other thing as learning French German or Spanish.

Asian languages are really difficult so it will make you frustrated in the first week and month.
I�Lm learning Japanese by myself so I know it.

If you wanna learn:

-Buy a good textbook, my favorit is ''Genki''. For beginner it�Ls really good.

-When you can read katakana & Hiragana. Try the books ''mina no nihongo''. Only then because else you couldn�Lt read it.^^

Maybe search a Japanese teacher a real teacher and not only a Japanese who wanna try to help you. because they will try but they don�Lt really know how to educate you.

I have a Japanese Teacher she helps me really good, in working with the books.

Some other tipps:

-Make a language tripp to a language school in Japan.
It�Ls interesting and will help you.

-Talk with your Japanese friends Japanese, at begin it only will be some words but it�Ls a good training.

Japanese isnt an esay language to pick up its not like you can study it for a couple of months then boom your fluent. The only was to learn it is to hit the text books which will get you started. Then you may want to take it up at University and of course practice as they say practice makes perfect.

How about youtube?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_PQQT_RX7c&list=PLEDDF3FC5BA6C602E
http://www.youtube.com/user/japanesepod101/videos?view=1
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL720F3D1BF6095970

BTW, I think maybe Korean is easier than Japanese because I heard they have no Kanji now.

Honestly, my advice is: study hard, study hard, study hard. I'm fairly good at picking up languages, and yet I still studied at least an hour a day when learning Japanese. It was especially hard because there were no native speakers around me, so I had to learn on my own and made many mistakes. But learning a language is generally something that takes years. I'm in my 3rd year of learning Japanese at university and I still wouldn't consider myself a fluent speaker. I can get by in Japan, but it's still going to take some time until I feel I can call myself 'fluent'

So yeah...it takes a lot of time and a lot of study. I know you said you don't have a lot of time being a high school student, but trust me, learning a language is a lot harder than anything you learn in high school. You're in this for the long haul. Good luck :)

i will give some advices, cause i try to learn japanese by my self. i don't speak english very good (i speak french perfectly). first of all you need a smartphone. i have a samsung and i upload manyg free applications that are very helpfull.
1. OBENKYO (this application will helps you to know and practice hiragana and katakana. you can choose a part of the alphabet and practice. you will find also some lessons) and when you will be able to recognize each sign, you can practice the KANJI menu) OBENKYO is very helpfull and easy.
2. you should practice the "listening". if you are intersted in "anime" that will helps you a lot.
3. you need a dictionnary in order to do some researches. if you are curious you will learn a lot of words. apload "AEDICT". when you tape a word this dictionary will give you a lot of "expressions" and "sentences" and a lot of explanations
4; if you are bored, you can also try "simple kanji Quizz", this is great too
5. "JA SENSEI" gives a lot of advices, but i don't know if you can find the "english version"
6. in order to improve you self and motivates you, i invite you to do some research about "JLPT N5". this is the elementary english test. that helps you to know what is the elementary Kanji that you should learn.
7. Use "youtube"every day, especially "fluentjapanese" even if lessons are fast and also "Waku Waku japanese" that is fun and you can watch it many times.

it's not easy to learn japanese because it's different from other languages (i speak arabic, french, english and some spanish). but i think it's not hard like arabic, Arabic is very very very complicated.
Kanji is difficult. You should learn how to read it. that's complicated, and someday that's makes me "angry". So i practice every day (if i can't practice kanji i watch some videos on youtube)
i learn english by my self, i work and i study, i have two children, and i wake up early in order to practice japanese. Because i love those people. And i want to exchange with and may be involve my self in a project between japan and my country "Morocco". So YOU NEED TO HAVE A MOTIVATION. A TRUE ONE.
i can say that you will learn hiragana et katakane within somes days, but when you will begin to learn kani, that will be hard and you can give up. So don't ! and be happy

No matter what your going to have to find time to learn Japanese. It's not a language you will be able to pick up in a year or two unless your living in Japan during that time.

I started learning Japanese in sophomore year of high school and I had to find time in my schedule to have my classes (I hired a Japanese teacher outside of school). It's been 6 years since then and I'm still taking classes with the same teacher learning the language.

I really wanted to learn so I didn't mind the extra work on top of my already busy sceduale (7 classes, 2 after school clubs, and an hour commute to and from school every day). I don't regret my decision though since I now know the language fairly well and I know the time was well spent.

So if your serious about learning first thing you need to do is truly committe yourself to it. Make the time, study hard and often! I would take my books to school and study during any free time I would have.

I would advise to try and find a teacher some where in your area. Try to find out if there is a Japanese weekend school near by and see if any teacher will be willing to help you (that's how I found my teacher) or even look online for Japanese tutors. And I mean certified teachers by the way, you'll learn more from them then just a random person who offers to help you out.

If you can't find a teacher then try some online programs. I'm not one to use language programs online since I prefer human interaction when learning but I'm sure there are good ones some where.

Books that my teacher used to help me were Japanese for young people and Mina no nihongo. Both are easy and good textbooks in my opinion but there isn't much English in any of them so this is where a teacher would come in handy.

Really everything is up to you! There is no easy way to learn any language especially an Asian one. I don't know much about Korean but I'm sure it also takes a lot of time and effort as well. If you really want to learn both I would do it one at a time in order not to get overwhelmed or confused.

Good luck on your studies!