Japanese Self-study

Hey there :)
So like many others I study japanese by myself, and I don't think its difficult but I think it's so much to learn that I just don't know where to begin..
I was wondering if learning japanese by watching drama's/movies help, any experiences?
Or does anyone know a site to watch drama without sub ? ^^

And what about books and websites? :)
I would love to hear your story of how you're learning japanese now or how you became fluent like a native speaker^^ a lot of questions!I'm sorry.

Thanks for reading & replying if you did

Hey!
I've been learning Japanese only for 2,5 years (1 year self-studying) and I'm still far from mastering the language but I can tell you something that I've found useful.

Since you are studying yourself, I think you would find this site useful: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete

Also you may find this online Japanese dictionary helpful:
http://jisho.org/

During my studies I've been listening Japanese music and/or watching jdrama and anime on daily basis, and I believe this has had a huge impact on my listening comprehension. Sadly I don't know any websites that has non-subtitled drama. Only watching jdrama of course wont make you a fluent Japanese speaker but as I said, it has helped me to understand what _other_people_ are saying.

I only have books in my own language (Finnish) so I can't really recommend any series, but I've often heard people talking about "Genki", "Minna no nihongo" and "Japanese for busy people". I hope someone can give you better advice on this one.

Good luck with your studies! I hope you find the best learning method for you.

There are loads of Japanese drama on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxq56lKVd8I

I also find this site interesting linking to Japanese news flashes whilst giving an introduction in English so you know what the subject is: http://www.newsonjapan.com/
I normally avoid the NHK news as their Japanese tends to be rather formal and difficult

I think this is good to learn standard Japanese.
NHK easy Japanese news
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/

Well first are you sure you want to learn Japanese ?
That is the first question you should answer for yourself, because it will be difficult and you wanna maybe soon stop it.

Like other in this forum say you need at minimum about 5 years to master Japanese.

''I was wondering if learning japanese by watching drama's/movies help, any experiences?''

No it wonLt help a starter especialy if you trust on the Subs, because most sub groups change the meaning of the traduction so that it make an sence in the traduction.

Without subs also no for beginner, you wonLt understand anythings. Only after you have some knowledge its usefull to progress your skill in understanding. But only in No sub

And only to learn it by yourself is not good, why ?

Well at first if you have question about something or you donLt understand something from your textbook you have nobody who can explain it to you that you can understand it.

And you will have prononciation problems later.

ILm learning Japanese by myself so I know it.

If you really wanna learn it I recommend you:

-Buy a good textbook, my favorit is ''Genki''. For beginner itLs really good, you have many long and good explainaions.

-When you can read katakana & Hiragana. Try the books ''mina no nihongo''. Only then because else you couldnLt read it.^^ But only if you have a Teacher because in this book nothing is explain.

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, for your prononciation.