Learining Japanese Options

[jcdietz03]

How to learn Japanese?

I know a few words from watching anime - All of them are nouns. Verbs are a total engima. Could someone explain Japanese verbs - and maybe give examples of common ones? I am looking for "To be" and "To go" since those are very common.

Also - How would you go about translating Japanese text? How do you enter it into a computer even? Is there a dictionary somewhere that will let you "Look up" Kanji?

Random stuff I feel like posting:
-chan: Not sure what these are called but this one you use with a friend (Informal)
-san: Like Mr. or Mrs. in english (Formal)
-senpai: Senior. Doesn't have an english equivalent.
-sama: Master.
-niichan/kasan - Brother/sister - Not used in english.

I DON'T KNOW JAPANESE BUT I LIKE TO PRETEND I DO!: Cute.
neko: Cat.
nya: The sound cats make. Meow in english.
sugoi: Amazing
inu: Dog
henge: Transform
jutsu: Technique

When viewing subtitle anime the words above are usually used w/ few other words making them easy to pick out. Even when watching multiple times, I can't pick out all the words in complicated sentences (Like the Inuyasha Intro).

That's funny - the board system will replace ka_waii with "I DON'T KNOW JAPANESE BUT I LIKE TO PRETEND I DO!" - Thats pretty funny. Good one, whoever came up with it.

This post has been edited by jcdietz03: Sep 19 2007, 04:43 PM

[jcdietz03]

Thank you for your suggestions. So the first step is learning the kana. I studied the Hiragana pages at thejapanesepage.com so I know most of them now. I just need more practice to get those last few I keep forgetting. I have problems remembering what is meant by the tenten so I need to work on that still.

I just started on the Katakana (didn't learn them both at the same time like Marionette says...sorry). I ordered this and this (kana flashcards and some kanji flashcards) to help me out with solidifying my knowledge of the kana and starting on the first few kanji.
I still can't read a single word of Japanese! It takes patience to learn...
Are there books (like children's books) that have only hiragana? Or is it better to practice them with flashcards?

Asking for some more advice here... You said get a textbook. On thejapanshop.com the most popular one is the "Genki" textbook. Is that one OK? I think I'll get that and some Kanji books next.

Found this screensaver on thejapanesepage.com. This will help me learn a little faster. I'll install it at home and at work. Hopefully no one from work will give me too many strange looks...

I can type 日本語 (nihongo, or Japanese) characters now. This other board I am on now doesn't support Japanese characters. :-(

This post has been edited by jcdietz03: Jan 20 2008, 01:15 AM