Learning Japanese in Taiwan

[Charlie Phillips]

This is actually good to hear, as it broadens my options a bit more. I don't have very specific plans yet, but I intend to acquire gainful employment in Japan sometime in the next few years, probably English teaching. Hopefully the couple years of experience I will have (and Japanese proficiency) by the time I decide to "island hop" will be good enough to get a job.

Yeah. I originally planned to spend a year in Taiwan and then move on to Japan and ever onwards. Good luck with that.

[tsukinodeynatsu]

Japanese is taught all over here, but the Taiwanese have their own particular accent and like to teach you all these intonations which are a) not very important and b) mostly wrong, the way they say them @.@;

To be honest with you, I'm yet to meet a Japanese teacher who didn't teach it like it was the most confusing language on the planet, and I'm also yet to read a textbook that doesn't teach it in the same manner.

Japanese is not a very difficult language. It's very DIFFERENT, but in essence it's very simple. I would suggest that the best way to learn it is to teach yourself. Get a phrase book (something like lonely planet) that explains the structure and has the hiragana and katakana. Once you can read and have a very, very basic idea of how the language goes together, grab a dictionary and a verb chart (if you can't find a verb chart, I drew on up somewhere so PM me) and get your hands on some song lyrics or a children's book or something and start reading or trying to translate them. (I originally used manga, a dictionary, and the English version so I could compare them when I really couldn't find out what a word or sentence structure meant.)

There are sites all over the internet for learning Japanese thanks to the anime and manga movement, what you want is one that describes the particles. When learning Japanese you need to know verb forms and particles (which tell you how the words relate to each other). Again, i can probably dig one up if you'd like.

Yes, you'll suck at first, but you'll slowly get better.

Once you have a little bit of a grasp on it (so maybe six months or so) find a native tutor to practice talking with, because you'll probably have missed out on some very basic stuff using this method (like numbers or colors or how to ask directions XD).

Whatever you do, and whatever people say, don't start learning -masu verbs first. Everybody learns them first because they're more polite, but they really mess up your understanding of the language. There's a reason children use plain form and slowly start using more polite language; plain form holds the language together and relates to all other aspects of the language, polite forms don't. When you're comfortable using plain forms THEN start learning -masu. I promise you learning Japanese will instantly be 50% easier than the way almost everyone else learns it.


EDIT: Just realised that you're not a 100% newbie, but my advice still stands. Reteach it to yourself, don't get a teacher until you have a basic grasp of the framework.

And Japanese employers will only be interested in JLPT Level N1, which you will most likely not pass until you've lived there for a while unless you're very, very good at memorising textbooks. Most employers will accept an N2, but N3 or lower isn't even worth your time if you're looking at using Japanese professionally.

[Katakaio]

Yeah. I originally planned to spend a year in Taiwan and then move on to Japan and ever onwards. Good luck with that.

I come from Delaware, a state in the US which has a reputation for being a bit of a "black hole" itself (I mean, have you even *heard* of Delaware before? Of course not). Obviously, I escaped its gravity and got here =] . It's not the place, it's the person... preaching to myself here. I can certainly see how easy it would be to get "stuck" here. But I have ZERO interest in "settling down" here. I studied Chinese culture in college for three years. Veni, vidi, vici. I'm ready to move on to another culture. I understand it and respect it, and honestly do love and appreciate some things about it, but don't want to live in it long term. That means that the odds of me being in some relationship that keeps me tied here is minimal, barring any stupidity on my part =] . And it's those clingy, can't-leave-the-rock Taiwanese girls that seem to be what keeps most guys here =] .

I would love to say that I have the gumption to learn Japanese on my own, but frankly, I am not disciplined enough to do all of that digging and research for myself. I'm just being honest with myself about it. You pay the money to have someone else do that legwork for a reason... either because you are too lazy to do it yourself or to save time. I kind of need both, to be honest ^_^ .

I appreciate your advice on ru verbs, though. I remember when we started getting into te form in 106, I was thinking to myself, "Why the hell didn't they start us with ru form? it's obviously what everything is built on...".

Duly noted on Taiwanese people having a funny accent. I had actual Japanese people teach me the language in college (barring one middle aged American man who had lived in Japan as a child and who knew the language par excellance).

I am really kicking myself for not bringing my Genki books. Even if they are confusing at times or "backwards" in how they teach, they're a useful resource.

Hmm, yes, I really should read manga, I know that will help. Not to mention manga is cool anyway =] .

Any further ideas/recommendations are appreciated.

[Katakaio]

In addition to the matter of learning the language itself, it would be nice to have a resource to learn social mores... not interested in going over there and being rude all the time, either unwittingly or on purpose.

[Chris]

Years ago I took a Japanese course through the National Chengchi University Extension. Very good course, but the medium of instruction was Chinese, so vocab was all equated to Chinese words, grammar and other language concepts were explained in Chinese, test translations were between Chinese and Japanese, etc.

[Icon]

In addition to the matter of learning the language itself, it would be nice to have a resource to learn social mores... not interested in going over there and being rude all the time, either unwittingly or on purpose.

Back in the ol country, I was taught Japanese by JETRO volunteers. They made sure that we learned not only the language but little social mores. As a matter of fact, our Teacher Murata managed to teach us how to use chopsticks properly, and up to this day I get compliments on that from Taiwanese people.

Are there any JETRO taught courses available in Taipei?

[Ravintolassa]

Does anyone know of any intensive Japanese language programs in Taiwan? Or know of any good native speaking tutors?

Japan is too expensive for me to study in. I am already literate in Japanese to some extent, at least being able to read YA novels. But I can't hold a conversation at all. I'm just looking for a way to practice speaking in a structured environment.

[Rotalsnart]

I'd like to recommend this course for oral speaking practice.
http://www.9393.com.tw/

Can you give us the reason you recommend this place for speaking practice?

[anotherlaowai]

I was also thinking of doing some Japanese study.
Anyone have any experience with Global Village?
I studied Chinese there back in about 1990, and had a great experience...
But I would guess quality varies from branch to branch.

[asianeyes]

Hi everyone!

was wondering if anyone living or studying in Taiwan can share ,if you or your friends have any ideas, which local universities are well-known for their Japanese language and literature degrees (bachelor's). Had some questions about how many faculty are Japanese native speakers, the teaching approach, the textbooks, are courses in the junior/senior years all taught in Japanese, etc?

Many universities there offer Japanese degrees but I haven't be able to find reviews or rankings of any programs ( I maybe wrong). Curious about the level of spoken and written Japanese in Taiwan as there seems to be tons of japanese learning materials. How does the standard and level of Japanese in Taiwan compare to Japan?

Any international students out there who are majoring in Japanaese in Taiwan?

Thanx