i need help in my japanese learning

[gaaraluv4me]

Is there a better way to learn japanese than to learn from cds. Whenever i try to learn from my cds it dosnt stick in my mind i forget practicly everything. i get side tracked to any tips for me to learn the language. :oh

[Yoshitsune]

Uh...there are other threads about Japanese here...just visit them or take Japanese classes, or get a tutor who knows Japanese

[reepa]

Dude, CDs will ONLY help in pronounciation, and just make the language more familiar. If you really want to learn then get out and purchase some good Japanese learning books for beginners. And go on from there...

[The Black Knight]

onegaishimasu ....you need to learn proper pronunciations first.
Then learn some hiragana and katakana. When you move to kanji make sure you learn proper stroke order, other wise they can come out wrong, give you the wrong radical, and make it impossible to look up in the dictionary.

Then after you learn it, check out my explanation of particles in my advanced class thread; it's the 1st post.

Make sure you know that the sentences are Subject-Object-Verb. What ever is attached to your wa (spelled with character for ha) particle is basicly confined to the beginning, and your verb is confined to the end. The rest of the sentence can be in just about any order since the particles show the grammatical role they have.

i.e. Watashi wa Sumike-Kaito desu.
Watashi - formal/polite way to say "I"
wa - is your topic marker particle, something we don't have in English. Conversations have topics, Sentences have Subjects (marked by ga). Whatever is wa is your topic of the conversation, and most of the time becomes your subject......but not always. So in this case the conversation is about watashi (me), and watashi is also the subject in this sentence too.
Sumike-Kaito - obviously my name
desu - Known as the copula by scholary types, it is the verb that basicly means to be/is/am/are. Where ever you can put an = sign between your subject and predicate, desu is the right verb for you!

You go to a bank and say

Sumimasen, Eiteimu (ATM) wa arimasu ka
(Excuse me, Do you have an ATM?)

They say hai, arimasu..... or iie, arimasen
If they say hai then you can say

doko desu ka?

They will say [polite (casual form)]
Kochira (koko) - Here. Refers to something close to the speaker
Sochira (soko) - There. Refers to something away from speaker but close to listener
Achira (asoko) - (Over There). Refers to something that's close to neither speaker or listener.

Let's break these sentences down, shall we?
Sumimasen, ATM wa arimasu ka?
Lit... Excuse me, As for the ATM, does it exist?

Sumimasen - Excuse me, sorry, etc.
ATM - hmmmm Automated Teller Machine
wa - topic marker particle
arimasu - form of to be or exists for location of inanimate objects. Japanese have no equivalent of have so [word] ga arimasu is used for have.
ka - question marker particle. When placed at the end of the sentence it makes it into a question

Hai - yes
arimasu - in this case it means it exist (the ATM)
iie - no
Arimasen - negative form of arimasu

doko - means where



Also order in Japanese tends to go from general to the specific. As with dates it goes: year, month, day, hour, minute, second.