I want to learn Japanese but.....?

Question

I want to learn Japanese but I'm on a tight budget right now. Does anyone know any online books that I can download that are free. I want to learn how to read and right Kanji as well but that can wait until I get the basics down. So can anyone help me?

Answer 1

I love Japan, and Japanese is a fun language.  I don't know of any books you could download per se, but if you go to:

www.learnjapanesefree.com

They can teach you much of what you need to know.  I love that website, and the name of the website is self explanitory and very true!  I love it!

Also, go to:

http://www.learn-japanese.info/

As it is a great website, especially if you like charts and grammar points.  

Answer 2

You can try this link:-

http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/

I am now learning Japanese too.

Answer 3

I lived in Japan for six months and it's not as hard as most people say it is.  I also studied Spanish and I think Japanese is easier.

As for reading and writing, learning to read Katakana is very helpful along with some basic Kanji, but learning to write in Japanese tends to frowned on by the Japanese because it takes years to get the strokes better than a six year old.

Easy Japanese by Jack Seward is  good start and it's small enough to carry around with you.  It's available from Amazon for as little as $4 used.

Answer 4

I hear ya. Here are some links:

http://japanese.about.com/

http://www.japanese-online.com/

http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/

Good Luck

-Ian