Welcome to Rocket Japanese

Here are some guidelines on how to get the most out of your Rocket Japanese course: Rocket Japanese is a beginner's course in three main components: 1) audio lessons, which you listen to; 2) textual lessons, which you read; and 3) learning games, which you play. But all three components have one thing in common: each one of them involves your own active participation. With the audio lessons in the Rocket Japanese Interactive Audio Course, you will add your own voice to the conversations that are the focus of each lesson, both by repeating words to practice your pronunciation, and by saying the correct word or phrase when prompted by your host. These audio lessons come with supplementary written transcripts. With the textual lessons, which focus on the grammar of the Japanese language and view it in its contemporary cultural context, you will walk through the various steps of how to change articles, adjectives, and verbs, how to build more and more complex sentences, and how to write in Japanese. These text-based lessons are illustrated and contain embedded audio clips for new words and phrases. With the software-based learning games, you can test your memorization of Japanese words, sounds, and verb changes through dynamic game-play and receive active feedback in real time. By including all of these components, the course caters to many different learning styles, and you are free to explore the course material in whatever way you'd like. But there are some GUIDELINES that you may want to follow when taking your first steps on the path to understanding and speaking conversational Japanese: STEP ONE: Listen to the first three lessons of the Interactive Audio Course. This is the best way to acquaint yourself with the sound and rhythm of the language, as well as your two speakers, Sayaka and Kenny. For the first time you listen to these first few lessons, we suggest doing so without the written transcripts, so that the focus remains on listening comprehension. STEP TWO: Go back and listen to the lessons again. This may sound like unwelcome advice, but you will find that you will often have to go back to go forward when learning any new language. The process is incremental, which means you will only be able to take in so much at any given time. But you will notice not only how much more of the material you recognize, but also how much quicker you pick things up the second time around. The second time you listen to the Interactive Audio lessons, you should be comfortable enough to refer to the written transcripts of the conversations. You'll find that your comprehension will skyrocket when you are able to see what the language looks like. Keep in mind, however, that even if you keep the transcript in front of you when you listen, you should always try to THINK of the meaning of what you hear BEFORE you read it (even if that means continually pausing the audio track to give yourself more time for the meaning to appear in your head). STEP THREE: When you have found that you can comfortably listen to the audio lessons, AND participate in them on cue without getting lost or overwhelmed, then it's time to explore the lessons that make up the Rocket Japanese Grammar & Culture Series. These lessons dive deeper into the mechanics of the language, and also reward you with relevant explanations about where, how, why, and when to use the language skills that you have gained. The added benefit of the "cultural notes" that are included in each section is that you will gain a richer understanding of Japanese society and - ideally - you will have much more to talk about! In total, there are 31 lessons in the Grammar & Culture Series, and these correspond closely (but not exactly) to the 31 lessons in the Interactive Audio Course. When you reach the stage where you are confident with the audio lessons, it may be a good time to set yourself a more regimented schedule of progress. For example, you may do one audio lesson plus one grammar lesson each day for a month, or every other day (getting through them in two months). However strict a path you want to follow, always remember the magic word: incremental. That is, if you decide to set one day aside to stuff your head with five lessons, it is very unlikely that you will retain most of what went into it! Also, even when you are well into the course, you can only make things easier when you go back and listen to the lessons over again. You'll hear your own Japanese accent getting sharper each time. STEP FOUR: Get your game on with Rocket Japanese's range of software-based learning games. Even though we've listed this as a possible step four on your fast-track to learning conversational Japanese, you can use these learning games at any time, and especially when you feel like you want a break from sustained listening or reading with regard to the other course material. Because they are so entertaining and easy to use, the MegaJapanese games make "motivation" an after-thought. No matter how "competitive" you think you are, you will find these games a welcome challenge, and gain great satisfaction when you see your score improve each time! We do suggest you follow one guideline in structuring your learning: Before playing the MegaHiragana game, it would be best to wait until you have completed the first third or so of the Grammar & Culture lessons. Here's why: there are three types of MegaJapanese games: o MegaVocab o MegaAudio o MegaHiragana The first two will allow you to build your vocabulary (MegaVocab) and improve your recognition of spoken Japanese (MegaAudio), and these two games do not require much if any background learning. The MegaHiragana game differs in that it involves the fundamentals of Japanese writing. This will be covered in the Grammar & Culture lessons. STEP FIVE: A fifth step in the process of learning conversational Japanese with your Rocket Japanese learning package doesn't necessarily DIRECTLY involve any of the materials included IN the package! But it is still a most essential step: PRACTICE and SHARE what you've learned. We implore you to take what you've learned and practice it in the real world. Whether that means saying the date and time in Japanese whenever you check it yourself, or teaching your dog commands in Japanese, do whatever it takes! There is also a fantastic resource to share thoughts and get answers to any questions that may be stumping you: the Rocket Japanese Leaner's FORUM. This is a virtual helpdesk where you not only get answers and advice from the Rocket Japanese team but also from fellow learners who are often working with the same material you are. Even better, YOU can give answers and advice to them, and that's a great way to reinforce your own knowledge. All of the components of the Rocket Japanese language learning package were mentioned in the suggested "Learning Path." In summary, those components are: • The 31-lesson Interactive Audio Course • The 31 Grammar & Culture Lessons • The MegaJapanese range of software-based learning games: o MegaVocab o MegaAudio o MegaHiragana • AND the Rocket Japanese Learner's Forum on our web site (the place you are right now) *** Ganbatte! Rocket Japanese :D

Hi I have started Rocket Japanese and find it very informative. One question though, I am an avid Japanese film fan. Will Rocket Japanese be enough for me to translate films or will I have to do a further advanced package? Look forward to your suggestions. Thanks

In my experience so far, the two will be perfect for eachother. I haven't followed the course nearly as rigidly as I said I would, I tend to do like 11 hours and then forget about it for a week which doesn't really work, but for literally about 90% of the time with japanese films I hear words I'm sure I've learnt but can't quite remember, which I guess means that if you do the course properly (unlike me), then you will know what 90% of those words mean. Fun :D I mean, don't finish the course, stick on Shinobi and expect to be fluent, that's not gonna happen, but once you can understand most of the sentence, then you can internet the word you don't know, so you're learning continues (the average movie script is 120 pages. That's a lotta dialogue). You should also bear in mind that anime and modern Japanese films almost certainly use informal forms and slang, which caught me out a couple of times when I was trying to translate a word I actually already knew in a more formal form. (As you are probably realising, I am not the brightest of people). Above all, stick at it, when you get to the level where you can understand a fair bit of films, you'll be motivated to keep going, but till then (if you're like me) it doesn't seem like anything's happenning for a while, but it is. And it's been fun for me to keep a list of my favourite japanese sentences, like Koko kara toi des ka -Is it far from here (sounds so japanese to say it) And my new one for the today which I will probably never use: Wagaoya no , shinuru toki ni mo, he o kokite Even as my father lay dying, I farted.

Im working my way through the lessons and can understand most of whats being said in the lessons, but when i try to give an answer to a question i cant seem to get it out even though i know the words....is there a way to help me with that part?

Try Pausing :D No, seriously, if you're having trouble speaking (which you should, it's another language) then pause it and make sure you get the answer right, don't rush it just to keep to the gap in the audio. There are also transcripts of the lessons on this forum somewhere, so read along for a while. I've just finished a psychology A level, and an interesting thing is that phoenetic learning (repeating sounds) isn't nearly as powerful as semantic learning (understanding meaning). What I do is translate each word of the Japanese sentence into english and have that in front of me when repeating it, understanding each word, not just the whole phrase, seems to work. So for example, I didn't learn Koko kara toi des ka = How far is it from here? Instead I learnt each word and then have "Here from far is (?)" in my head when I say it. Learning phrases by wrote, there are only a hundred or so you can learn in this course, but if you learn each word (like the audio course does for you) separately first then you can make your own sentences as well. Hope that wasn't just a block of stuff you already knew, it seems like common sense reading it back now. Ganbare!:D

Hi, you said that there are games to be played....where are these games? I see that this post is over a year old so I figure that it was something that has been changed, but I wasn't sure. Arigato gozaimasu.

Konnichiwa Timkern-san! Yes, the Rocket Japanese Premium Course includes the following games: 1. *MegaVocab* Software Learning Game -_ Remember Tons of Words_ 2. *MegaAudio* Software Learning Game - _Understand Spoken Japanese in a Breeze_ 3. *MegaHiragana* Software Learning Game - _Take All the Mystery out of Japanese Writing_ You can find this in the Lesson number 8 in Rocket Japanese Premium Stage 2 titled: __*MegaJapanese Games*__ If you have any further questions, please let me know. -Sayaka :P

This is just basic Japanese words I can see,,,can you have a space for translating words Tagalog and English to japanese