Has anyone here successfully learned Japanese just for your hobby?

[Epic_Lotus]

Has anyone here successfully learned Japanese just for your hobby, whether that be Famicom games, manga, anime, ordering Japanese car parts, etc.?  I know lots of people here have probably taken some basic Japanese courses at college, but I mean becoming nominally fluent just to enjoy Japan's cultural commodities?  I'm finishing college in 2 weeks (yay!) and I'm considering picking up my Japanese studies again on my own time.  I do actually enjoy learning, just not so much in an academic setting.  I thought, aside from the usefulness of the mental exercise, it would be a fun way to garner greater enjoyment out of some of my hobbies. 

Anyone have any thoughts?  I already own the Genki series of textbooks and CD's, and have a multitude of supplemental material.  Any helpful hints on how to stay the course and follow-through?  I don't intend this to be a speed run at the language, maybe 5 years to hit fluency.  I look forward to your comments!

[Bramsworth]

I did this, though I can't claim fluency since it's just a hobby i.e I don't use it much outside of my room  No Japanese people live around here, I'm pretty much confined to just using it for myself.

But I learned it all on my own, and by coincidence I used Genki also, though I only did the first book. Afterwards I bought this: http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Basic-Japanese-Grammar/dp/4789004546/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291777155&sr=1-2

..and then the intermediate book. Never got the Advanced one, but then again I did download it and was overwhelmed with the amount of grammar I never see used in anything thing I read or watch, so I don't consider it too important.

What I did was watch Japanese TV constantly. It took a while to understand it, and I was always thinking how it sounds like chasing after a train, with how fast they talk. But I got it eventually. I also bought Jack Halpern's Kanji dictionary after finishing the Genki book. I also read, all the time. Tons of stuff on the net to read, it keeps you attached to the language so you don't forget it, also makes the supposed difficult Kanji easier to remember. I can read most news articles without a problem now since I always made sure to keep reading, everyday.

It's definitely something you can, and honestly if you even care at all, should do on your own. I took a college course(2 semesters) after a year of self study only to finish the course having learned zero. Both semesters were practically the whole contents of the Genki book(only the first one, not both) at a snail's pace. Huge waste of time and it finally completely got rid of the idea in my head that classes are the way to learn anything. If you really want to do anything self-study is always the way I think now. Plus once you know all the material it gives you easy A's, going into a class knowing everything already

The only way to follow through is to have a genuine interest in anything Japanese. Granted I'm sick of Japanese TV now, I liked it a ton back then, and it kept me interested. And I always loved understanding stuff on the net, from detective websites to celebrity gossip, and of course the popular 2ch message board. If you have CDs, forget them. Screw those things, if you want any real form of immersion then outside of going to the country, TV is the absolute BEST way for hearing comprehension.

Anime too, if you like that sort of thing. I never watched anime throughout my several years of study, but somewhat recently started looking into it and was kind of amused. I always heard people that I guess knew the language go on about how anime isn't a proper way to learn Japanese, people talk different and crap etc etc. Now I see how full of shit they are. I guess they thought stuff like Lum's ending sentences with "dacha" in Urusei Yatsura is something people would think is how you are supposed to speak, and you end up picking that sort of speech up. Total bullshit, and anyone with half a brain knows how to identify what's regular speech and what's a character's unique way of talking.

I also recommend http://www.jgram.org/index.php  You can probably learn all grammar there actually, I never discovered it until a few years after studying so never really used it, but it looks like it covers all info you need and honestly pretty much feels the same as following those grammar books I mentioned up there. Then again, it follows the JLPT system, which contains a lot of grammar you don't see often. Another reason to read all the time, since you'll start noticing what grammar is used all the time, and what grammar only comes up under a legal document :p

Five years is a pretty long time, if you really care and keep at it, you'll be understanding everything within 1-1.5 years time and not even notice it. What's important is to not only care about knowing it for one thing, like games. if you use it nowhere else outside of studying you won't really be excercizing your mind with it, which why I keep saying you need to read a lot, especially since it keeps you up to date with vocabulary.

I'm probably not too coherent here, just saying what comes to mind. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. BTW, one other thing to look out for: language competition. It's very real, and the amount of condescending people out there is ridiculous. If you hang around the right places you also get to meet the elusive people that act like they know the language when they know jack squat. If you're seriously venturing into the world of learning Japanese I'm sure you're come across this stuff on your own. Just remember not to let it get to you and try to ignore those people

[jpx72]

Thanks Bramsworth for that long and exhausting post! I was looking for somebody to say it that way. I am not so desperate about learning japanese anymore