Best Practices for independent study of Japanese (to chat level)

Question

I was searching for a similar question but found nothing. (After all I guess that requirements differ from person to person)

So I'm starting from scratch. I've got reasons to study Japanese on my own and believe that it's possible. I don't really want to spell anything correct for a moment, my main desire is to chat on Japanese so I want to create simple sentences, ask questions, understand other people, read/write in Japanese communities.

I started with learning Hiragana, just spelling and writing this is really funny for me since they are symbols. It's very very boring trying to remember them all. That's the main reason why I'm asking for a new approach.

Maybe I need to try learning whole words (simple words) and sentences. And write it somewhere.

Another BIG question is Keyboard. I really have no idea how can I write Japanese here... Thinking about it scares me lot. Maybe I need to buy some special keyboard with Japanese characters?

And I will be surely happy to get some tutorials in any format.

ありがとう

------------------> for comments (Discussion) :

@Dave What is JLU material ? @Nicolas Raoul looking like very good materials to start from :)

Answer 1

For learning words, I suggest vocabulary lists* combined with the use of WWWJDIC** for example sentences.

For typing in Japanese, you do not need to buy a new keyboard. You will need to go to language and regional settings for your computer.

For Windows 7 :

[Control Panel]>[Region and Language]>[Keyboard and Languages]>[Change Keyboards]>[Add]>[Japanese Keyboard]>[Mircrosoft IME].

It allows you to input using hepburn romanisation. (except for ぢ and づ)

Mini Tutorial:

Press Enter after each Japanese word to finalise the word.

Press Spacebar to recognise the input as kanji.

Press F7 to change the unfinalised word to katakana.

Alt+Shift toggles between the your different input languages.

Alt+`(shares the key with ~) toggles between hiragana and alphanumeric in the Japanese IME.

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Typing using Japanese IME

a i u e o : あ　い　う　え　お

ka ki ku ke ko : か　き　く　け　こ

sa shi su se so : さ　し　す　せ　そ

ta chi tsu te to : た　ち　つ　て　と

na ni nu ne no : な　に　ぬ　ね　の

ha hi fu/hu he ho : は　ひ　ふ　へ　ほ

ma mi mu me mo : ま　み　む　め　も

ya yu yo :　や　ゆ　よ

ra ri ru re ro : ら　り　る　れ　ろ

wa wo nn : わ　を　ん

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Voiced kana

ga gi gu ge go : が　ぎ　ぐ　げ　ご

za ji zu ze zo : ざ　じ　ず　ぜ　ぞ

da di du de do : だ　ぢ　づ　で　ど

ba bi bu be bo : ば　び　ぶ　べ　ぼ

pa pi pu pe po : ぱ　ぴ　ぷ　ぺ　ぽ

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Glides (combination of the i column with the y row)

kya kyu kyo : きゃ　きゅ　きょ

sha shu sho : しゃ　しゅ　しょ

cha chu cho : ちゃ　ちゅ　ちょ

nya nyu nyo : にゃ　にゅ　にょ

hya hyu hyo : ひゃ　ひゅ　ひょ

mya myu myo : みゃ　みゅ　みょ

rya ryu ryo : りゃ　りゅ　りょ

gya gyu gyo : ぎゃ　ぎゅ　ぎょ

jya jyu jyo : じゃ　じゅ　じょ

bya byu byo : びゃ　びゅ　びょ

pya pyu pyo : ぴゃ　ぴゅ　ぴょ

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Half Height vowels:

Put x in front of what you're typing, e.g. xa for ぁ

Little つ:

Put 'l' in front of tsu, e.g. ltsu for っ

Auto gemination:

If you type repeated consonants: E.g. bikkuri, it will automatically put in っ for you : びっくり

*Vocabulary lists can be found here

**WWWJDIC is good for example sentences and can be found here