Konnichiwa!

So... I've always had this curiosity about the japanese language and its writing system and those, for me, weird and complicated characters, the Kanji. As I've been stepping further into the anime/manga world and hearing the japanese language more and more, the characters stopped being weird and became fascinating xD. I've decided to take the challenge of learning japanese.

Now... I'm learning on my own using books and online websites. I already know all the hiragana and I'm planing to learn the katakana as well, so I can finally tackle the kanji.

Because I'm learning on my own I don't have anyone to correct my writing and I sometimes feel insecure about it.

I'm looking for a (...patient...) japanese person to help me do this.

What I'm thinking is... It would be a good opportunity for that person to practice their english and it would also be good for me because I'd have someone to help me in my quest. xD

I could scan the pages where I write the hiragana/katakana/kanji and upload them somewhere so that the person could point out the mistakes and whatnot or we could exchange emails to make things easier.

So... If there are any japanese people out there who would be so kind and help me out... It would be much appreciated if they could answer this post or send me a private message. ^^,

Arigatou Gozaimashita!

PS: Also... uhm... I'm a 20 year old portuguese guy. So... I'm not a native english speaker, but I speak and write fluently in english.

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Maybe the 2nd post in this thread can help.

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Yes yes, I know I make longwinded comments, but that's just me >.<
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So keep in mind I'm filled with typos

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or 3rd post http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=41486

http://www.sharedtalk.com/ is a great resource for talking to native speakers. I used it a long time ago (when I had the free time) to talk to native speakers. Just as I wanted to learn Japanese, the people I interacted with wanted to learn English. So it's a great exchange of teaching and learning.

http://livemocha.com/ is probably a lot better for beginners and people starting out, and it's free. It's like an education plan, more like a class, maybe? I guess once you've grasped more of grammar, move on to sharedtalk.

Or your choice. Since you're learning on your own, just find a style or method that best suits you.

Good luck.

edit- Typed this post up too fast. Typos.

Last edited by Pikapu at 8:15 am, Jul 15 2014

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If you got an android smartphone, try Kanji Recognizer. It's the best app for learning to write (and read) kanji imo.

Apart from that, read a book about basic grammar (there are lots of pirated PDFs on the internet) and try reading school life shounen or shoujo manga in Japanese for a start. The vocabulary used there is usually pretty basic and so it helps you learning common words and grammar. Good luck!

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If you're looking for corrections on Japanese writing mistakes you should try lang-8.com it's a website specifically for that.
and good luck, it's a long journey but as long as you enjoy it, you won't notice time passing by.

Thank you so much, people! I'm new in this site and the more I stay on it, the more I like it! Your replies were all very helpful!

And yeah, I know it's not going to be easy but I'm motivated and when you're motivated, dificult things become easier.

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Yes, you're worthy!

I'm glad you like it, jonytep. Actually I like Japanese very much, to the point where I read everything I can in Japanese, and try to teach Japanese to my sister who doesn't really care about it. But well, there was another tip I didn't mention because it was related to grammar and I think you still don't want to move on to that. There's this guide to Japanese that actually makes me laugh when I read it and that's why I think it's better than others since laughing while learning it's the best way to learn. It's from a guy named Tae Kim. Maybe you can give it a try, and see if it makes you laugh, then you won't find grammar so tedious.
And also, when it comes to Kanji you should try to make each Kanji look funny and as if they were telling you a story. There's a guy named Heisig who wrote a book on how he made a short story for remembering every Kanji, the book is called "Remembering the Kanji". There's this website that has a platform for using his method, you also get a sample of the first chapter of the book. Though, in my opinion, he failed to retain the readings of the Kanji where one could learn both at the same. I recommend to read only the prologue of the book to understand the method. And the method is correct because Kanji rarely are related to the way they are pronounce they are more about the meaning behind words that sound the same.

@frodfy
You know... Among other reasons, it's because people like you that I like this website. I already knew those books, Remembering the kanji, Remembering the kana, and also that grammar guide by Tae Kim, (I have all of them in paper, except for the grammar guide but I intend to print it soon ), but thanks for the suggestion! That material actually helps you learning the language and more... they make you eager to learn it.

I'm assuming you know japanese then, may I ask you how you learned it? What do you know? Did you have any help from a native? I'm really curious about it xD if you want, PM me so we could have a little talk about that, and avoid spamming this thread xD

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Yes, you're worthy!