Discount from reusing original course to reboot (long dormant) language? (Japanese)

[Rotasu]

What course (or other) material might you recommend for someone wanting to break free of romaji?

MNN and Genki are your best bets. I read easy stuff that dont have furigana (Japanesepod101) and put Assimil in a text file so I dont get distracted with the romaji in the books. I really read everything in a text file so I can read on the go on my phone using Jade Reader (Android).

[gsbod]

If you really like FSI style drills and want to make them part of your routine, the Harz Jordan course delivers. However, the steadfast refusal to deal with the written language is a real weakness of the course overall.

There is actually a supplement which can be ordered separately which has the text for the dialogues and drills written out in Japanese script, although it doesn't teach you how to read it. Also, as it is the transcript only, if you're relying on the explanations in the book you still have to go back to its bespoke romaji system.

Tangleweeds, in your case I think you'd do better to put most of your energy into MNN and start getting used to the written language, but maybe watch the videos/do the drills for Harz Jordan as a supplement when you're feeling a bit nostalgic for it.

[dampingwire]

So the same problem there, just relocated from the romaji to the furigana. But at least once I'm able to read hiragana that automatically, I will be a good step ahead of where I am now

The 日本語総まとめ books place the furigana under the kanji so you can hide them under a slip of paper. Perhaps you could try hiding the romaji the same way? Still if your problem with MNN is that you read the furigana instead of the kanji, then at least you've taken the first step

[tangleweeds]

If you really like FSI style drills and want to make them part of your routine, the Harz Jordan course delivers.

I definitely like working through variations on the same material, which these drills provide. Looking back at what I wrote, I did fine when doing drills with my little cassette player. It was being observed and judged in a group that triggered massive social anxiety.

Any pure immersion makes me crazy. When it would take 15 seconds for a quick English explanation, but I get a minute-long immersed TL explanation that I could only understand a few words of, this becomes the stuff my anxiety nightmares are built from.

However, the steadfast refusal to deal with the written language is a real weakness of the course overall.

That's exactly why I lean toward focusing most of my energy on the written end of things this time around.

There is actually a supplement which can be ordered separately which has the text for the dialogues and drills written out in Japanese script, although it doesn't teach you how to read it.

Yes our Japanese TAs had that, and it was on my list, not being very expensive either. Whereas the answer manual goes for full price, funny that...

[Bao]

I would probably copy the lesson texts by hand, writing them in kanji and kana. Would need a tutor to check what you've transcribed (or that supplementary booklet?), but for me doing that - possibly not even for the entire textbook - would help more to 'reprogram' my brain than using a new textbook from the start.

[sjintje]

I originally hated Pimsleur, Assimil and MT. Now of course they are my favourites. Your learning style may have changed. Different courses may suit you at different stages of your learning.

[FreeEasy]

I think giving them a look over couldn't hurt as a refresher. If you already own the resources that is a huge plus as well.

I can see where you're coming from in terms of your eyes wandering to the familiar Romaji characters. For me, however, I always found trying to read in Romanji very halting and slow because the Romaji system leaves a lot to be desired in terms of how things should sound. I find it a lot easier to read Hiragana and Katakana sentences because of the stronger correlation between the sounds and the characters. Trying to read Romaji sentences always leaves me feeling like I have marbles in my mouth.

[tangleweeds]

Apologies for the silence here, I wrote a long post with detailed responses for several people, but managed to lose it in spite of Lazarus. Over the course of several days I went to a couple of bookstores a couple of times each to browse the JSL level 1 books and scout used prices. and my lost post was written in the middle of all that. Fortunately I didn't realize it was gone until after I made my decision, because having written out my evolving thoughts made me feel secure in how I'd re-evaluated some very emotional reactions.

Basically, the devil is now sad because I no longer consign romaji to him. I've adopted smallwhite's attitude to view romaji as a handy "cheat", a phonetic script I have (extensive) training in. And from that point of view, JSL is a good chunk of audio input with phonetic transcript and translation, with drills for output. It will be neither as scary nor as effective as it were presented enforced live, and that's just fine with me. When I browsed the books I realized how much I liked the grammatical sections, and I that do remember a lot.

An interesting thing I learned was that while the new Japanese The Written Language only covers katakana, the field test edition of JWL covers hiragana and some basic kanji too. I didn't find used copies of JSL that I liked the condition of, but I got a really nice copy of the JWL field test edition at Powell's.

And after chewing on Minna no Nihongo for a few days, I will admit diving straight into an unfamiliar phonetic alphabet is rocky, too. However the internet gods, when they accepted the sacrifice of my lost post, blessed me with http://realkana.com/, available on the web and on iOS. This is the kind of learning drill I thrive on. I get to choose what to test on and change things up as my needs evolve.

[tangleweeds]

So the books arrived today, and so far it feels like smallwhite was right on the money:

Reusing the same textbook works well for me, too. It's feels like EVERYTHING I used to own comes back, or MORE than everything even, as this second time round I can often get even more out of the book.

It reminds me of re-reading a novel, where you can appreciate how the author sets the stage for upcoming developments.

On the other hand, I would find this textbook very heavy going if I were studying on my own, never having taken the course before.

The Japanese language transcript works great as another all Japanese / romaji free resource to study from, but one that has a lot more audio to go with it than Minna no Nihongo (which only came with one CD).