I'm trying to teach myself to speak Japanese (it's not really going so well - only real reference material I have is a book called "Japanese in Mangaland" by Marc Bernabe - very simplified stuff and a glossary of basic kanji. I know the syllabaries (mostly) and some basic grammar, but very little else (kanji especially gives me problems.)
Two questions;
Does /lang/ know of any good sites/resources for beginners of Japanese?
Is there anything on Hokkaido-ben that doesn't just gloss over a few buzzwords? I'd like to find something more in-depth than just 「だべさ」＝「ですね」or ざんぎ= Fried Chicken Nuggets.