First time to /lang/

I don't go to 4chan often, and this is definitely my first time on any of the text boards.

The reason I came here is because I want to learn Japanese. Both /a/ and /jp/ directed me here for more incite and better help, so I'm hoping for some good guidance. I want to know how to write and speak Japanese. Sorry for being somewhat cliche, but I just like the Japanese culture, so this isn't me watching an anime and then wanting to live in Japan.

I'm learning Spanish in school, and I like the idea of learning a new language, but I'm not a fan of Spanish, so I figure I'll learn Japanese on my own and take a course on it in college next year.

Where do I start? Katakana? Hiragana? What do you suggest? Would learning enough to read manga, and then reading a lot of manga be a good way to pick up fast? Or is that laughable? And by the way, I'm not a big a fan of anime, and have only read one manga, I'm just trying to consider all options.

I'm just looking for any and all serious advice on how to learn the basics. Feel free to give me links or eBooks/Audiobooks torrents links or anything else you might think will help.

Thank you.

>>1

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　　　　　　　　　 （　´∀｀）　＜　are you weeaboo maboih? if yes then katakana first its basically english words japanized, then go for hiragana and finally the most dificult part around 5000 kanjis and over 15,000 combinations so good fucking luck
ALSO PRENDE ESPAñOL EN TIJUANA LA CERVEZA ES POSIBLE DESDE LOS 18 YA MAYOR DE EDAD
　　　　　　　　／　　　　|　　　 ＼＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
　　　　　　　/ 　　　 　 .|　　　　　
　　　　　　 / "⌒ヽ |.ｲ |
　　　＿＿ |　　　.ノ | || |＿＿
　 .　　　 ノく＿＿つ∪∪　　 ＼
　　　＿（（＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿_＼
　　 ￣￣ヽつ￣￣￣￣￣￣ | |￣
　　　＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿__| |
　　 ￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣| |

Yep, I started on katakana and hiragana last night. in a week or two I'll start digging into kanji.

Any other suggestions aside from "keep practicing" ?

>>3
Never refer to yourself as "～さん".

>>3
Keep practicing, young weeaboo.

>>4
How about "～さま"?

>>6
No way, since it's actually "～様."

ITT: weeaboos attack themselves

Some links off another thread

"There's a huge torrent on pirate's bay - 'Everything you need to learn Japanese' which could get you started
Also, some good sites:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C
http://www.manythings.org/japanese/"

"For textbook i would get the Genki series. It's pretty good for self study.

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4023455/Genki_I_II_-_Integrated_Elementary_Japanese_Course_(PDF__MP3)

Also that "Everything you need to learn Japanese" torrent:
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4442567/Everything.You.Need.to.Learn.Japanese_%5BLaMara8%5D"

@ #9 -- I already have the Genki ebooks, but I'll check out the other links. Many thanks!

>>1
Good luck, but don't expect to get far by yourself. Speaking is the ONLY way to get good. I have an excellent ear for languages, but I still couldn't pick up Japanese on my own before going off to college.

Best Kanji book by far: http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-ABC-Systematic-Approach-Characters/dp/0804819572/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228796026&sr=8-1
Instead of using the official methods of teaching grade 1, then grade 2, etc. kanji (which is full of faggotry), it starts with the orthographically simple kanji and progresses through combinations of the previous characters to get more complex characters. It's a very good, very systematic way of learning the joyo kanji.