Fast Tracking Japanese

Hey there, /jp/.

So I've applied through my college to do a work placement term abroad. Of the couple of countries they listed, Japan seemed like the only decent one I'd like to visit. Thing is, it's in September and I don't know much Japanese aside from the standard greetings, asking people how they are, asking if they can speak English and so on.

I hate to be one of these people who just want to fast-track everything, but what's a relatively quick way to learn Japanese. I've got pronounciations down perfectly, it's just more or less the memorization of the kana tables and enough kanji to get me by.

Also it's more or less just for communicating with co-workers. The job itself is in the web development/design so everything's okay on that end. Thanks in advanced guys!

Sorry meant /lang/...posted on/jp/ but got told to come here.

For kana, just write them repeatedly. By far the best way to remember them.

For Kanji, http://www.readthekanji.com/

For language basics, fastest way to start is Rosetta Stone. I'm going to get flamed heavily for this post, but the best way is with no English involved whatsoever. RS is currently the best total immersion software out there.

IMO:

>Fast tracking Japanese
Bad idea.

Maybe you should reapply next semester or even next year and spend the interim actually studying the language. 8 months is enough time to get the basics down and memorize a few hundred kanji but if you're going to have that level of responsibility, I think it'd be a better idea to take it slow. Japan has a very serious work-culture and if you can't keep up, it will reflect badly on the entire business.

That's if you actually want to commit to learning the language. If you just want to get by, learn to apologize in as many different ways as possible.

ask japanese questions thread
anyway, use assimil

look for a place in Akihabara where you can swap your old English brain for a Japanese one

that's pretty much the best way to "fast track" imo