Self-Teaching Japanese

[insert_cd]

Hello everybody!
I have finally decided to study Japanese. I'm still learning hiragana, then I'm going to learn katakana and then what should I do? I thought about learning the basic phrases and words, then learning some kanji and grammar. Any textbook recommendations ? I'm planning on buying ''Read Japanese Today: The Easy Way to Learn 400 Practical Kanji'' and ''Japanese for Busy People: Kana''

[Karkat]

Here's a good guide to self-study I found on Tumblr one day! (http://nadinenihongo.tumblr.com/post/70792792554/guide-to-self-studying-japanese-a-large)

A good way to get a feel for pronunciation, context, speech patterns, etc. is to watch SUBTITLED anime and live action shows in Japanese. (e.g. J-drama) Crunchyroll and Netflix have a good amount. You can also google "watch subbed anime online" or something like that and you should get some other sites as well.

One thing I do that helps a TON with pronunciation is I'll listen to a song in Japanese, look at the romaji while I'm listening to the song (ROMAJI IS ABSOLUTELY KEY HERE, BECAUSE IT TELLS YOU HOW TO PRONOUNCE.), try singing it without the song while looking at the romaji, and then try without the romaji while listening to the song.

Here are some basic phrases to start you off as well. (ones you'll hear a lot in anime/etc. especially!)

watashi wa- I am
moshimoshi/konichiwa- hello (the latter being more formal)
gomen/gomenasai- I'm sorry
sumimasen- I'm sorry/excuse me
arigato/arigatogozaimasu- thank you (the latter being more formal)
desu- 'it is'
hai- yes/ok
ïe: no
sugoi- cool/awesome/etc
kawaii- cute

numbers:

itchi-1
ni-2
san-3
shi/yon-4
go-5
roku-6
shichi/nana-7
hatchi-8
ku-9
ju-10

"ji" at the end of a number means the time. For instance, 5= go-ji. It is 5= go-ji desu.

Hope this helps c:

[Miserabilia]

Japanese is a great language!
It uses a very logical system, both in speech and in writing.
Gotta love it

[Gigablue]

I've been trying to learn Japanese on my own on and off for a while now. Hiragana and katakana are definitely the right place to start. I wouldn't worry about learning basic phrases. If you are getting enough exposure to Japanese, they should come naturally.

I don't think it matters very much which textbook you use, as long as you use it regularly, and you don't let it be the sole source of your learning. Textbooks are great, but there is so much more to language that they can't possibly cover. It is important, especially once you reach higher levels, to be exposed to many different sources of language.

You should also make sure that you hear as much Japanese as possible. The more you hear, the more you learn. I'm kind of addicted to anime, so getting exposure isn't very hard for me. If you don't already watch anything in Japanese on a regular basis, you probably should start.

[insert_cd]

Thank you everybody!