Evil Genius

Rolos wrote:On an unrelated note, how many kanjis should a person know before being able to translate simple stuff?

Zero as long as you can look them up. I learned about 200 on the last japanese course I took and it doesn't really cover enough in my opinion, I still recur to the dictionary quite regularly. Often times I realize immediately afterwards that I already knew what I was looking for, I just didn't remember .

As for websites, I don't really know any, I took 3 courses at college before transferring to my university and I haven't continued where I left off yet (I'm forgetting what I learned pretty fast). The textbook that we used was Genki 1 and 2 by the Japan Times and it was ok, both volumes have a workbook that is pretty simple and concise in its exercises.

I find this websitebook useful for reference purposes, though it may not be the best for learning purposes. It can also be download in PDF form.

Hi, I've been reading the thread and thought I should recommend Minna no Nihongo 1 and 2, these are available online as PDF also. I have studied Japanese for three years now at university and this is what we used. As far as the JLPT is concerned other textbooks are also useful such as; so matome (which I love), which is divided into each sub section such as - bunpoo, dokkai etc. jlpt.jp also has practice exams for each level under the mondai section, so you should have a look and see how you do. Genki is also good. Don't know why I brought JLPT into the thread lol sorry!!