Learning Japanese has never been easier than ever before. No I don’t mean the language has changed and has less word or something, what I mean is that the Internet has given birth to a whole new way of learning a language.

1000’s of people are choosing Internet based Japanese learning software these days over traditional methods.

I am going to provide a plan with recommendations of the best approach for you to learn Japanese. Some stuff I recommend is free other things that are important will cost but only the best available online from all my experience.

Before I do that though why not learn some basic greetings in Japanese to get your feet wet.

Hello – Konnichi wa

Good Morning – Ohayo Gozaimasu

Good Evening – Konban wa

Goodbye – Sayoonara

Hello on the phone – Mushi mushi

Pleased to meet you – Haijimemashite Yoroshiku

Japanese words are quite easy to pronounce because you don’t have to worry about strange tonal variations like you do with Chinese.

Also just so you know there are three forms of Japanese writing: Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana. All three are used in a combination in everyday Japanese literature, such as a newspaper.

My advice is always the same when people ask me where to begin learning Japanese and that is to start basic conversational Japanese first, and move onto reading and writing later. That’s why you will notice that I gave you some basic greeting straight away in this article.

With any language students stick with it and learn faster when they can converse at a basic level quickly. If you give too much grammar and writing straight away success rates drop off.

Another common mistake that I want to also highlight before I provide some steps for you, is to make sure that you don’t, like some students do, rote learn 100’s of Japanese words in isolation. By this I mean it is very important to use and listen to words in the context of a sentence.

Your brain learns languages faster when it can associate words in real conversation. In saying that you do need to learn you vocabulary but just make sure you use it in context as much as possible

Ok so the first thing that I recommend that you do is purchase an Internet based learning Japanese course. The internet has made life so much more convenient for learning Japanese. You can take your lessons whenever you like and repeat them as many times as you like.

There are some great courses available and if you want my top recommendation check out the links in my signature.

Why do I recommend an Internet course?

For a few a number of reasons, one being that are so much more convenient, no travel time and cost, take the lessons when you want.

Another reason though is that because the course can be downloaded you don’t have to pay for shipping and the company making the course doesn’t factor the cost of physical materials into the price, so you get great quality for a low price. Makes sense!

A quick head ups for you though, makes sure the course you end up choosing has a variety of audio clips, images and software learning games for your vocabulary, as you will learn much more effectively this way.

A good online course like the ones I recommend, teach you grammar, which is how sentences work together and their structure etc..Once you know sentence structure and basic grammar you will find that your ability to speak Japanese really starts to gather momentum quickly, because all you need to do is learn more vocabulary and to try out in the sentences you know.

For example if you know how to say "where is the ..?" which is "...doko desu ka" you can just put a new word where the "..." are a you can ask where anything is.

Ok so below are ways for you to practice what learn in your online Japanese course in context, which is so important.

1.)If you go to Youtube and search for "Japanese Drama’s" you find a whole lot of Japanese T.V drama’s that you can listen to for free. This is a fun way to mix up your learning and practice you listening skills. Of course you need to a few things first so I recommend completing about 8 weeks of your online course first.

2.)Its very easy to tune into Internet based Japanese Radio too. Just do a Google search for "Japanese Radio live" and within a few clicks you will be listening to a Japanese radio host or song.

If you are lucky you might hear a conversation in an interview. This is good practice because these conversations are everyday usually informal conversations.

3.)Grab yourself Japanese DVD’s from the rental store or buy some from Ebay. They are really cheap and a good way to trial and follow subtitles to help you learn Japanese.

You can also use the free resources on the Internet to help you learn how to speak Japanese, I have a free audio course for people on my site, but I wouldn't rely on this approach exclusively.

You can also use the Internet for free resources, but I would advise you to use it as supplementary resource and not your main method of teaching.

The simple reason is that a proper course provides structure and consistency that you can rely on being accurate. You will progress faster and avoid picking lots of bad habits this way.

As promised check out the links below for if you want more advice on learning Japanese on my website and you can also grab a 100% free 7 day Japanese audio course for beginners that will get you started.

All the best!